Open Source | Significant Breakthrough in SG2042 Server Software Ecosystem!
Recently, with the collaborative efforts of SOPHGO and its ecosystem partners, the first UEFI boot solution based on RISC-V servers has successfully been integrated into the EDK2 main repository. The joint team has completed the development of the first RISC-V server firmware that complies with the UEFI standard, realizing a comprehensive boot solution for the high-performance RISC-V product SG2042, involving “EDK2 – GRUB2 – Linux kernel.” This achievement signifies that the RISC-V architecture can integrate into the industrial field of servers, following in the footsteps of x86 and ARM architectures, enhancing the server software ecosystem for the first server-grade processor, SG2042.
EDK2 Repository URL:
https://github.com/tianocore/edk2-platforms/tree/master/Platform/Sophgo
The team proposed a RISC-V firmware design solution, separating the implementation of OpenSBI and UEFI, and maintaining them independently. This effectively improved the source code of EDK2, realizing a comprehensive boot solution for the first high-performance RISC-V product, SG2042, involving “EDK2 – GRUB2 – Linux kernel.” The team also successfully ran the domestically developed operating system distribution, OpenKylin.
The overall boot process of the improved RISC-V server
The team further achieved the “RISC-V + TPU” intelligent computing fusion solution, realizing for the first time the driver and optimization of the Alcu TPU processor BM1684X on SG2042. In collaboration with the open-source community, they successfully ran more than 10 large language models, including Stable Diffusion for image generation, ChatGLM2, and Llama2. This breakthrough paves the way for AIGC applications on the RISC-V server platform, establishing a groundbreaking commercial case for the combination of RISC-V and Deep Learning technologies.
Special thanks to Professor Dai Hongjun of Shandong University, who chairs the UEFI on RISC-V working group, and the research team composed of students and faculty from the School of Software, School of Microelectronics, and Institute of Intelligent Innovation. Their strong support and collaboration with Alcu have contributed to the key technological breakthroughs in RISC-V. Alcu will continue to uphold the open-source ecosystem cooperation philosophy, working with ecosystem partners to promote the prosperity of RISC-V!
Educational Note: What is UEFI?
UEFI, short for “Unified Extensible Firmware Interface,” is the successor to traditional BIOS. UEFI is a modular, small-sized system constructed using advanced languages, primarily C language. Similar to BIOS, it mainly performs hardware initialization during the boot process. Currently, UEFI has become the mainstream method for server booting. UEFI is an open specification that defines the software interface between the operating system and platform firmware. From the user’s perspective, UEFI’s user interface is more user-friendly, and the layout is more logical. Laptops with integrated UEFI typically have basic UEFI functionality, with the settings interface integrated with the traditional BIOS settings. Overall, UEFI is a more advanced BIOS, providing significant improvements in both technical features and user experience compared to traditional BIOS.