Your weekly dose of RISC-V, single-board computers, maker hardware, and DIY electronics.

Banana Pi has officially introduced the BPI-SM10, one of the most ambitious RISC-V development boards announced this year.

At first glance, the headline is easy to spot: 60 TOPS of AI performance. But the real story is what's underneath. The board is powered by the new SpacemiT K3, the first processor to ship with RVA23 compliance—the newest standardized 64-bit RISC-V application profile.

That might sound like another spec sheet buzzword, but it's a milestone for the ecosystem. Previous RISC-V boards often needed heavily customized Linux images and board-specific patches. RVA23 gives Linux distributions like Ubuntu and Fedora a common target, making future software support much more straightforward.

The hardware itself is equally impressive. The K3 combines eight general-purpose CPU cores with eight AI accelerator cores, supports up to 32 GB of LPDDR5-6400 memory, and is capable of running surprisingly large language models locally. Banana Pi also made the board Jetson Orin Nano carrier compatible, making it easier for developers to migrate existing AI projects to an open architecture.

Specifications

Why it matters: AI performance grabs the headlines, but RVA23 compatibility may prove to be the bigger story. Standardized hardware means better Linux support, fewer custom kernels, and a much healthier software ecosystem for future RISC-V devices.

The Milk-V Jupiter is becoming one of the most exciting desktop-class RISC-V systems available.

The original Jupiter was a Mini-ITX development board that helped put desktop RISC-V on the map. The new Jupiter2 is an entirely different machine built around the same SpacemiT K3 processor found in Banana Pi's BPI-SM10.

Instead of a Mini-ITX motherboard, Jupiter2 is a compact mini PC measuring just 100 × 86 mm. Despite its smaller footprint, it packs some serious hardware:

Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that we're already seeing multiple manufacturers standardize around the same K3 platform. Shared silicon typically leads to better Linux support, more community development, and faster driver improvements.

Why it matters: The Jupiter2 isn't trying to replace the original Jupiter—it's helping establish the K3 as one of the first genuinely shared RISC-V platforms across multiple vendors.

The RV2 remains the budget option — a KY-X1 octa-core SoC with RVA22 and vector extension support, 2 TOPS of AI acceleration, up to 8 GB of LPDDR4X, dual M.2 slots (PCIe 2.0, two lanes each), and dual Gigabit Ethernet, all for around $64 for the top config. Canonical shipped Ubuntu developer images for it and mainline Linux picked up support as of kernel 6.18-rc1, so the software situation has genuinely improved since launch.

Worth being honest about where it still struggles, though: independent testing has found OpenWrt on the RV2 lacks working Wi-Fi, local LLM inference tops out around single-digit tokens/sec even on small models, and simultaneous dual-Ethernet throughput doesn't scale the way you'd hope. It's a legitimately good learning board for the price — just not one to expect smooth sailing from yet.

Highlights

Why it matters: it's the cheapest real entry point into RVA22-class RISC-V with mainline kernel support, but "supported" and "polished" are still different things here.

• AI acceleration is quickly becoming the next big feature for SBCs, with more manufacturers adding dedicated AI hardware to their newest boards.

• Desktop-class RISC-V systems are finally becoming practical for everyday Linux development.

• Competition between Banana Pi, Milk-V, Orange Pi, Radxa, and other manufacturers is driving faster hardware releases than we've seen in previous years.

We'll be keeping an eye on upcoming announcements from Luckfox, Milk-V, Orange Pi, Banana Pi, Radxa, and other emerging hardware makers.

If it runs Linux, blinks an LED, or makes us want to build something cool—you'll probably read about it here first.

See you next week!

— Solid State Bytes