Software Enablement on Popular RISC-V Development Platforms

Welcome to the RISC-V International quick start landing page for software enablement and application development. This guide is intended to expedite the process of onboarding and integrating new RISC-V compatible applications into the global software ecosystem. In an effort to maintain neutrality, this guide will only cover member, open source and/or free educational resources at this time. Members of RISC-V International have created a number of excellent resources intended to accelerate their customers’ journey to successful deployment of RISC-V based solutions. Whenever possible, it is recommended you consult directly with the upstream open source projects and companies responsible for the production and sale of RISC-V hardware.

Open source maintainers, software enablement experts, experienced developers and developers who have RISC-V hardware and are looking to quickly get started building applications may find these link especially useful. Additionally, educational content creators who are looking for resources (hardware and software) to use in their course materials (hackathon hosts, professors, How-To-Guide writers) are welcomed to use and contribute resources to this guide in an effort to scale the RISC-V compatible software ecosystem.

Hardware Availability and Simulation

The RISC-V software ecosystem is rapidly evolving and expanding. It should be expected that most major software projects have some level of RISC-V support either in emulation or available on development boards and platforms. RISC-V International does not directly sell or provide hardware to software developers, companies or 3rd party organizations outside of the RISC-V Development Boards, RISC-V Labs, RISC-V Development Partner and Marketing programs.

If you are unable to directly purchase RISC-V hardware please consider using your favorite emulator or simulation framework. To use QEMU, please directly consult their documentation resources for the latest build instructions. Similarly, the Renode Framework provides simulation of a variety of popular RISC-V platforms.

If you are looking to purchase RISC-V based development boards and chips please visit the RISC-V Exchange. The RISC-V Exchange is a free resource for the community to share their products and learning resources. If you are the producer of RISC-V compatible hardware or software products please feel free to apply for a listing on the RISC-V Exchange.

Browse RISC-V Exchange