* New team member, Jock (hello Jock!) starts on the coriolis2 layout,
after Jean-Paul from LIP6.fr helped to dramatically improve how coriolis2
can be used. This resulted in a
- [tutoria](https://libre-riscv.org/HDL_workflow/coriolis2/) and a
- [huge bugreport discussion](http://bugs.libre-riscv.org/show_bug.cgi?id=178)
+ [tutorial](https://libre-riscv.org/HDL_workflow/coriolis2/) and a
+ [huge bug report discussion](http://bugs.libre-riscv.org/show_bug.cgi?id=178)
* Work has started on the
[POWER ISA decoder](http://bugs.libre-riscv.org/show_bug.cgi?id=186),
verified through
[calling GNU AS](https://git.libre-riscv.org/?p=soc.git;a=blob;f=src/soc/decoder/test/test_decoder_gas.py;h=9238d3878d964907c5569a3468d6895effb7dc02;hb=56d145e42ac75626423915af22d1493f1e7bb143) (yes, really!)
and on a mini-simulator
- [calling qemu](https://git.libre-riscv.org/?p=soc.git;a=blob;f=src/soc/simulator/qemu.py;h=9eb103bae227e00a2a1d2ec4f43d7e39e4f44960;hb=56d145e42ac75626423915af22d1493f1e7bb143)
+ [calling QEMU](https://git.libre-riscv.org/?p=soc.git;a=blob;f=src/soc/simulator/qemu.py;h=9eb103bae227e00a2a1d2ec4f43d7e39e4f44960;hb=56d145e42ac75626423915af22d1493f1e7bb143)
for verification.
-* Jacob's algorithmic library grows
+* Jacob's simple-soft-float library growing
[Power FP compatibility](http://bugs.libre-riscv.org/show_bug.cgi?id=258)
and python bindings.
* A Conference call with OpenPOWER Foundation Director, Hugh, and Timothy
Pearson from RaptorCS has been established every two weeks.
+* The OpenPOWER Foundation is also running some open
+ ["Virtual Coffee"](https://openpowerfoundation.org/openpower-virtual-coffee-calls/)
+ weekly round-table calls for anyone interested, generally, in OpenPOWER
+ development.
* Tim sponsors our team with access to a Monster Talos II system with a
whopping 128 GB RAM. htop lists a staggering 72 cores (18 real
with 4-way hyperthreading).
[Milestone tasks list(s)](http://bugs.libre-riscv.org/buglist.cgi?component=Milestones&list_id=567&resolution=---)
and a
[boat-load](http://lists.libre-riscv.org/pipermail/libre-riscv-dev/2020-March/thread.html)
- of bugreports to the list.
+ of bug reports to the list.
* Immanuel Yehowshua is participating in the Georgia Tech
- [https://create-x.gatech.edu/](Create-X) Programme, and is establishing
+ [Create-X](https://create-x.gatech.edu/) Programme, and is establishing
a Public Benefit Corporation in Atlanta, as an ethical vehicle for VC
Funding.
* A [Load/Store Buffer](http://bugs.libre-riscv.org/show_bug.cgi?id=216)
on the
[6600 scoreboard](https://libre-riscv.org/3d_gpu/architecture/6600scoreboard/)
page.
+* [Public-Inbox](http://bugs.libre-riscv.org/show_bug.cgi?id=181) was
+ installed successfully on the server, which is in the process of
+ moving to a [new domain name](http://bugs.libre-riscv.org/show_bug.cgi?id=182)
+ [Libre-SOC](http://libre-soc.org)
+* Build Servers have been set up with
+ [automated testing](http://lists.libre-riscv.org/pipermail/libre-riscv-dev/2020-March/005364.html)
+ being established
Well dang, as you can see, suddenly it just went ballistic. There's
almost certainly things left off the list. For such a small team there's
TODO
-# Arbitrary IEEE754 Algorithmic Library and POWER FP emulation
+# simple-soft-float Library and POWER FP emulation
+
+The
+[simple-soft-float](https://salsa.debian.org/Kazan-team/simple-soft-float)
+library is a floating-point library Jacob wrote with the intention
+of being a reference implementation of IEEE 754 for hardware testing
+purposes. It's specifically designed to be written to be easier to
+understand instead of having the code obscured in pursuit of speed:
+
+* Being easier to understand helps prevent bugs where the code does not
+ match the IEEE spec.
+* It uses the [algebraics](https://salsa.debian.org/Kazan-team/algebraics)
+ library that Jacob wrote since that allows using numbers that behave
+ like exact real numbers, making reasoning about the code simpler.
+* It is written in Rust rather than highly-macro-ified C, since that helps with
+ readability since operations aren't obscured, as well as safety, since Rust
+ proves at compile time that the code won't seg-fault unless you specifically
+ opt-out of those guarantees by using `unsafe`.
+
+It currently supports 16, 32, 64, 128-bit FP for RISC-V, along with
+having a `DynamicFloat` type which allows dynamically specifying all
+aspects of how a particular floating-point type behaves -- if one wanted,
+they could configure it as a 2048-bit floating-point type.
+
+It also has Python bindings, thanks to the awesome
+[PyO3](https://pyo3.rs/) library for writing Python bindings in Rust.
+
+We decided to write simple-soft-float instead
+of extending the industry-standard [Berkeley
+softfloat](http://www.jhauser.us/arithmetic/SoftFloat.html) library
+because of a range of issues, including not supporting Power FP, requiring
+recompilation to switch which ISA is being emulated, not supporting
+all the required operations, architectural issues such as depending on
+global variables, etc. We are still testing simple-soft-float against
+Berkeley softfloat where we can, however, since Berkeley softfloat is
+widely used and highly likely to be correct.
+
+simple-soft-float is [gaining support for Power
+FP](http://bugs.libre-riscv.org/show_bug.cgi?id=258), which requires
+rewriting a lot of the status-flag handling code since Power supports a
+much larger set of floating-point status flags and exceptions than most
+other ISAs.
+
+Thanks to RaptorCS for giving us remote access to a Power9 system,
+since that makes it much easier verifying that the test cases are correct.
+
+API Docs for stable releases of both
+[simple-soft-float](https://docs.rs/simple-soft-float) and
+[algebraics](https://docs.rs/algebraics) are available on docs.rs.
+
+One of the really important things about these libraries: they're not
+specifically coded exclusively for Libre-SOC: like softfloat-3 itself
+(and also like the [IEEE754 FPU](https://git.libre-riscv.org/?p=ieee754fpu.git))
+they're intended for *general-purpose* use by other projects. These are
+exactly the kinds of side-benefits for the wider Libre community that
+sponsorship, from individuals, Foundations (such as NLNet) and Companies
+(such as Purism and Raptor Engineering) brings.
+
+# OpenPOWER Conference calls
TODO
-# OpenPOWER Conference calls
+# OpenPower Virtual Coffee Meetings
TODO
# Sponsorship by RaptorCS with a TALOS II Workstation
-TODO
+TODO http://lists.libre-riscv.org/pipermail/libre-riscv-dev/2020-March/005291.html
# Epic Megagrants
TODO
+# Public-Inbox and Domain Migration
+
+TODO
+
+# Build Servers
+
+TODO
+
# Conclusion
TODO
+
projects / crowdsupply.git / blobdiff