index.mdwn

   1 <div class="jumbotron">
   2   <h1 class="display-5">Welcome to Libre-SOC</h1>
   3 <blockquote>
   4   <p>We're building a chip. A fast chip. A safe chip. A trusted chip.</p>
   5
   6   <p>A chip with lots of peripherals. And a VPU.  And a 3D GPU...</p>
   7
   8   <p>Oh and here, have the <a href="http://git.libre-soc.org">source code</a>...</p>
   9 </blockquote>
  10   <hr class="my-4">
  11
  12 <h2 class="display-5">Why should I care?</h2>
  13
  14 With Libre-SOC, you can take complex algorithms usually intended for
  15 power hungry servers with big fat GPUs, and run them on tiny devices
  16 like smartwatches, cellphones, and pocket drones without changing your
  17 code at all.
  18
  19   <hr class="my-4">
  20
  21 <h2 class="display-5">Hasn't Somebody Already Done This?</h2>
  22
  23 To the best of our knowledge, no. The closest systems would be ARM Cortex
  24 devices which currently offer mediocre GPU and OpenCL support. Often
  25 times, it is quite difficult for customers to get their hands on the
  26 drivers and install them due to their locked down nature. Libre-SOC is
  27 providing our own Free/Libre drivers. Easy as 1, 2, 3!
  28
  29   <hr class="my-4">
  30
  31 <h2 class="display-5">Does Open Hardware Really Work?</h2>
  32 <p>A few names come to mind:</p>
  33
  34 <ul>
  35 <li><a href="https://www.raspberrypi.org">Raspberry Pi</a></li>
  36 <li><a href="https://www.arduino.cc">Arduino</a></li>
  37 <li><a href="https://www.raptorcs.com">Raptor Computing Systems</a></li>
  38 <li><a href="https://www.bitcraze.io">CrazyFlie</a></li>
  39 <li><a href="https://www.scopefun.com">ScopeFun</a></li>
  40 </ul>
  41
  42   <p class="lead">
  43     <a class="btn btn-primary btn-lg" href="https://libre-soc.org/why_a_libresoc/" role="button">Learn more</a>
  44
  45 </div>
  46
  47
  48
  49 # Our Team
  50
  51 We are proud of our talented and diverse [team](about_us).
  52
  53 # Our sponsors and partners
  54
  55 * [Purism](http://puri.sm) donates to us through [NLNet](nlnet)
  56   charitable gifting
  57 * [Raptor CS](http://raptorcs.com) has given us access to a powerful
  58   18-core 128 GB RAM TALOS II workstation, online.
  59 * [Raptor Engineering](https://raptorengineering.com) is providing
  60   additional assistance including access to an [[shakti/m_class/LPC]]
  61   interface (more to come)
  62 * [MarketNext](http://marketnext.org) is helping us connect to developer
  63   resources in Emerging markets, for completion of NLNet-funded tasks.
  64   See the upcoming [Hackathon](https://www.youtube.com/embed/Px6eakWja3Q"),
  65   deadline May 15th
  66 * The [[PowerPC Notebook]] Project
  67 * [RED Semiconductor](http://redsemiconductor.com) is the commercial realisation of Libre-SOC technology that respects and actively supports Libre principles in its business objectives.
  68 * [[fed4fire]] for supercomputer access for verilator simulations,
  69   with thanks to Ghent University / IMEC.
  70
  71 # Status and TODO <a name="TODO"></a>
  72
  73 This section covers more future tasks.  A progress report
  74 is available at the [[3d_gpu]] page.
  75
  76 | Date     | Task                                      | bug   |
  77 | -------- | ----------------------------------------- | ----- |
  78 | Oct 2020 | Integer OpenPOWER ISA v3.0 implemented    | [[!bug 383]]   |
  79 | Sep 2020 | ECP5 FPGA running basic bare metal        | [[!bug 22]]      |
  80 | TODO     | 180nm GDS-II IMEC tapeout Jun 9th         | [[!bug 199]]    |
  81 | TODO     | Complete MMU for GNU/Linux OSes           | [[!bug 51]]      |
  82 | TODO     | ISA Simulators                            | [[!bug 241]]      |
  83 | TODO     | power-gem5 Simulator                      | [[!bug 581]]      |
  84 | TODO     | binutils support for SVP64                | [[!bug 550]]      |
  85 | TODO     | gcc support for SVP64                     | [[!bug 558]]      |
  86 | TODO     | [[openpower/sv/svp64]] Vectorisation      | [[!bug 583]]     |
  87 | TODO     | In-order execution engine                 |       |
  88 | TODO     | out-of-order execution engine             | [[!bug 81]]       |
  89 | TODO     | Video Instructions and libraries          | [[!bug 137]]      |
  90 | TODO     | IEEE754 FP HDL Library                    | [[!bug 48]]      |
  91 | TODO     | Kazan 3D Vulkan Driver                    | [[!bug 54]]      |
  92 | TODO     | MESA 3D Vulkan Driver                     | [[!bug 251]]      |
  93 | TODO     | 3D instructions                           | [[!bug 252]]       |
  94 | TODO     | cryptographic [[openpower/sv/bitmanip]] instructions   |       |
  95 | TODO     | [[crypto_router_asic]] (130nm?)           | [[!bug 589]]       |
  96 | TODO     | Kestrel BMC Port                          |       |
  97 | TODO     | Debug Working Group (JTAG, DMI, FSI)      |       |
  98
  99 # How Can I Help?
 100
 101 If you would like to fund us, see [[funding]]. We currently have some
 102 funding and always appreciate more!  If you are a Corporation or an
 103 individual you can donate tax-free to NLNet, and they can in turn gift
 104 our developers.  Contact lkcl@lkcl.net for more information.
 105
 106 # How Can I Help as a Developer? <a name="help_as_developer"></a>
 107
 108 If you want to write code with us (and receive donations from NLNet
 109 for doing so), keep reading.  If you want to *learn*
 110 so that you can write code with us, see "How can I learn" section,
 111 below.  If there is anything else,
 112 just get in touch on the list, there is plenty to do.
 113
 114 1. First, join the
 115   [mailing list](http://lists.libre-soc.org/mailman/listinfo/libre-soc-dev),
 116   introduce yourself (people will happily say "hello" back") and
 117   the Freenode IRC channel
 118   [#libre-soc](https://libre-soc.org/irclog/latest.log.html).
 119   Read through
 120   [recent posts](http://lists.libre-soc.org/pipermail/libre-soc-dev/)
 121   and the [[charter]], ask questions if you have any and let everyone know,
 122   on the list that you're happy with it and agree to it.
 123 2. The next thing you should do is read through the
 124   [bugs list](http://bugs.libre-soc.org) and
 125   see if there are any bugs that pique your interest.
 126   A fascinating way to do that is to view the
 127   [dependency graph](https://bugs.libre-soc.org/showdependencygraph.cgi?id=1&display=web&rankdir=LR)
 128 3. After that, go ahead and take a look at the
 129    [git repositories](https://git.libre-soc.org).
 130 4. If you plan to do HDL work, you should familiarize yourself with our
 131   [[HDL_workflow]].  If you would like to help with the ASIC layout,
 132   see [[HDL_workflow/coriolis2]]
 133 5. We do have funding available (see [[nlnet]]) upon completion of issues -
 134   we are also working on procuring more funding which gets the project to
 135   nanometre scale tapeout.
 136 6. After all this, if you feel that Libre-SOC is a something
 137   that you would like to contribute to, add yourself to the
 138   [current_members](about_us) page, fill in some information about yourself,
 139   and join the mailing list and say hello.
 140
 141 Also note that you can edit this wiki.  You can experiment in the [[Sandbox]].
 142
 143 ## Quick peek at the code
 144
 145 Here is an example process of how to play with the soc code.  The last
 146 step you will have needed to install yosys:
 147
 148     pip3 install virtualenv requests
 149     mkdir ~/.virtualenvs && cd ~/.virtualenvs
 150     python3 -m venv libresoc
 151     source ~/.virtualenvs/libresoc/bin/activate
 152
 153     cd ~; mkdir libresoc; cd libresoc
 154     git clone https://git.libre-soc.org/git/nmigen.git
 155     git clone https://git.libre-soc.org/git/nmigen-soc.git
 156     git clone https://git.libre-soc.org/git/nmutil.git
 157     git clone https://git.libre-soc.org/git/openpower-isa.git
 158     git clone https://git.libre-soc.org/git/c4m-jtag.git
 159     git clone https://git.libre-soc.org/git/ieee754fpu.git
 160     git clone https://git.libre-soc.org/git/soc.git
 161
 162     cd nmigen; python setup.py develop; cd ..
 163     cd nmigen-soc; python setup.py develop; cd ..
 164     cd c4m-jtag; python setup.py develop; cd ..
 165     cd nmutil; make develop; cd ..
 166     cd openpower-isa; make develop; cd ..
 167     cd ieee754fpu; make develop; cd ..
 168     cd soc; make gitupdate; make develop
 169
 170     python3 src/soc/decoder/power_decoder.py
 171     yosys -p "read_ilang decoder.il; show dec31"
 172
 173 The full install process may be automated using scripts found
 174 here: <https://git.libre-soc.org/?p=dev-env-setup.git;a=summary>
 175 which you can clone with:
 176
 177     git clone https://git.libre-soc.org/git/dev-env-setup.git
 178
 179 ## How can I learn?
 180
 181 The whole purpose of this project is to be a learning environment as well
 182 as an actual business.  If you want to learn how to do ASIC design, with
 183 a view to contributing or starting your own ASIC business, start here:
 184 [[3d_gpu/tutorial]]. Yes, really: do not let anyone tell you that you
 185 can't learn this stuff too.
 186
 187 Along the way, if you find any [[resources]] or links that you found
 188 particularly helpful, please add them to that page so that other people
 189 can also benefit (and you have a place to remember them, too).
 190
 191 ## Needed Skills
 192
 193 Most labor is currently being applied to developing the GPU portion of
 194 the Libre-SOC.
 195
 196 Our highest priority short-term and medium-term: we need HDL engineers.
 197 Particularly those familiar
 198 with nMigen or just python.  Most of the techniques being used require
 199 software engineering skills (OO design, polymorphism) than they do more
 200 traditional HDL programming skills. Basically if you have experience in 2
 201 of the following you'll do fine: python, nmigen, verilog/VHDL/gate-level
 202 design. See [[HDL_workflow]]
 203
 204 We also need to find a c++ engineer with compiler experience to work on
 205 a MESA 3D driver. This will begin life similar to SwiftShader however
 206 retaining the vectorisation and predication intrinsics then adding
 207 hardware accelerated opcodes (all of which SwiftShader lacks)
 208
 209 Also, individuals with experience in formal mathematical verification
 210 are quite welcome.
 211
 212 # Documentation
 213
 214  - [Source Code](/docs/)
 215  - [Architecture](3d_gpu/architecture)