Canonical Adds Microchip's New PIC64GX to Its List of Ubuntu-Supported RISC-V Platforms
Microchip's new quad-core 64-bit application-class PIC64GX processors now an official target for Ubuntu Server 24.04.
Canonical has announced another new entry in its growing list of RISC-V platforms for which an official Ubuntu Linux image is available, launching an image for Microchip's new PIC64GX family of 64-bit RISC-V processors.
"In an exciting development for the community of open source and edge computing, Canonical has partnered with Microchip to bring Ubuntu to PIC64GX RISC-V microprocessors (MPUs)," Canonical confirmed in an announcement this week. "Canonical and Microchip have jointly collaborated to bring Ubuntu to Microchip’s PIC64GX RISC-V MPU and the Curiosity Evaluation Kit."
Microchip unveiled the PIC64GX early last month, marking its entry into the 64-bit RISC-V microprocessor market with parts boasting up to four SiFive U54 cores running at up to 625MHz and a fifth E51 core as a built-in monitor. With support for up to 32GB of DDR4 or LPDRR4 memory, the launch-model PIC64GX1000 is compatible with the Linux kernel — and Canonical has become the first to offer official support.
That official image is based on Ubuntu Server 24.04, which the company also makes available for Microchip's PolarFire SoC Icicle Kit — a development board based on the PolarFire SoC, a chip that combines an FPGA fabric with hard-core RISC-V processors and which we covered in our FPGAdventures series. Canonical has also ported the distribution to other RISC-V platforms including the Milk-V Mars single-board computer, the Sipeed LicheeRV Dock, the StarFive VisionFive 2, and SiFive's in-house Unmatched board, as well as the QEMU emulator.
"The collaboration between Microchip and Canonical ensures ongoing compatibility and regular updates on Ubuntu for the PIC64GX," Canonical claims of the deal between the two firms. "This partnership empowers developers to utilize cutting-edge open source technologies on a secure, scalable and efficient embedded computing platform."
All the official Ubuntu RISC-V images are available to download from the Ubuntu site now.