The momentum that RISC-V is achieving across the compute spectrum is amazing. Throughout 2023, we have seen RISC-V based computing being applied to every kind of application, from low-power IoT and embedded to automotive, datacenter, and high-performance computing.
To enable these new applications, RISC-V knows that a broad and robust open source software ecosystem is key to the success of RISC-V. All the applications, libraries, and other components that developers rely on must be available on RISC-V.
For this reason, we are announcing RISC-V Labs, a new program to grow the RISC-V open source software ecosystem and accelerate the efforts of developers worldwide. RISC-V Labs brings together member companies from across the ecosystem to give developers the resources they need to build and test their software, from porting of existing projects to development of new components that will power the next wave of computing innovation.
RISC-V Labs will enable developers who do not yet have access to physical hardware to write and test new applications, and port software components that will benefit the whole ecosystem.
Our RISC-V Lab partners provide one or more of the following services:
- Continuous Integration (CI) testing of open source software projects
- CI testing resources for use by open source communities to use on their projects
- “Sandbox” instances of RISC-V physical and virtual hardware for open source communities and projects
Through these efforts, RISC-V software developers can engage open source communities to bring new applications, software components, and workloads to the ecosystem. The range of different physical and virtual hardware available through RISC-V Labs broadens the set of platforms developers can target for testing, which accelerates porting and helps to facilitate the early discovery of software regressions.
Our initial collaborators include10xEngineers, PLCT/CAS, IITM, and Oregon State University.
Read this RISC-V blog to find out more about the 10xEngineers RISC-V Labs service and apply for time for your software project.
Bilal Zafar, Co-Founder & CEO 10xEngineers said: “A key challenge for developers wanting to port their libraries and applications to RISC-V is the availability of silicon that’s compliant to the latest ratified standards. Cloud-V (cloud-v.co), our RISC-V CI platform, provides developers an easy path to integrating RISC-V targets (dev boards, FPGA emulation, or QEMU) into their CI environments. As one of the founding members of the RISC-V Labs, we’re proud to offer this platform for free to the open-source developer community and help accelerate porting of key software to RISC-V.”
Lance Albertson, Director at Oregon State University Open Source Lab, said: “Building a software ecosystem for a hardware platform is critical to its success. OSU’s Open Source Labs shares a commitment with RISC-V to building open source ecosystems and has been working with the RISC-V Lab effort for the past year and a half. We are excited to see the formal launch of the program and plan to become a recognized Lab Partner in 2024.”
In 2021 at PLCT Lab, two RISC-V Lab experimental nodes were established and successfully put into operation, opening SSH access to more than 100 development boards such as Unmatched and Nezha. Before the end of 2023, the more powerful Pioneer Box/SG2042 and LicheePi4A/TH1520 will also enter the RISC-V Lab node operated by PLCT Lab; they are open to global RISC-V open source contributors for free access
Wei Wu, Director at PLCT Lab, said: “We believe that the freedom and openness of RISC-V, together with the open source software movement, constitute the future of information technology. PLCT Lab will continue to more actively embrace global cooperation and contribute to the RISC-V ecosystem.”
We are looking for more members to contribute resources and more software projects to make use of the services available from RISC-V Labs. For more information on becoming a Lab Partner, see the RISC-V Labs Policy or join the Lab Partners group. This group is continuously working to recruit new members, document best practices, and provide new resources to the open source software communities.
To apply for compute resources via RISC-V Labs to begin porting your software component to RISC-V, contact the team at help@riscv.org or join the RISC-V Labs community at https://lists.riscv.org/g/lab-partners.