Canonical Launches a RISC-V Ubuntu Build for the Microchip PolarFire SoC Icicle Kit

Canonical has reiterated its commitment to bringing Ubuntu to devices built around the free and open-source RISC-V instruction set with a new release: Ubuntu for the Microchip PolarFire SoC FPGA Icicle Kit single-board computer.

"The realm of what’s possible for developers on RISC-V has just expanded by pairing Ubuntu, the most popular Linux OS, with the PolarFire SoC FPGA Icicle Kit from Microchip," says Canonical's Cindy Goldberg, vice-president of silicon alliance, of the partnership. "I predict that the RISC-V + FPGA + Ubuntu bundle will be at the top of developer’s shopping list this year."

Unveiled back in July 2020, the PolarFire SoC Icicle Kit is a chunky single-board computer built around Microchip's PolarFire SoC — an unusual chip which combines four 64-bit RISC-V cores with a low-power field-programmable gate array (FPGA) to offer a one-stop development platform. As we discovered during our FPGAdventures series the stock Linux distribution provided with the board was lacking, though subsequent updates dramatically improved matters — but Ubuntu will bring with it a range of quality-of-life improvements, not least of which is a modern package manager and a repository of pre-compiled software.

"Collaborating with Canonical as part of the Mi-V RISC-V Ecosystem initiative has added Microchip's PolarFire SoC FPGA support in Ubuntu," says Microchip's Cyril Jean. "Ubuntu's package manager, along with the wealth of supported packages, simplifies user application development and provides a familiar environment that bridges the gap between desktop and embedded Linux making it seamless to work on PolarFire SoC FPGAs."

Canonical has been working on RISC-V support in Ubuntu for some time, releasing board-specific operating system images for the Allwinner Nezha, Sipeed LicheeRV, SiFive HiFive Unmatched, and StarFive VisionFive single-board computers — and now the PolarFire SoC Icicle Kit. Differences between individual RISC-V chips and the boards in which they're installed, however, prevent it from offering a single standardized installer as with more established processor architectures, and all releases are described as for "early developer access" rather than for production use.

An image of Ubuntu Server 22.04.2 for the PolarFire SoC Icicle Kit is available to download from the Ubuntu RISC-V page now; at the time of writing, the newer Ubuntu 22.10 was not available. Those looking to run the OS will need to ensure their Icicle Kit has been updated to Hart Support Services (HSS) v2022.10 or above prior to installation. You can also read a summary of our FPGAdventures with the Icicle Kit right here on Hackster.io.