It feels like one of the points here is that this is intended to be a niche product, not the mainboard that makes sense for most people. One of the advantages of Framework’s platform is that companies can make components that only make sense for a small fraction of laptop users.
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Yep, this is it!
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Risc is a concept, Arm and Risc-V are two separate implementations.
Apples devices are Risc based, as they are using the proprietary ARM, but Risc-V is entirely open. It is, in fact, more open than X86-64 which is owned by Intel and AMD (Piecemeal with each but with cross-licensing). X86-64 is the architecture most computers use today
On X86-64 a manufacturer must get a license from these parties, which has lead to a duopoly in processors. Nobody else can use it without being granted a license.
Risc-V however is entirely open. Risc-v isn’t a nail, it’s a crowbar.
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Every processor has a language it speaks. Programs (like chrome/firefox/whatever) when they are compiled from source code into executables, the compiler translates the code into the language the processor understands. The popular ones today are x86_64 which is used by almost every windows machine, Arm which is used by recent Apple computers and almost every cellphone, and Risc-V which is this motherboard.
The advantage of Risc-V is that it is open source. If you want to make an x86_64 processor then you need to be either AMD or Intel because they do not sell licenses to make x86_64 processors. If you want to make an Arm processor you need to pay Arm for a license. If you want to make a Risc-V processor, you can just do that because it is open source.
As an end user, you’re not going to see much of a benefit/difference, but personally I think the future is Risc-V because there is 1 fewer cost/hurdle to making a Risc-V processor.
I’d say the one particularly visible difference you’ll see as an end user is the Risc-V vector extensions were designed to be variable-length so instead of the situation we have on x86_64 where they release SSE1 then SSE2 then SSE3… then AVX512 and at each step, code compiled to use the newer extension won’t run on the older processors, with Risc-V the processor can have any size for its vector unit and programs will be able to make full use of it.
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Awesome news! So excited for the possibilities. Not for this particular option, but rather that Chinese manufacturers would notice this platform and see that Framework is more than willing to cooperate. I am waiting for a “Raspberry PI” moment.
@nrp, I asked this before, but today is a good day to reiterate. I am wondering, would it be possible someday to order stripped down version of a laptop chassis without the mainboard? Factory seconds seem like a good start, but why would I need another mainboard to spare if I already have one?
Given that RISC-V board would always remain niche, I doubt that Framework would set up their production line for it. So, potential customers would need to buy everything needed part by part (which would probably be much more expensive) or to buy factory second with a mainboard they don’t need. Either of the options is not environmentally friendly.
The media articles and HackerNews about this topic which I could find are below. Congratulations and enjoy the articles!
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FOSS is actually the community least likely to be fractured by this. Being open source, 99.9% of code can just be recompiled for any architecture you want. The only code that can’t be trivially recompiled for other architectures is assembly code. Its closed source code that fractures by CPU architecture (for example, most games being x86_64) which forces us into using compatibility layers like Rosetta.
I think you’re referring to the policy decision from Microsoft. Microsoft requires that Arm machines sold with Windows are sold with secureboot enabled and without the ability for the end-user to enroll their own keys. AFAIK this doesn’t apply to Risc-V because AFAIK there is no Risc-V release of Windows.
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Huh, did you forget a 0 somewhere? Even their RC cars are more expensive.
That seems to be in HKD or the currency suggested for Belarus not USD, or CAD.
Sometimes this happens for me as I’m using a VPN with obfuscation so no worry. The computers are a bit pricey for their specs to be clear though, but nowhere near that lol.
Edit: after looking it seems like the price is fairly reasonable for the specs actually. Of course as Risc-V still doesn’t have the best support, and alot of work needs to be done to make it usable, it’s not going to perform nearly as well but I’m kinda suprised on price
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Ohh ok. Yeah seems the default is HKD. Had to change to European shop, now it makes sense. That’s super confusing, they use the $ sign for both currencies.
No sale for EUR though 
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I suppose the demo of this mainboard at the RISC-V Summit Europe may happen at this session on Wednesday June 25th at Central European Time 08:00 in Munich.
Harnessing the Power of Collaboration Across Continents and Markets: A Panel Discussion
Yuning Liang, CEO, Deep Computing, Makeljana Shkurti, Growth Strategy & Ecosystem Relations at VRULL GmbH, Florian Wohlrab, CEO Open HW Group
Plenary on Wednesday June 25th at 08:00.
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I’m so excited for this! I was looking at the Roma laptop for tinkering, but this might be even better. Tragically I have a FW 16, but maybe there will be a reasonably priced refurbished 13 I could pick up. I can’t wait to upgrade my 16 to a RISC-V board whenever my current one is too old. And I’m hopeful by that time the RISC-V offerings will be as performant or more than their x86 or ARM counterparts.
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Wow, I never would have guessed we’d get RISC-V before ARM 
It’s a match made in heaven.
And it’s a 3rd party mainboard, that’s awesome! The framework is really acting like a “framework” for laptops now, mission accomplished.
Really looking forward to getting one of these in the future when they’ve progressed enough to be competitive, at least from a hardware standpoint.
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This is beyond awesome. Knowing myself, I’m extremely likely to pick up one of these. From what I’m seeing (OpenBSD/riscv64) and some crossreferencing product categories and names, it sounds like this should work but there might be some firmware tweaking needed. I’m boldly assuming that a product like this isn’t going to lock us out of accessing/tweaking firmware. 
This looks like an awesome opportunity for me to both play with RISC-V for the first time and have a convenient platform to (one can dream ambitiously) simultaneously dip my toes deeper into contributing to my favorite OS.
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This chip makes me think of having a Mini PC that has interchangeable parts, perhaps using the existing laptop parts since we would want a small size.
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I think this is very cool. For me, it’s going to hinge on price since my use case would be purely for tinkering. Here’s hoping it’s affordable, and if not maybe I’ll get a future iteration assuming RISC-V gains more traction as I suspect it will.
Being a FW16 owner, if I want one to mess around with, I’d need that Cooler Master case.
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I’m with you on this one. NFTs and crypto are pretty much only good for gambling and money laundering. I’ve been able to safely ignore any goofballs that push either without missing out on much.
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