Custom PC - UK (2020-02)

CUSTOMISATION / HOBBY TECH

W

hen the first microcontrollers based
on the open RISC-V instruction set
architecture (ISA) hit the market,
they weren’t exactly competing with the likes
of ARM and Atmel on price. SiFive’s popular
HiFive1 (reviewed in Issue 164) launched at
$79US,droppingto$59if youwerehappyto
waitforthesecondproductionrun(around

REVIEW

Sipeed Longan Nano

£62 and £46 respectively, ex VAT).

Plus, while the clock speed was

considerably higher than that of

the Arduino Uno on which it

based its layout, actually gaining

access to that performance

wasn’tstraightforward.

A coupleofyearson,andthecostof

SC-Vdevelopment

enthroughthefloor.

omSipeed,the

no,is a greatexample.

fullyfunctional,

ontroller-classRISC-V

for$4.90US(around

.80excVAT)–

completewitha case

anda colourLCD.

Whilethe

SeeedStudio

GroveAIHAT

(reviewedinIssue

195)useda high-

performancedual-

core64-bitRISC-V

partfromKendryteforitsSipeed-provided

system-on-module(SOM),theLongan

Nanooptsfora GD32Vmicrocontroller

fromGigaDevices.TheGD32Vis an

interestingbeast,introducedbythe Chinese

chipmakerearlierthisyearasa direct drop-in

replacementforitsARMCortex-M3-based

GD32,andit promisestodrawjust a third of

thepowerofitspredecessor.

ThesmallGD32Vis matedtoa

breadboard-friendlyArduinoNano-esque 46

x 20mmPCBwithtworowsofpin headers,

leftunpopulatedbutwith2.54mm pins

provided.Oneendoftheboardfeatures a

USBType-Cconnector,usedfor data and

gettingstartedwitha RIS

boardhasabsolutelyfall

Thelatestdesignfr

LonganNan

It offersa

microco

chipf

£ 3

c

p

With a RISC-V chip at its heart, can the Longan Nano

takeontheArduinofamily?

A micro-SD slot on the underside

provides storage expansion

Bundled assets, including 2D, 3D and audio files, enable you to get started quickly