RISC-V Ultracluster from Bitluni

[Unixon]

Oh, he did it again! Any responses are welcome

[brucehoult]

See also https://www.eevblog.com/forum/microcontrollers/diy-risc-v-ultracluster/msg5734560/

[Unixon]

See also https://www.eevblog.com/forum/microcontrollers/diy-risc-v-ultracluster/msg5734560/

Oh, I've lost to iMo literally a minute, that's fun.

[Unixon]

I'm surprised he went those great lengths to create this ultra-cluster and intrigued in what he's going to do next.
However, my biggest disappointment with this project is that he didn't even bother with centralized (hierarchical) firmware uploading so he could flash the entire thing from single master USB port.

[brucehoult]

I'm surprised he went those great lengths to create this ultra-cluster and intrigued in what he's going to do next.
However, my biggest disappointment with this project is that he didn't even bother with centralized (hierarchical) firmware uploading so he could flash the entire thing from single master USB port.

What makes you say that?

I'm sure he's not doing the hacked 3D printer thing for every chip on every board for every small software mod. That will just be loading a bootloader which is capable of receiving a new program and writing it to flash.

[Kilrah]

Yup, gotta flash that first program/bootloader before you can do so over whatever bus you implemented.
IIRC with Microchip and possibly others when you ordered thousands of chips you could have them programmed at the factory, but maybe WCH doesn't offer that...

[Unixon]

That will just be loading a bootloader which is capable of receiving a new program and writing it to flash.

I believe that's what he's been doing in previous projects and it may be just fine for small number of MCUs, but flashing bootloaders to 8k MCUs this way... not as fun as it looks.
My choice would be to make every previous level MCUs capable of completely flashing next level MCUs via SWD or whatever native interface they have.

[brucehoult]

Yup, gotta flash that first program/bootloader before you can do so over whatever bus you implemented.
IIRC with Microchip and possibly others when you ordered thousands of chips you could have them programmed at the factory, but maybe WCH doesn't offer that...

It would be strange if they couldn't do that, for an extra fee. They obviously test them.

You see in the video (2m23s) bitluni sitting down for a drink [1] with WCH CTO @patrick_riscv (reddit u/patrick_riscv) who is a pretty accessible guy and has several times offered to send me samples and devboards for new chips [2]. I even talked with him on an actual phone call once. And I'm just a hobbyist who buys half a dozen chips (maximum a $5 or $7 bag of 50 CH32V003).

Patrick has told me they'll do a customisation on a chip for as little as a 3000 chip order — needing an actual custom mask set — so I'd be surprised if pre-programming chips wouldn't be available if you asked. They're also happy to directly receive orders in multiples of 3000 for any chip they've ever made. It's easy to pull old masks and run off a wafer or ten. Of course this has a lead time of a couple of months.

[1] I want to say it's the Sissi & Franz Bar at MUC but I can be dead wrong on that, I was only there once.

[2] I'm like ... thanks, but I can afford $5 :-) What WCH actually does for free samples is give you a voucher for Aliexpress.  However I don't refuse offers of $600 SBCs from people like SpacemiT!

[NiHaoMike]

Would be neat to have a little patch antenna on each CH570 to take advantage of the wireless capabilities. (Maybe as a "RF camera" with a hole in a metal plate as the "pinhole"?) I doubt such a large number of transceivers that close enough would be particularly useful as compared to a smaller number with better antennas, but it's obvious that project wasn't meant to be practical.

[Peabody]

I guess this should be immediately obvious to the most casual observer, but could someone explain what an ultracluster is, and what Bitluni's "device" will be used for?

[brucehoult]

I guess this should be immediately obvious to the most casual observer, but could someone explain what an ultracluster is, and what Bitluni's "device" will be used for?

I'm sure any casual observer can see it looks pretty.

Also: winter is coming...

[Unixon]

I guess this should be immediately obvious to the most casual observer, but could someone explain what an ultracluster is, and what Bitluni's "device" will be used for?

Exactly for this:

Also: winter is coming...

A technologically advanced heat lamp that would calculate protein folding while providing warm and cozy atmosphere.

[Peabody]

I'm so glad I asked.