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: https://sipeed.com/licheepi4a

And the board has excellent documentation here: https://wiki.sipeed.com/licheepi4a.html

Note that the hardware I used in this video was purchased from AliExpress: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10050

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 Quad Core Low Co…

I also have an 2023 update on RISC-V developments here:

• RISC-V 2023 Update: From Embedded Com…

And my general introduction to RISC-V is here:

• Explaining RISC-V: An x86 & ARM Alter…

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

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    31 year ago

    I’m only vaguely familiar with risc-v. What is the current state of running containers on it? Can I just spin up an existing x86 or arm container? Or is this a new build target that some images may not support yet?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11 year ago

      If your container target platform is the same as your bare metal ( or VM, but that’s not what we’re talking about): works great.

      If they’re not the same, docker needs a virtualization layer to work, since the kernel of the host machine OS cannot be trivially shared with the container.