Lichee Pi 4A: Serious RISC-V Desktop Computing
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 มิ.ย. 2024
- Sipeed Lichee Pi 4A RISC-V SBC review and Debian demo. This is the first RISC-V computer I’ve tested that's provided a usable desktop computing experience right out of the box. End-user RISC-V is starting to arrive! :)
You can learn more about the Lichee Pi 4A on its web page here:
sipeed.com/licheepi4a
And the board has excellent documentation here:
wiki.sipeed.com/licheepi4a.html
Note that the hardware I used in this video was purchased from AliExpress:
www.aliexpress.com/item/10050...
The "RISC-V Week" experiment I discussed at the end of the video has now happened -- video here: • RISC-V Week: 7 days on...
I have reviewed four previous RISC-V SBCs, including the StarFive VisionFive 2, which also (after some messing around) provides a good desktop experience:
• VisionFive 2: RISC-V Q...
I also have an 2023 update on RISC-V developments here:
• RISC-V 2023 Update: Fr...
And my general introduction to RISC-V is here:
• Explaining RISC-V: An ...
For additional ExplainingComputers videos and other content, you learn about becoming a channel member here:
/ @explainingcomputers
More videos on computing and related topics can be found at:
/ @explainingcomputers
You may also like my ExplainingTheFuture channel at: / @explainingthefuture
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:45 Unboxing
03:33 Specifications
07:26 First Boot
10:37 Debian Demo
18:10 Another Milestone
#RISC-V #LicheePi #Debian #explainingcomputers - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
It's like being transported to a parallel universe where hardware and software engineers do things right!
:)
The fact that RISC-V systems are starting to become mature enough to be used for regular desktop use is huge. A couple of years ago that would have been considered a pipe dream.
Agreed.
Still no bios.
my sun system is 25 years old and runs on RISK.
@@robertsmith2956RISC CPUs aren’t new, but the RISC-V ISA is. Although it’s pretty sad that Sun’s SPARC didn’t make it big
@notNajimi These snapdragon and M series chips have certainly set the path for arm based desktops. It's so exciting.
Windows 11 recall feature plus the EOL for Windows 10 is honestly going to drive many users to at least try linux, which is great for the community. Very uplifting near future for arm and linux fans!
Your channel is the only tech channel talking about the actual future of computing.
I doubt risc is the future of Computing
@@lurch789 Because normies are just interested in tomorrow (as in the next day) and gamers are stupid (when looking at the AAA trash they buy full of DLC and WOKE stuff).
You clearly need lessons on how to search TH-cam - Chris has an excellent channel, but there are many others.
Holmes and Maleficent would disagree there is no future in RISC th-cam.com/video/wPrUmViN_5c/w-d-xo.html
@@wotzinator6282 ...and that's what is so great. Explaining Computers isn't always about generating views and revenue streams, allowing him to explore niche areas which won't appeal to the masses, but that's great for something a little different to the hundreds of shouty US channels. Sponsored by Balls, Balls, Big Balls, Small Balls Ball Bearing Factory.
Astonishingly easy, acceptably glitchy.
I hope that your RISC-V week entices another 1,053K devotees. I'd love to see you reach 2M this year.
Blessed Sunday greetings all!
Greetings!
Greetings indeed!
How exciting! I am eager to see RISC-V rise as a viable, open-source alternative to the proprietary, closed chipsets. Can't wait for your week long experiment!
same! i love how this may allow things to be both cheaper and better in the future, and the potential to reduce the secrecy and possible back doors in modern processors
only the ISA is open but the actual hardware is closed
@@albertopajuelomontes2066 Depends, some people open their hardware as VHDL. You can literally load RISC-V on a FPGA and tinker with it. Others however sells design, usually with higher spec (like SiFive).
While it isn't open, the cpu is partially open sourced (openc910), afaik they only removed the pre ratification vector extension implementation in the part they open sources.
Very exciting... indeed!
It's always great to see that a SBC will work straight out of the box with the included Linux distro. It indicates a significant degree of care for the customers, present, future and repeat.
It has only now occurred to me, a couple of hours after watching, that this isn't, in fact, a SBC...
@@BrianRonald technically true. Sipeed make a lot of their boards this way e.g. see Lichee RV CM and Lichee RV Dock, M1s Module and M1s Dock.
I don't understand people that make comments like you have - SBCs are supposed to be aimed at hobbyists and makers who are used to messing around with hardware and software. As a member of such communities myself, I really could care less whether or not an SBC comes with Linux (or any OS) pre-installed, because I will install my own distro of choice (Gentoo) on it anyway.
If you don't know how to install Linux yourself then, in my opinion, you really shouldn't be using it and stick with consumer-grade hardware that has the OS pre-installed for you and some kind of warranty that protects you from your own lack of skills - whether that's a Microsoft or Apple device, or a Steam Deck.
SBCs are not consumer-grade devices and should not be treated as such - they are for people who know how to investigate hardware and configure Linux themselves to add to the knowledge of the community.
Even this device is in its early stages, work clearly needs to be done on the desktop OS (there's clearly still some lag in Chris' video) and the video drivers themselves need work. Someone who expects Linux to be pre-installed would not be happy with the performance of this device, and just blame Linux for it.
@@terrydaktyllus1320totally on point. His comment has more than hundred votes.. What is happening to the world!
@@darththuban00 Each to their own, I don't see the number of comments as being a metric of the quality of a comment anyway - given that TH-cam provides channels of interesting topics that naturally create echo chambers of themselves anyway.
I have simply been around computers long enough to take an engineering perspective of any system, and try to look at it subjectively.
I actively encourage everyone to become better informed when it comes to computing and I myself give workshops and free training to both younger and older people to that end.
So I am not, in any way, trying to create a "niche community" or anything like that, but I think too many people get pulled in by "FOMO" without realising that a time and effort commitment needs to be made to get these non-consumer devices working well.
But thanks for your comment, it is appreciated.
Thank you, Christopher and a massive congratulations to SiPEED for delivering this excellent entry into the RISC-V ecosystem. Trying to get 2 into the lab here.
4:18 Fun fact: Imagination is what’s left of the company that used to own and license the MIPS architecture patents. As far as they’re concerned, that was yesterday’s business, and they have gone all in on RISC-V now.
At this rate, RISC-V will catch up with ARM and even provide superior performance! How exciting is that!
It would be interesting to compare joules per benchmark run, e.g running a prime sieve, a standard graphics test, etc. E.g compared to various RPi models. I presume that given it wants the fan it won't be group leader, but still... it would be an interesting comparison to see.
Wow I did not think Chromium had been ported to RISC-V yet! Nice to see the platform progressing.
We'll run out of fruit pretty soon if the venerable Lychee (although under a pseudonym) has to be pressed into service; maybe the next wave of SBCs will be named after some solid veggies: Rutabaga Pi, Green Asparagus Tart, and so on.
Howsabout the Lemon? Oopsy, I forgot, that was the Armstrad E-Mailer!
Asparagus tart? Yucky. 😝
Heaven forbid!
Lots more tropical fruits: starfruit, jackfruit, cempedak, papaya, rambutan, guava, mangosteen (jambu batu) as well as something called a “rose apple” (jambu air), durian (if you must) ...
nahh. Time to go meats. Gator Pi, Moose Pi, and of course panda pi for the chinese.
Finally, some RISC-V review again😃 Really excited to see development of open architecture.
They've made significant process since your last RISC-V video. It won't be long before RISC-V gives ARM a run for its money. And if they keep making progress at this rate, Intel and AMD had better take notice.
@@wotzinator6282 Unless the economy collapses (as seems likely), I doubt you will have that long to wait. They seem to be making progress very quickly.
It's really not that simple. The ISA is open, but individual, high performance chip designs using it, probably aren't going to be free or open. Just like Apple has done with their own ARM based CPUs, which aren't shared with anyone. ARM has had decades of development, it has a proven track record, and a huge infrastructure behind it. So does x86. Risc V has none of those yet. Will it ever? Only time will tell.
@@another3997 But even if the chip designs are proprietary, they must all conform to the same standard. And that provides a huge benefit for software development. Plus there is a huge incentive to develop chips that use the RISC-V standard because these chips won’t have to pay licensing fees.
@@wotzinator6282 What's wrong with Linux desktops with Intel and AMD CPUs at their heart? Or is there something wrong with those that stops you enjoying Linux now? Are you just another person I call "YARs" - "Yet Another Reason" to not do something to hide my own procrastination.
@@wotzinator6282 Sure, so am I - I currently run Gentoo Linux on Raspberry Pi's, 32-bit and 64-bit Intel and AMD CPUs, Xeon, and even a SPARC platform.
And if another platform comes along that is interesting to try out, like RISC, then I may have a go on that also.
But I am an engineer, I look at what's around now, I have too much to do without wondering too much about what is coming next. I just find that a strange way to think.
Wow, I love your enthusiasm with this new SBC! I cant wait to see Risc week! Love this!
Amazing. RISC-V is happening.
RISC-V will be a gamechanger for laptops and tablets. I look forward to the "RISC-V week" video.
Thanks for this. My "RISC-V Week" video posts next Sunday (September 3rd).
My Sunday morning is now complete! Christopher, your enthusiasm for Risk-5 hardware, particularly this Lichiee board, is infectious, and motivating this dyed-in-the-wool Mac user running now unsupported OS, with a strong sence that it's time for a complete OS update! Thank you!
RISC-V is improving so incredibly quickly. This is amazing progress. Just a year ago this kind of performance and user experience would have been unheard of!
I'd love to get a RISC-V mini system at some point to play around with
Risc V is a game changing initiative and we all should actively support it in the sense that our next PC should a Risc V machine. I hope someone takes similar initiative for graphics card (GPU) so that we can avoid the premiums and shortage of GPU. The success of Risc V should facilitate more and more hardware becoming open source which is not only great for budget but learning as well.
*only great
Sorry, but if it doesn't support 4k gaming, it won't become my next PC.
Those boards are most likely meant to make China less dependent on foreign components. And they are perfect for that as you don't need a beefy PC for most industrial and administrative applications.
They are also nice for network appliances not needing too much throughput.
I too hope that Risc V will eventually become a viable alternative for workstations or gaming.
But that will most likely take a few more years...
@@Oktokolo SBC's would be the last place I'd look for hardcore gaming.
@@maxxdahl6062 Yep, that's what i said.
How would RISC V help with GPU shortages? The GPU shortages were exactly that, shortages. Too much demand and not enough fab supply. Switching architectures wouldn't help.
RISC-V development is progressing impressively. 7 days with RISC-V would be an awesome video!
@@lurch789 If you want a cheap low-power basic PC, Intel is much better for that. Both Amazon and Chinese sites are full of mini PCs with J4105, J4125, N5105, N100, etc. processors. It would've been nice to see what other stuff can this board do instead of just showing the connectors and then doing a basic desktop usage showcase.
I'm not first in the posts, but I'm first in your heart.
This is great; I'm glad to see a RISC-V board that seems pretty fast with a good user experience.
Excellent review. It is clear that numerous semiconductor design firms, especially Chinese organizations, aspire to adopt the open-source RISC-V chip architecture, hence avoid the high expenses associated with proprietary systems. Good work.
copy&paste from a news-article from early august:
"The RISC-V open instruction set architecture got a boost today after it emerged that five chip giants are coming together to jointly invest in a company to develop reference architectures based on the standard.
The new entity will be formed in Germany with investment from Infineon Technologies, Qualcomm, NXP Semiconductors, Bosch, and Nordic Semiconductor, with the aim of speeding up "the commercialization of future products based on the open-source RISC-V architecture."
If this sounds a bit vague, it is because the company's formation is subject to regulatory approvals in various jurisdictions, and so at this stage the founding corporations are unable to add any further detail about how much investment is involved, when it is expected to begin operations, or even what the company will be called.
What we do know is that this will not be a chip manufacturing operation, but will focus on the creation of reference designs to help increase the adoption of the RISC-V architecture. The aim is to establish the company as a single source for developing compatible RISC-V-based products.
Given the involvement of NXP and Infineon, it is perhaps not surprising the initial focus will be around automotive applications, with an eventual expansion to include mobile and IoT ecosystems."
@@nopadelik9286 Thank you for providing this information. I look forward to seeing more RISC-V products in the future.
Things we have learned from this video...
- RISC-V continues to make great progress! It's very impressive that, first off, we now have an SBC that comes pre-loaded with a desktop Linux distro that works just nice right out of the box and, second off, they're now working on a RISC-V laptop!
- Chris would still sound like the friendly fella that he is if he were a Dalek. (see 17:05)
I look forward to seeing how the RISC-V Week turns out very soon!
Greetings!
@@ExplainingComputers Oh, hi! I am very late responding so I apologize for that, but anyway, this was another great video as always. :)
EX PLAIN MI NA TE!
thanks for the exposure on these rare boards
As always a good video. Glad to see that RISC-V is progressing and this is certainly good news for for SBC enthusiasts. All the best for your RISC-v week.
Looking forward to risc v week
Me too
Same!
Thanks for continuing explorations and updates on the RiscV world! Very exciting progress indeed!
This is astounding, when you look at it. This is a massive move forwards for the architecture, and will only inspire more development from others.
I suspect in five years time, the processor type is going to be far more commonly adopted, and could even stand as a decent competitor to X86 and ARM.
Thanks for the video.
Note that these C910 CPU cores were announced in July 2019 -- it just, as always, takes about four years to get from a core to mass-produced hardware. Imagine what has been started since 2019, and is still in the pipeline, but inevitable. Well .. we don't have to imagine. We'll have A76 (e.g. RK3588) class machines maybe by the end of the year but certainly early next year. And Apple M1-class chips are coming in a couple of years.
@@BruceHoult I fully accept what you are saying, but I remember the scepticism of the architecture being at this level for a few more years yet.
There is clearly a huge amount of development going on, and this is exciting to me. I want this processor architecture to succeed, and help to widen the options.
Thanks for the information, by the way. It is appreciated.
@@horseradishpower9947 computer SoCs are like a pizza ... you put the toppings on a base and put it into the oven , then have to stand around for ten minutes until it emerges from the far end of the oven. It takes a while, but there is essentially zero doubt that it WILL come out. It's just that with SoCs you wait around for about four years, not ten minutes. While there are certainly many skeptical voices all over the internet (many with a conflict of interest, by the way), anyone who keeps informed knows what is currently in the oven. I can't tell you what will be in 2030 or 2040 ... but the next three to four years? It is written. Pre-ordained. Inevitable. Skepticism about that time period is totally unwarranted. And in that time frame is 2020-level (or even a bit better) x86 and M1 performance. Which will still be a viable PC in 2026 or 2027.
As someone whose programs (Ansys, CATIA, SolidWorks, 2000-ish games) are Windows-only and 32- or 64-bit, I can't see that happening for enough people in the most influential branches.
Not until Windows-EXE support works out of the box because who has the patience to set-up and trouble-shoot Wine...
@@CnCDune Companys programming Windows-only software will be dead in 5, latest in 10 years. Even Microsoft supports Linux in professional field (like MSSQL, OK,not professional, but it works). If you don't like Softmaker Office as a professional alternative for MS Office, you can still use MS Office Webbrowser based clients. That is roughly 80% of the use case in Companys.
AutoCAD came from Unix, so there is no problem in developing that for Linux, Games work with steam flawlessly. Any important server runs on Linux anyways.
I don't see any important usecase for windows-based computers in the next 10 years onwards, every operating system has its time, some lazy admins will eventually try to stick with it until retirement, but these will be replaced by skilled people and then complain for their own fault of getting stuck in the 90s...
Love your SBC reviews.
Thanks for giving the Risc V some love. I've been watching excitedly as boards become available.
Dang. Just discovered this. What a cool guy and channel! Love his work and his crisp Queen's spoken English!
Excellent. Great to see progress on this platform
You're fast approaching 1M subs... Well done Chris. Your informative and thorough presentations are really getting noticed. Thanks for another great video. 😎👍
Greetings Steve. :)
Gold youtube plaque incoming 😄
Chris, it's been great to see you so pleased that something actually works! Great video, thank you.
The Sipeed Lichee Pi 4A RISC-V SBC review was interesting and fun to watch. And the having the OS preinstalled saves some time and having to install it. Well done Chris thanks for the review.
it's amazing to see RISC-V SBCs come along with working software. it's still early days but you're right to be excited so thanks for sharing what was a fun video 🎉
Why would there be a hardware without software - sounds useless, does not it? If they want to sell it, it'd better be widely supported by multiple software.
I don't know if anybody else feels this way but his videos are like gold. They don't have been very often but they are so good when they appear.
That is a surprisingly nice unboxing and end-user experience for an SBC, especially a RISC-V SBC.
Your enthusiasm is contagious. I'm buying the 16 GB model. Can't wait for the 7 slot motherboard!
Excited to see this one!🎉
Good luck with your risc v week!
Thanks for the update on RISC-V. I'm looking forward to the future of this architecture.
Interesting video, as always. I loved your excitement when the thing actually worked out of the box.
Way better than LTT
i swear this is the most exited i have ever seen you since you started doing youtube
This may well be true. :)
The Lichee Pi 4A is a great step forward for a RISC-V SBC. The development appears to be going ahead at pace. I look forward to further developments and software support. Good luck with surviving the week on RISC-V ...
Quite a comprehensive review, Chris. The drop-in modular soc card is interesting as presumably enhanced future core/GPU designs should give a nice upgrade path, within the V/Wattage limitations.
Thanks Chris for sharing the excitement, this is obviously going to be a future desktop contender, competition for ARM & x86. I'm looking forward to how you get on with 'Using RISC-V' for a week. I looked away from the screen for a split second & thought the Daleks had arrived, would you be able to test headphones to see if that helps? Another happy Sunday afternoon :)
Hearing Chris surprised is a real treat, well done.
“…Lots of good computery stuff.” You kill me, Chris. Love your videos.
You now grace my text tone collection for my phone, sir. Don’t ever change, sir. You educate and entertain.
This is an exciting board and promises an exciting future for RISC-V!
Agreed!
i am just so glad that alternatives like this are FINALLY gaining some traction.
Peter another great video for this week, glad to see progress in Risc boards and hope Raspberry Pi will come out with a more advanced SBC. But this one has Linux already installed which is nice like my Pi-400 did. Thanks for you time and efforts Peter really appreciate all you do, especially for me learning computers from you
A great review Chris, of a board that seems very nice.... looking forward to the Risc-V week!
Your voice @17:05, well, it confirms that you are an A.I - the secret is out.... :-)
Thanks for your support. :)
I am astounded by Chris' astonishment 😂
Very impressive RISC-V SBC. I especially liked that you showed the actual first boot!
Greetings Chris.
Exciting stuff this RISC V ... nice demo as usual Chris B)
Now I can't wait to see the RISC-V week video! Thanks for another fantastic video, Chris! I hope you can get the HDMI audio fixed. Perhaps it's in one of those newer releases? So many questions that I imagine will be answered when you spend a week with the computer.
I've just finished RISC-V week -- a very interesting experiment. I plan to post the video two weeks today. Unfortunately, the Chromium HDMI issue remains in the newest (as I write this) Debian release. But I found a solution during RISC-V week . . .
Excellent video!
Excellent video! I too am excited/surprised at how quickly RISC-V is advancing.
Thanks for the exposure to this technology.
Woohoo! Yet again another awesome vid and Cheers. The lichee is looking like my 42;)
Fantastic! I can’t wait to try out a RISC-V board. Thank you for the content!
The “week” upload is gonna be great! This topic is definitely my side of the street!
Great video Chris, thanks.
Missing the ducks though 😢
Can't wait for your week-long daily driver athon .
I do not remember you being this excited for a new product.
Me too, cant wait for some RISC-V based system that could be in the range off maybe amd 2200g
It's like looking to those good old BBC educational programs from the eighties which explained things so clearly .🙂
It's very exciting to see a fairly viable RISK-V SoM. It will be great to see if Sipeed will continue to build the base images and software, like the Jetson Nano, Raspberry Pi and Orange Pi do so well. Looking forward to seeing more in the future!. Thank you, Chris, for another excellent unboxing review.
I would love to one day see some various and current benchmarks of some of the various board options between Arm and RISK-V.
Thanks a lot for covering this. Been peeking this product for quite sometimes but there's not a lot if any review on it
wow shockingly usable, great video
I think this is the first real risc-v smb ive seen working, in the wild! Love it so far, gonna have to look into it. Thanks for sharing this board!
Great to see this progress in open CPU design.
This was very interesting indeed. Thanks for the Sunday excitement!
Pretty amazing performance. As it’s still early days, things can and will improve even more.
Hi Chris, It's impressive to see an SBC perform so well as a desktop and I look forward to sering the results of your test week. I think the performance issues will be ironed out. Personally, I hope this leads to other OSs having to reduce the bloat.
Lots of improvements with risc-v hardware and software, this is indeed a nice little board!
Great video as is the norm for your channel. Thanks for covering the stuff that us user would use or do.
I had to smile when you mentioned The Four Tops. I guess their song, "Reach Out I'll Be There," is quite fitting for this channel. Great looking board, and not a bad price considering.
That is incredible. Much hope here. Thank you very much. 1080p smooth - again, incredible.
You clearly appreciate the significance of this board. :)
Great preview, can't wait to see the next video!
What an excellent video, thanks for posting genuinely interesting reviews 👍
Thanks for the RISK-V coverage. It'll probably a while before I dip my toe in, but it's good to see it coming along.
Impressive find
Looking forward for the RIXC-V weekend video 🙂
Chris thanks for alerting on this new system, with Debian already installed on the EMMC module I almost ready to take the RISC-V.....:)
Have a nice week!
Great video, thanks for showing this fantastic board! It really is remarkable just how far RISC-V has come in just a few short years. This sort of demonstration of what RISC-V systems can do would have been unthinkable a year or two ago, and now it's to a state where it's likely usable for basic daily tasks.
One thing I would like to see is a comparison between this RISC-V board and some other ARM based offerings, like the Raspberry Pi but others too, to see how the RISC-V processor can hold against other similar(-ish) ARM processors in other SBC's. Might make for a fun comparison video at some point, even if it may not truly be 1:1, apples to apples comparisons, due to the nature of support, hardware differences, etc.
Impressive indeed, your week of desktop use is going to be very interesting.
Oh nice a new PC board you're the best for this kind of video the reference too have a nice week
Pretty wild. Neat machine and I'm looking forward to the results of your 7 day experiment.
This is exciting, hurray for RISC-V
Nice seeing something I already own and know quite a bit about on this channel.
Looking forward to RISC-V Week
I'm impressed, excited and very thankful for this nice introduction of another Pi fruit family 😊.
Excellent video as always! On some of the lower power SBC's I wish that POE was a standard option to power the board.
I'm so happy to see open source hardware platforms making progress, and have been excited ever since I heard about RISC-V, and the flexibility that comes with it. The big hurdle of course is that it's up against giants with nearly unlimited power in the tech industry, and getting in even on the manufacturing end is very expensive, as well as politically difficult with al of the crony capitalism, and getting in on such a market needs huge capitol only very few have to even get started, and so I hope to see support from people who want change and to revive consumer freedom to become investors and proponents of open source to grow it to become a force to be reckoned with, as it should already be. Uphill battles are difficult, but they can be won, and more power to those who do!
This computer should promoted like CRAZY here in Hawai'i. Lichee are a delicacy that many people grow, eat and sell here, and the idea that a COMPUTER this good could be named a "Lichee Pi" just tickles me. I MUST buy this...and show it working to my friends out here. Of course...I'm the Linux geek in the family...so I'll hear more than a few polite yawns... That's why you're here; I'll just share your video with them instead. Aloha!
This is so exciting! Sure, I can go on and complain about the proprietary parts, since I highly doubt the wifi or wifi firmware is open. But this is a huge step in the right direction!
Love this review, i hope will get new PC from RISC-V
Hands up all those that remember RISC the first time around.
All ARM, and the new Apple M1 and M2 processors, are RISC. RISC never went away! RISC-V is just another, specific RISC implementation.
@@ExplainingComputers true :)
If you look in the Top500 supercomputer list, you will see machines based on IBM’s POWER architecture - another RISC-class system. Also China has its home-grown high-performance “Loongarch”, which some say is reminiscent of MIPS - also RISC.
Looking good, I remember that desktop experience on a pi 2 or 3, arm chip, wasn't all that great and that's only a few years ago, so yes good progress. Lookjng forward to your risc-v week experience.