This chip looks similar to the F1C100s that was used in the $3 Linux business card: https://www.thirtythreeforty.net/posts/2019/12/my-business-c...
By switching to RISC-V I guess Allwinner can save a few cents of Arm license fees.
By switching to RISC-V I guess Allwinner can save a few cents of Arm license fees.
Yet, performance-wise it probably should be capable of running Windows 98. If only people still were writing bloat-free software today...
Also, check out this: https://dataswamp.org/~solene/2021-07-07-old-computer-challe...
Thank you for the link by the way.
> If you don't have an old computer, don't worry! You can still use your regularly computer and create a virtual machine with low specs, you would still be more comfortable with a good screen, disk access and a not too old CPU but you can participate.
Not really fair. Disk access always is a game changer. Migrating my Core 2 Duo laptop from 1 TB HDD to a 512 GB SSD made it feel like a totally new PC. I didn't try Windows 98 in a VM but Windows XP feels way faster in a VirtualBox than on bare hardware on the same PC (I believe that's because of caching, simple virtual hardware stack probably also contributes to lightning-fast booting).
About a decade ago, Allwinner was providing an "SDK" to vendors to customize the Linux kernel for their devices. This "SDK" was a tarball of the compiled Linux kernel. In it, there were object files for drivers by third-parties for devices in the SoC that Allwinner sourced from other companies. Allwinner had the source code but obviously could not release it. They did not think better, and included those object files because it helps device integrators (mainly Android) to get the job done.
How do you deal with this issue with this blatant GPL violation? Obviously, you do not alienate the company. They fcked up but it's not the end of the world. They cannot release the source code of parts they do not own. You build a relationship and get them through to the right path.
But what happened in reality? A colossal fck-up. An attempt to "blackmail" the company to release the full source code and enforce the GPL. Listen to this, an attempt to enforce the GPL to a company "located in China". Not even on vendors that sell products in Europe or the US.
This alienated any attempts to get Allwinner's upper management to work with Linux. Allwinner made an effort and released some stuff (https://github.com/allwinner-zh) including the bootloader source and documentation (2015). The damage was done.
In 2016, Linus and other kernel developers posted their position on enforcing the GPL (https://lwn.net/Articles/698452/). Very pragmatic and should have been followed with Allwinner.
I tried contacting them to get the SDK for a tablet I had and they just asked me how many SOCs I am planning to buy.
This is why we can't have nice things.
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this. Companies in certain areas shouldnt have to follow the same rules as the rest of us? The GPL doesn't mention any geographical areas where it doesn't apply
Since 2014, there have been specialized IP courts in major cities, and the volume of IP litigation in China is now similar to that in the US. China used to be the Wild West of IP, but that's been changing.