From 7aa5d181ad8590ac3353f4ed5372b9632acfa3c8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: lkcl Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2020 11:35:35 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] --- openpower/isans_letter.mdwn | 21 +++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 21 insertions(+) diff --git a/openpower/isans_letter.mdwn b/openpower/isans_letter.mdwn index 300ac2e85..a7c6b6792 100644 --- a/openpower/isans_letter.mdwn +++ b/openpower/isans_letter.mdwn @@ -21,6 +21,27 @@ added is formalised and standardised, such that we (and others) have a clear, standards-non-disruptive, atomic and non-intrusive path to extend the POWER ISA. +# Summary of Libre-SOC Project + +TODO brief summary of Libre-SOC project (hybrid CPU-GPU-VPU), thereby +helping explain exactly why we need extensive augmentation of POWER ISA. + +Basically it's because it is not a separate GPU-VPU, it's an *actual* +CPU-GPU-VPU. No separate GPU, because the CPU *is* the GPU. No separate +VPU, because the CPU *is* the GPU. There is not even a separate "pipeline": +the CPU pipelines *are* the GPU and VPU pipelines. + +Closest equivalents include the ARC core (which has VPU extensions and +3D extensions in the form of Broadcom's VideoCore IV) and the ICubeCorp +IC3128. Both are considered "hybrid" CPU-GPU-VPU processors. + +With the project being Libre - not proprietary and secretive and never +to be published, ever - it is no good having the extensions as "custom" +because "custom" is specifically for the cases where the augmented +toolchain is never, under any circumstances, published and made public by +the proprietary company. For business commercial reasons, Libre-SOC is +the total opposite of this proprietary, secretive approach. + ## Overview The PowerPC Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) is an abstract model of a -- 2.30.2