index.mdwn

   1 <div class="jumbotron">
   2   <h1 class="display-4">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-riscv.org">source code</a>...</p>
   9 </blockquote>
  10   <hr class="my-4">
  11
  12 <h2 class="display-4">Why should I care?</h2>
  13
  14 With LibreSOC, you can take complex algorithms usually intended for power
  15
  16 hungry servers with big fat GPUs, and run them on tiny devices like smartwatches,
  17
  18 cellphones, and pocket drones without changing your code at all.
  19
  20 <h2 class="display-4">Hasn't Somebody Already This?</h2>
  21
  22 To the best of our knowledge, no. The closest systems would be ARM Cortex devices
  23
  24 which currently offer mediocre GPU and OpenCL support. Often times, it is quite
  25
  26 diffcult for customers to get their hands on the drivers and install them due to
  27
  28 their locked down nature. LibreSOC is providing our own Free/Libre drivers. Easy as
  29 1, 2, 3!
  30
  31   <p class="lead">
  32     <a class="btn btn-primary btn-lg" href="#" role="button">Learn more</a>
  33   </p>
  34 </div>
  35
  36 Sounds cool? Learn more about the [why](why_a_libresoc) behind Libre-SOC
  37 and [our mission](The_Mission).
  38
  39 # Our Team
  40
  41 We are proud of our talented and diverse [team](about_us).
  42
  43 # Our sponsors
  44
  45 * [Purism](http://puri.sm) donates to us through [NLNet](nlnet)
  46   charitable gifting
  47 * [Raptor CS](http://raptorcs.com) has given us access to a powerful
  48   18-core 128 GB RAM TALOS II workstation, online.
  49
  50 # How Can I Help?
  51
  52 If you would like to fund us, see [[funding]]. We currently have some
  53 funding and always appreciate more!  If you are a Corporation or an
  54 individual you can donate tax-free to NLNet, and they can in turn gift
  55 our developers.  Contact lkcl@lkcl.net for more information.
  56
  57 If you want to write code with us, keep reading.  If you want to *learn* so that you can write code with us, see below.  If there is anything else, just get in touch on the list, there is plenty to do.
  58
  59 1. First, join the
  60 [mailing list](http://lists.libre-riscv.org/mailman/listinfo/libre-riscv-dev),
  61 introduce yourself (people will happily say "hello" back"). Read through
  62 [recent posts](http://lists.libre-riscv.org/pipermail/libre-riscv-dev/)
  63 and the [[charter]], and let everyone know, on the list that you're
  64 happy with it and agree to it.
  65 2. The next thing you should do is read through the [bugs
  66 list](http://bugs.libre-riscv.org) and see if there are any bugs that
  67 pique your interest.
  68 3. After that, go ahead and take a look at the
  69    [git repositories](https://git.libre-riscv.org).
  70 Try and clone a repository with
  71 ``git clone https://git.libre-riscv.org/git/repositoryname.git``
  72 4. If you plan to do HDL work, you should familiarize yourself with our
  73    [[HDL_workflow]].
  74 5. We do have funding available (see [[nlnet]]) upon completion of issues -
  75 we are also working on procuring more funding which gets the project to
  76 nanometre scale tapeout.
  77 6. After all this, if you feel that Libre-SOC is a something that
  78 you would like to contribute to, add yourself to the [current_members](about_us)
  79 page, fill in some information about yourself, and join the mailing list
  80 and say hello.
  81
  82 Also note that you can edit this wiki.  You can experiment in the [[Sandbox]].
  83
  84 ## How can I learn?
  85
  86 The whole purpose of this project is to be a learning environment as well as an actual business.  If you want to learn how to do ASIC design, with a view to contributing or starting your own ASIC business, start here: [[3d_gpu/tutorial]]. Yes, really: do not let anyone tell you that you can't learn this stuff too.
  87
  88 Along the way, if you find any [[resources]] or links that you found particularly helpful, please add them to that page so that other people can also benefit (and you have a place to remember them, too).
  89
  90 ## Needed Skills
  91
  92 Most labor is currently being applied to developing the GPU portion of
  93 the Libre-SOC.
  94
  95 The highest priority needed at the moment is a c++ engineer to work on
  96 a MESA 3D driver. This will begin life similar to SwiftShader however
  97 retaining the vectorisation and predication intrinsics as well as hardware
  98 accelerated opcodes (all of which SwiftShader lacks)
  99
 100 Medium to long-term we need HDL engineers. Particularly those familiar
 101 with nMigen or just python.  Most of the techniques being used require
 102 software engineering skills (OO design, polymorphism) than they do more
 103 traditional HDL programming skills. Basically if you have experience in 2
 104 of the following you'll do fine: python, nmigen, verilog/VHDL/gate-level
 105 design. See [[HDL_workflow]]
 106
 107 Also, individuals with experience in formal mathematical verification
 108 are quite welcome.
 109