conferences/ep2021.mdwn

   1 # Proposal
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   3 The Libre-SOC Project aims to bring to market a mass-volume System-on-a-Chip suitable for use in smartphones netbooks tablets and chromebooks, which is end-user programmable right to the bedrock. No spying backdoors, no treacherous DRM. Libre to the core (literally).
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   5 The Libre-SOC Project aims to bring to market a mass-volume System-on-a-Chip suitable for use in smartphones netbooks tablets and chromebooks, which is end-user programmable right to the bedrock. No spying backdoors, no treacherous DRM.
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   7 Python and standard Libre Project Management is used throughout:
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   9 * nmigen, a python-based HDL, is a fundamental and critical strategic choice in creating the hardware.
  10 * An IEEE754 FP hardware library has been developed using nmigen/python, as are hundreds of thousands of unit tests
  11 * An OpenPOWER ISA simulator is written in python, and is actually a PLY compiler based on the GardenSnake example
  12 * Several thousand unit tests for the HDL and simulator are written in python
  13 * coriolis2, the VLSI ASIC layout toolcjain, is a mixed c++ python application
  14 * Even the Standard Cell Library being used, called FlexLib, by Chips4Makers, is in python.
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  16 To say that python is critical to the project would be a massive understatement. This talk will give a brief overview of the above areas and give a glimpse into why python was chosen for each.