[cfarm-users] Beta RISC-V host with Vector extension (BananaPi BPI-F3 / SpacemiT K1)

[Baptiste Jonglez]

Hi,

We received the Bananapi-BF3 boards from RISC-V International, and I setup
the first one.  It runs a standard riscv64 Debian unstable with the vendor kernel.

This is cfarm95 here: https://portal.cfarm.net/machines/list/

Let me know if everything is working as expected, in particular regarding
kernel support, perf support, etc.  Be aware that the vendor kernel is
quite far from upstream with low quality code.

Regarding compiler and software support for the RISC-V vector extensions,
well, let's use this machine to improve things :)  We will track Debian
unstable with frequent package updates.

There are more boards with this SoC, suggestions on how to best use them
are welcome.

Baptiste

On 29-05-24, Baptiste Jonglez via cfarm-users wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> We may have an opportunity to add the following RISC-V board to the farm:
> 
> https://docs.banana-pi.org/en/BPI-F3/BananaPi_BPI-F3
> https://docs.banana-pi.org/en/BPI-F3/SpacemiT_K1
> 
> The CPU core is advertised as having "RVA22 Profile and 256-bit RVV 1.0",
> that is, support for the Vector extension.
> 
> To gauge interest for this board and be able to apply for a hardware
> donation, we need some feedback:
> 
> 1) do you have an interest for the RISC-V Vector extension in general?
> 
> 2) do you have an interest for this specific CPU core?
> 
> 3) what can of work would you be able to do with this board, assuming it
>    becomes available in the farm?
> 
> 4) do you care about running an upstream Linux kernel on this board, or is
>    a vendor kernel sufficient for your work?
> 
> We don't have any estimate about how long it would take to integrate such
> a board, but it could easily take 6 months to 1 year (possibly much more if
> we need to run an upstream kernel).
> 
> Thanks,
> Baptiste
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