running.
Which ISAs, therefore, have or have had, at one point in time, a decent Software
-Ecosystem?
+Ecosystem? Debian supports most of these including s390:
* SPARC, created by Sun Microsystems and all but abandoned by Oracle.
+ Gaisler Research maintains the LEON Open Source Cores but with Oracle's
+ reputation nobody wants to go near SPARC.
* MIPS, created by SGI and only really commonly used in Network switches.
Exceptions: Ingenic with embedded CPUs,
and China ICT with the Loongson supercomputers.
multi-billion-unit mass volume markets that almost nobody
knows anything about. Included for completeness.
+In order of least controlled to most controlled, the viable
+candidates for further advancement are:
-
+* OpenRISC 1200, not controlled or restricted by anyone. no patent
+ protection.
+* RISC-V, touted as "Open" but actually strictly controlled under
+ Trademark License: too new to have adequate patent pool protection,
+ as evidenced by multiple adopters having been hit by patent lawsuits.
+*