Discussion

Precursor

sockbot: https://youtu.be/DaWkfSmIgRsThis talk from 3c explains the hardware and operating system side of the project.

DeathArrow: Two cores and 22nm doesn't scream performance if this is a general purpose CPU.

tliltocatl: Depends on your definition of general-purpose. It is much closer to RP2350 than to a Ryzen.

tliltocatl: ..which is a huge thing because AFAIK most Cortex-A SoCs on the market are full of undocumented peripherals. Cortex-Ms are usually sufficiently documented that you can bring them up from scratch. Once you want a MMU it's either "use our mainlined Linux drivers full of dark magic" (if you are very lucky - perfect if you want Linux, less so if you are developing your own OS), "use our Linux kernel full of binary blobs" (if you are less lucky) or, as a rule, "sign a NDA and don't even bother us if you aren't a billion-dollar corporation".(Started it as a minor edit, then decided to elaborate so moved it to a new comment).