Ask HN: Cost/time/obstacles for developing a modern, fast MIPS64 board?
With the recent discussion about x86 and other non-open platforms (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=11422531) I was wondering how feasible a (free&#x2F;open) desktop-capable MIPS64-based single board computer project would be. Commercial success&#x2F;viability is not a requirement.<p>PINE A64 raised $1.7m via kickstarter, but it&#x27;s a low-power SBC and I can&#x27;t tell how this amount relates to actual development&#x2F;prototyping costs. Many companies have their own (not so low-power) MIPS64 hardware (e.g. http:&#x2F;&#x2F;cavium.com&#x2F;OCTEON-II_CN68XX.html) and there&#x27;s even an old university project that designed and locally manufactured a MIPS board (http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cse.unsw.edu.au&#x2F;~cs9242&#x2F;asyst&#x2F;) so it&#x27;s not such an unreasonable idea, I hope.<p>Can any experts please share their insights and come up with an estimate for cost&#x2F;time to develop e.g. an 8&#x2F;16 core MIPS64 SBC with DDR4, PCI slots and other workstation board features, up to a working prototype stage? What would be the biggest obstacles?