MIPS architecture: simple, clean, and quietly everywhere (once)

Source: Dev.to

What MIPS actually is

MIPS is a classic RISC instruction set architecture (ISA) that emphasizes simplicity, predictability, and clean design.
Its core ideas made it the teaching ISA for computer‑architecture courses for decades. If you learned about pipelining, hazards, or instruction scheduling in college, you probably used MIPS as the example.

Where MIPS was heavily used

MIPS never targeted consumer desktops seriously; instead, it dominated embedded and infrastructure systems.

• A large number of home and office routers ran Linux on MIPS chips.
• Early Chromebooks were built with MIPS processors, though they never became popular and later switched to ARM and x86.

Does MIPS still exist today?

Yes, but mostly in legacy or long‑life systems. New products usually choose ARM or RISC‑V, so MIPS is slowly fading rather than being suddenly dead.

Operating system support for MIPS

Linux

Linux has historically strong support for MIPS and was used on many embedded devices. It still works today, though MIPS is no longer a primary focus of Linux development.

BSD systems

• NetBSD: excellent MIPS support; NetBSD is known for running on many architectures, including MIPS.
• OpenBSD: supports MIPS mainly for embedded systems.

These ports remain possible but are niche.

Desktop operating systems

Modern desktop OSes do not support MIPS, and there is no mainstream desktop support from Windows, macOS, or major Linux desktop distributions.

Android

Android supported MIPS in the past, with a few MIPS‑based Android devices. Google dropped MIPS support after Android 5.x.

Why MIPS lost to ARM and RISC‑V

Several factors contributed:

• License fees: ARM and RISC‑V offer more favorable licensing terms.
• RISC‑V emergence: an open, royalty‑free ISA that attracted new designs.

These developments made MIPS less attractive for new projects.

Who should use MIPS today?

Realistically, only a few niche cases justify using MIPS, such as maintaining existing long‑life products. For most new designs, ARM or RISC‑V are better choices.

MIPS today in one sentence

MIPS is no longer the future, but it still exists in some present‑day systems.

Why MIPS still matters

MIPS taught the industry valuable lessons about RISC design. Both ARM and RISC‑V have incorporated ideas that originated from MIPS, so even as the architecture fades, its influence endures.

Final thoughts

MIPS didn’t fail loudly; it quietly stepped aside. Understanding MIPS provides insight into fundamental computer‑architecture concepts, knowledge that remains valuable today.