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
  72
  73 | Date     | Task                                      | bug   |
  74 | -------- | ----------------------------------------- | ----- |
  75 | Oct 2020 | Integer OpenPOWER ISA v3.0 implemented    |       |
  76 | Sep 2020 | ECP5 FPGA running basic bare metal        |       |
  77 | TODO     | 180nm GDS-II IMEC tapeout Jun 9th         |       |
  78 | TODO     | Complete MMU for GNU/Linux OSes           |       |
  79 | TODO     | ISA Simulators                            |       |
  80 | TODO     | binutils support for SVP64                |       |
  81 | TODO     | gcc support for SVP64                     |       |
  82 | TODO     | SVP64 Vectorisation                       |       |
  83 | TODO     | In-order execution engine                 |       |
  84 | TODO     | out-of-order execution engine             |       |
  85 | TODO     | Video Instructions and libraries          |       |
  86 | TODO     | IEEE754 FP HDL Library                    |       |
  87 | TODO     | MESA 3D Vulkan Driver                     |       |
  88 | TODO     | 3D instructions                           |       |
  89 | TODO     | cryptographic and bitmanip instructions   |       |
  90 | TODO     | Crypto-router ASIC (130nm?)               |       |
  91 | TODO     | Kestrel BMC Port                          |       |
  92 | TODO     | Debug Working Group (JTAG, DMI, FSI)      |       |
  93
  94 # How Can I Help?
  95
  96 If you would like to fund us, see [[funding]]. We currently have some
  97 funding and always appreciate more!  If you are a Corporation or an
  98 individual you can donate tax-free to NLNet, and they can in turn gift
  99 our developers.  Contact lkcl@lkcl.net for more information.
 100
 101 # How Can I Help as a Developer? <a name="help_as_developer"></a>
 102
 103 If you want to write code with us (and receive donations from NLNet
 104 for doing so), keep reading.  If you want to *learn*
 105 so that you can write code with us, see "How can I learn" section,
 106 below.  If there is anything else,
 107 just get in touch on the list, there is plenty to do.
 108
 109 1. First, join the
 110   [mailing list](http://lists.libre-soc.org/mailman/listinfo/libre-soc-dev),
 111   introduce yourself (people will happily say "hello" back") and
 112   the Freenode IRC channel
 113   [#libre-soc](https://libre-soc.org/irclog/latest.log.html).
 114   Read through
 115   [recent posts](http://lists.libre-soc.org/pipermail/libre-soc-dev/)
 116   and the [[charter]], ask questions if you have any and let everyone know,
 117   on the list that you're happy with it and agree to it.
 118 2. The next thing you should do is read through the
 119   [bugs list](http://bugs.libre-soc.org) and
 120   see if there are any bugs that pique your interest.
 121   A fascinating way to do that is to view the
 122   [dependency graph](https://bugs.libre-soc.org/showdependencygraph.cgi?id=1&display=web&rankdir=LR)
 123 3. After that, go ahead and take a look at the
 124    [git repositories](https://git.libre-soc.org).
 125 4. If you plan to do HDL work, you should familiarize yourself with our
 126   [[HDL_workflow]].  If you would like to help with the ASIC layout,
 127   see [[HDL_workflow/coriolis2]]
 128 5. We do have funding available (see [[nlnet]]) upon completion of issues -
 129   we are also working on procuring more funding which gets the project to
 130   nanometre scale tapeout.
 131 6. After all this, if you feel that Libre-SOC is a something
 132   that you would like to contribute to, add yourself to the
 133   [current_members](about_us) page, fill in some information about yourself,
 134   and join the mailing list and say hello.
 135
 136 Also note that you can edit this wiki.  You can experiment in the [[Sandbox]].
 137
 138 ## Quick peek at the code
 139
 140 Here is an example process of how to play with the soc code.  The last
 141 step you will have needed to install yosys:
 142
 143     pip3 install virtualenv requests
 144     mkdir ~/.virtualenvs && cd ~/.virtualenvs
 145     python3 -m venv libresoc
 146     source ~/.virtualenvs/libresoc/bin/activate
 147
 148     cd ~; mkdir libresoc; cd libresoc
 149     git clone https://git.libre-soc.org/git/nmigen.git
 150     git clone https://git.libre-soc.org/git/nmigen-soc.git
 151     git clone https://git.libre-soc.org/git/nmutil.git
 152     git clone https://git.libre-soc.org/git/openpower-isa.git
 153     git clone https://git.libre-soc.org/git/c4m-jtag.git
 154     git clone https://git.libre-soc.org/git/ieee754fpu.git
 155     git clone https://git.libre-soc.org/git/soc.git
 156
 157     cd nmigen; python setup.py develop; cd ..
 158     cd nmigen-soc; python setup.py develop; cd ..
 159     cd c4m-jtag; python setup.py develop; cd ..
 160     cd nmutil; make develop; cd ..
 161     cd openpower-isa; make develop; cd ..
 162     cd ieee754fpu; make develop; cd ..
 163     cd soc; make gitupdate; make develop
 164
 165     python3 src/soc/decoder/power_decoder.py
 166     yosys -p "read_ilang decoder.il; show dec31"
 167
 168 The full install process may be automated using scripts found
 169 here: <https://git.libre-soc.org/?p=dev-env-setup.git;a=summary>
 170 which you can clone with:
 171
 172     git clone https://git.libre-soc.org/git/dev-env-setup.git
 173
 174 ## How can I learn?
 175
 176 The whole purpose of this project is to be a learning environment as well
 177 as an actual business.  If you want to learn how to do ASIC design, with
 178 a view to contributing or starting your own ASIC business, start here:
 179 [[3d_gpu/tutorial]]. Yes, really: do not let anyone tell you that you
 180 can't learn this stuff too.
 181
 182 Along the way, if you find any [[resources]] or links that you found
 183 particularly helpful, please add them to that page so that other people
 184 can also benefit (and you have a place to remember them, too).
 185
 186 ## Needed Skills
 187
 188 Most labor is currently being applied to developing the GPU portion of
 189 the Libre-SOC.
 190
 191 Our highest priority short-term and medium-term: we need HDL engineers.
 192 Particularly those familiar
 193 with nMigen or just python.  Most of the techniques being used require
 194 software engineering skills (OO design, polymorphism) than they do more
 195 traditional HDL programming skills. Basically if you have experience in 2
 196 of the following you'll do fine: python, nmigen, verilog/VHDL/gate-level
 197 design. See [[HDL_workflow]]
 198
 199 We also need to find a c++ engineer with compiler experience to work on
 200 a MESA 3D driver. This will begin life similar to SwiftShader however
 201 retaining the vectorisation and predication intrinsics then adding
 202 hardware accelerated opcodes (all of which SwiftShader lacks)
 203
 204 Also, individuals with experience in formal mathematical verification
 205 are quite welcome.
 206
 207 # Documentation
 208
 209  - [Source Code](/docs/)
 210  - [Architecture](3d_gpu/architecture)