From: cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net   
      
   In article <10bp20r$1vse5$1@dont-email.me>,   
   Simon Clubley   wrote:   
   >On 2025-10-03, Arne Vajhøj  wrote:   
   >> On 10/3/2025 8:12 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:   
   >>> On 2025-10-02, Dan Cross  wrote:   
   >>>> In article ,   
   >>>> David Goodwin   wrote:   
   >>>>> Set top boxes and routers were not the target market for Windows in the   
   >>>>> 90s, and they are clearly not a market Microsoft is interested in   
   >>>>> pursuing today.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Moreover, 99.9% of those MIPS CPUs that are outselling x86 are   
   >>>> embedded microcontrollers that just happen to use the MIPS   
   >>>> instruction set.  If they run any OS at all, it's way more than   
   >>>> likely to be some kind of RTOS.   
   >>>   
   >>> Here is one example at the lower end (which is also available in hobbyist   
   >>> friendly packaging):   
   >>>   
   >>> https://uk.farnell.com/microchip/pic32mx250f128b-i-sp/mcu-32   
   it-pic32-40mhz-spdip-28/dp/2097773   
   >>   
   >> I think this part of the spec illustrate the target market:   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> MIPS32® M4K® core with MIPS16e® mode for up to 40% smaller code size   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> Switching to 16 bit mode to reduce application size is not where   
   >> Microsoft is with Windows today.   
   >   
   >As you can see from the specs, and like the lower end ARM MCUs, it still   
   >has a lot of functionality within it however, making it well suited   
   >for its target role.   
   >   
   >It's also the most powerful MCU range I know of that has PDIP options.   
      
   I thought NXP offered a Cortex-M CPU in a PDIP package?  The   
   LPC1114FN28 appears to be such a thing.   
      
   >I do think the ARM architecture is _easily_ the nicer and most elegant   
   >architecture of the two however. ARM is also the only real viable option   
   >once you move to more powerful MCUs.   
      
   That's probably true, compared to MIPS.   
      
   >[And before anyone mentions it, I don't think RISC-V is there yet and   
   >it would need to see ARM's industrial strength and long-term staying   
   >power behind it before people were comfortable adopting it across the   
   >board. Basically, I see it as the same problem VMS has when compared   
   >to Linux.]   
      
   There are O(10^9) RISC-V cores shipped per year in the embedded   
   space at this point; NVIDIA alone shipped that many in 2024.   
      
   But if you need something that's an M7-class part, options   
   become rather more limited (which is a pity).  In terms of   
   providing something roughly equivalent to a Cortex-A5, RISC-V   
   has been there for a while.  What's really lacking, however, is   
   something a performance-competitive datacenter or desktop CPU.   
      
   Some of the SiFive cores are ok, but they have a long way to go   
   to reach the performance levels of Ampere, Graviton, or Apple   
   Silicon, let alone AMD EPYC or Intel Emerald Rapids.   
      
   	- Dan C.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)