<somlo>
davidlt[m]: have you preordered? if so, is it anything more than just a list of people having expressed interest? I.e., what's beyond the "submit" button once I've entered a bunch of my (presumably real) contact information? :)
<davidlt[m]>
somlo: I didn't. I would prefer to know more details. There are too many crazy keyboards in this announcement (which is also now on RVI website). NFT, Web3, Metaverse, etc.
<davidlt[m]>
Sounds a bit crazy :)
<somlo>
yeah, I think we're more or less on the same page :D
<davidlt[m]>
I much more trust PINE64 and their new board :)
<davidlt[m]>
s/keyboards/keywords/
<davidlt[m]>
I expected BeagleBoads to be a new popular thing nowish, but it seems it could be PINE64.
<somlo>
that's also a very "busy" page with lots of youtube videos -- but if anyone starts selling a reasonably priced rv64gc+ board I might ask my boss to buy me a couple of them...
<davidlt[m]>
This should be <100 USD board
<somlo>
at this stage in the lifecycle I feel a board I can turn into a "desktop" by plugging in a monitor and keyboard is better than a "laptop" with all the hardwired junk that entails :D
<davidlt[m]>
USB3.0, PCIe, should be similar or slightly better performance compared to Unmatched
<davidlt[m]>
But max 8GB RAM
<davidlt[m]>
This also has Imagination Tech. GPU and they are kinda doing an open source drivers these day (not sure what's the status).
<davidlt[m]>
Think Unmatched, slightly less features, maybe a bit higher performance, but way cheaper.
<somlo>
I have to admit I skimmed through the page you linked but didn't immediately find a "email me when you're actually selling stuff" link (or form)...
<davidlt[m]>
And it's PINE64 thus the board should be available for a long time :)
<davidlt[m]>
Yeah, they don't do that. You should follow monthly news to figure out what's new.
<somlo>
that's nice in case I miss the initial "10 units only sold to the coolest kids" release :D
<davidlt[m]>
It's available once it's ready :)
<davidlt[m]>
I would expect a lot of distros to support this one. PINE64 works quite well with the distro communities.
<davidlt[m]>
If nothing else shows up (e.g. a new SiFive board, or BeagleBoards) this is bound to be the most popular board.
<somlo>
I'm guessing there'll be lots of talk about it in this channel once it comes out, and I might have a chance to get in on the action that way -- but my "lived experience" is that by the time I hear about anything it's usually too late :D
<davidlt[m]>
Anyways it will be one of the most popular boards :)
<davidlt[m]>
It's a bit sad that a lot of folks want to get Unmatched, but it's gone. There is nothing good.
<davidlt[m]>
The biggest worry is how long it will take to upstream the support.
<davidlt[m]>
SiFive new boards should be epic. Especially if you need the performance.
<somlo>
I for one am happy with soft-core Rocket rv64gc on FPGA -- but I'm on the weirder end of the spectrum, so there's that :)
<davidlt[m]>
Hey, I native compile code on RISC-V for years and even run desktop environment :) That's also not typical :)
<davidlt[m]>
I am suffering waiting for those 9.5 hours to get a new kernel image :)
<somlo>
9.5 hours is just like in the early days of Linux on intel 486 -- history doesn't repeat, but it definitely rhymes :D