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Off-the-shelf personal computer? by Unknown on Dec 3, 2008			Not available!
Howdy! I'd like to find an FPGA-based personal computer design that I could load onto my Xilinx Spartan-3A starter kit and write programs for. I'd like an easy-to-setup design that includes a 32-bit CPU (with gcc backend) and controllers for ethernet, keyboard, mouse, and vga. My main goal is to have a nice simple platform to experiment with writing device drivers for, but I'm looking at the FPGA in case I could also have an open-source hardware design that I can study and tweak as I go along. Is there such a beast? The 'net seems to have all the bits: zpu, zpu-gcc, vga / ethernet / etc controllers, but I wonder if I can find them bundled up in a neat package that I could start using before I really understand :-) Cheers! -Luke Howdy! I'd like to find an FPGA-based personal computer design that I could load onto my Xilinx Spartan-3A starter kit and write programs for. I'd like an easy-to-setup design that includes a 32-bit CPU (with gcc backend) and controllers for ethernet, keyboard, mouse, and vga. My main goal is to have a nice simple platform to experiment with writing device drivers for, but I'm looking at the FPGA in case I could also have an open-source hardware design that I can study and tweak as I go along. Is there such a beast? The 'net seems to have all the bits: zpu, zpu-gcc, vga / ethernet / etc controllers, but I wonder if I can find them bundled up in a neat package that I could start using before I really understand :-) Cheers! -Luke

Off-the-shelf personal computer? by JeremyBennett on Dec 3, 2008			JeremyBennett Posts: 815 Joined: May 29, 2008 Last seen: Jun 13, 2019
On Wed, 2008-12-03 at 19:19 +1000, Luke Gorrie wrote: [q] Howdy! I'd like to find an FPGA-based personal computer design that I could load onto my Xilinx Spartan-3A starter kit and write programs for. I'd like an easy-to-setup design that includes a 32-bit CPU (with gcc backend) and controllers for ethernet, keyboard, mouse, and vga. My main goal is to have a nice simple platform to experiment with writing device drivers for, but I'm looking at the FPGA in case I could also have an open-source hardware design that I can study and tweak as I go along. Is there such a beast? The 'net seems to have all the bits: zpu, zpu-gcc, vga / ethernet / etc controllers, but I wonder if I can find them bundled up in a neat package that I could start using before I really understand :-)[/q] Hi Luke, OpenRISC, and its SoC derivative ORPSoC meet your criteria. Take a look at: <A HREF="http://www.opencores.org/projects.cgi/web/or1k/orpsoc">http://www.opencores.org/projects.cgi/web/or1k/orpsoc</A> The peripherals you require are all there, and there is a full GNU toolchain and Linux 2.6 port. HTH, Jeremy -- Tel: +44 (1202) 416955 Cell: +44 (7970) 676050 SkypeID: jeremybennett Email: <A HREF="http://www.opencores.org/mailman/listinfo/cores">jeremy.bennett at embecosm.com</A> Web: www.embecosm.com On Wed, 2008-12-03 at 19:19 +1000, Luke Gorrie wrote: Howdy! I'd like to find an FPGA-based personal computer design that I could load onto my Xilinx Spartan-3A starter kit and write programs for. I'd like an easy-to-setup design that includes a 32-bit CPU (with gcc backend) and controllers for ethernet, keyboard, mouse, and vga. My main goal is to have a nice simple platform to experiment with writing device drivers for, but I'm looking at the FPGA in case I could also have an open-source hardware design that I can study and tweak as I go along. Is there such a beast? The 'net seems to have all the bits: zpu, zpu-gcc, vga / ethernet / etc controllers, but I wonder if I can find them bundled up in a neat package that I could start using before I really understand :-) Hi Luke, OpenRISC, and its SoC derivative ORPSoC meet your criteria. Take a look at: http://www.opencores.org/projects.cgi/web/or1k/orpsoc The peripherals you require are all there, and there is a full GNU toolchain and Linux 2.6 port. HTH, Jeremy -- Tel: +44 (1202) 416955 Cell: +44 (7970) 676050 SkypeID: jeremybennett Email: jeremy.bennett at embecosm.com Web: www.embecosm.com

Off-the-shelf personal computer? by Unknown on Dec 4, 2008			Not available!
You want access to a computer with an FPGA board ? I have a Stratix II from altera. I could grant you some access to it... ----- Original Message ----- From: Luke Gorrie<<A HREF="http://www.opencores.org/mailman/listinfo/cores">lukego at g...</A>> To: Date: Wed Dec 3 10:19:39 CET 2008 Subject: [oc] Off-the-shelf personal computer? [q] Howdy! I'd like to find an FPGA-based personal computer design that I could load onto my Xilinx Spartan-3A starter kit and write programs for. I'd like an easy-to-setup design that includes a 32-bit CPU (with gcc backend) and controllers for ethernet, keyboard, mouse, and vga. My main goal is to have a nice simple platform to experiment with writing device drivers for, but I'm looking at the FPGA in case I could also have an open-source hardware design that I can study and tweak as [/q] I [q] go along. Is there such a beast? The 'net seems to have all the bits: zpu, zpu-gcc, vga / ethernet / etc controllers, but I wonder if I can find them bundled up in a neat package that I could start using before I really understand :-) Cheers! -Luke [/q] You want access to a computer with an FPGA board ? I have a Stratix II from altera. I could grant you some access to it... ----- Original Message ----- From: Luke Gorrielukego at g...> To: Date: Wed Dec 3 10:19:39 CET 2008 Subject: [oc] Off-the-shelf personal computer? Howdy! I'd like to find an FPGA-based personal computer design that I could load onto my Xilinx Spartan-3A starter kit and write programs for. I'd like an easy-to-setup design that includes a 32-bit CPU (with gcc backend) and controllers for ethernet, keyboard, mouse, and vga. My main goal is to have a nice simple platform to experiment with writing device drivers for, but I'm looking at the FPGA in case I could also have an open-source hardware design that I can study and tweak as I go along. Is there such a beast? The 'net seems to have all the bits: zpu, zpu-gcc, vga / ethernet / etc controllers, but I wonder if I can find them bundled up in a neat package that I could start using before I really understand :-) Cheers! -Luke

Off-the-shelf personal computer? by Unknown on Dec 4, 2008			Not available!
Well, there is no real "instant-use" cpu with all those features. I'd recommend using the Leon 3 CPU, which is featuring an excellent bundle of tools, documentation and extensive controller sets. The setup and configuration is relatively easy and fast forward as there are configuration tools which does most of the work for you. However you will need to tweak the VHDL to fit your board. ----- Original Message ----- From: inertialtronics at yahoo.com<<A HREF="http://www.opencores.org/mailman/listinfo/cores">inertialtronics at y...</A>> To: Date: Thu Dec 4 01:51:34 CET 2008 Subject: [oc] Off-the-shelf personal computer? [q] You want access to a computer with an FPGA board ? I have a Stratix II from altera. I could grant you some access to it... ----- Original Message ----- From: Luke Gorrie<lukego at g...> To: Date: Wed Dec 3 10:19:39 CET 2008 Subject: [oc] Off-the-shelf personal computer? [q]> Howdy! > > I'd like to find an FPGA-based personal computer design that I > could > load onto my Xilinx Spartan-3A starter kit and write programs [/q] for. [q]> I'd > like an easy-to-setup design that includes a 32-bit CPU (with [/q] gcc [q]> backend) and controllers for ethernet, keyboard, mouse, and [/q] vga. My [q]> main goal is to have a nice simple platform to experiment with > writing > device drivers for, but I'm looking at the FPGA in case I [/q] could [q]> also > have an open-source hardware design that I can study and tweak [/q] as I [q]> go > along. > Is there such a beast? The 'net seems to have all the bits: [/q] zpu, [q]> zpu-gcc, vga / ethernet / etc controllers, but I wonder if I [/q] can [q]> find > them bundled up in a neat package that I could start using [/q] before I [q]> really understand :-) > Cheers! > -Luke > > [/q] [/q] Well, there is no real "instant-use" cpu with all those features. I'd recommend using the Leon 3 CPU, which is featuring an excellent bundle of tools, documentation and extensive controller sets. The setup and configuration is relatively easy and fast forward as there are configuration tools which does most of the work for you. However you will need to tweak the VHDL to fit your board. ----- Original Message ----- From: inertialtronics at yahoo.cominertialtronics at y...> To: Date: Thu Dec 4 01:51:34 CET 2008 Subject: [oc] Off-the-shelf personal computer? You want access to a computer with an FPGA board ? I have a Stratix II from altera. I could grant you some access to it... ----- Original Message ----- From: Luke Gorrie To: Date: Wed Dec 3 10:19:39 CET 2008 Subject: [oc] Off-the-shelf personal computer? > Howdy! > > I'd like to find an FPGA-based personal computer design that I > could > load onto my Xilinx Spartan-3A starter kit and write programs for. > I'd > like an easy-to-setup design that includes a 32-bit CPU (with gcc > backend) and controllers for ethernet, keyboard, mouse, and vga. My > main goal is to have a nice simple platform to experiment with > writing > device drivers for, but I'm looking at the FPGA in case I could > also > have an open-source hardware design that I can study and tweak as I > go > along. > Is there such a beast? The 'net seems to have all the bits: zpu, > zpu-gcc, vga / ethernet / etc controllers, but I wonder if I can > find > them bundled up in a neat package that I could start using before I > really understand :-) > Cheers! > -Luke > >

Off-the-shelf personal computer? by Unknown on Dec 4, 2008			Not available!
On December 3, 2008 04:19:39 am Luke Gorrie wrote: [q] I'd like to find an FPGA-based personal computer design that I could load onto my Xilinx Spartan-3A starter kit and write programs for. I'd like an easy-to-setup design that includes a 32-bit CPU (with gcc backend) and controllers for ethernet, keyboard, mouse, and vga. My main goal is to have a nice simple platform to experiment with writing device drivers for, but I'm looking at the FPGA in case I could also have an open-source hardware design that I can study and tweak as I go along. Is there such a beast? The 'net seems to have all the bits: zpu, zpu-gcc, vga / ethernet / etc controllers, but I wonder if I can find them bundled up in a neat package that I could start using before I really understand :-)[/q] I haven't found anything really to that effect. The best thing I did was to get a Raggedstone MINI_CAN card and stuff it in a diskless (net-booting) PC. 1.5 million gates of FPGA hanging off a PCI bus with all the non-PCI pins broken out to 100-mil-center pins. I got sick of writing drivers for buggy, undocumented hardware. Now I can write the buggy hardware too. :-) diskless (nfs-root) is important because there's lots of opportunity to hang the system dead, and I didn't want to lose data. Now the filesystem sits safe and sound on my server, and I can reboot to my heart's content. :-) I know it's not quite what you're looking for, but it's relatively cheap and insanely expandable. -A. On December 3, 2008 04:19:39 am Luke Gorrie wrote: I'd like to find an FPGA-based personal computer design that I could load onto my Xilinx Spartan-3A starter kit and write programs for. I'd like an easy-to-setup design that includes a 32-bit CPU (with gcc backend) and controllers for ethernet, keyboard, mouse, and vga. My main goal is to have a nice simple platform to experiment with writing device drivers for, but I'm looking at the FPGA in case I could also have an open-source hardware design that I can study and tweak as I go along. Is there such a beast? The 'net seems to have all the bits: zpu, zpu-gcc, vga / ethernet / etc controllers, but I wonder if I can find them bundled up in a neat package that I could start using before I really understand :-) I haven't found anything really to that effect. The best thing I did was to get a Raggedstone MINI_CAN card and stuff it in a diskless (net-booting) PC. 1.5 million gates of FPGA hanging off a PCI bus with all the non-PCI pins broken out to 100-mil-center pins. I got sick of writing drivers for buggy, undocumented hardware. Now I can write the buggy hardware too. :-) diskless (nfs-root) is important because there's lots of opportunity to hang the system dead, and I didn't want to lose data. Now the filesystem sits safe and sound on my server, and I can reboot to my heart's content. :-) I know it's not quite what you're looking for, but it's relatively cheap and insanely expandable. -A.

Off-the-shelf personal computer? by Unknown on Dec 4, 2008			Not available!
2008/12/4 Jeremy Bennett <<A HREF="http://www.opencores.org/mailman/listinfo/cores">jeremy.bennett at embecosm.com</A>>: [q] OpenRISC, and its SoC derivative ORPSoC meet your criteria. Take a look at: <A HREF="http://www.opencores.org/projects.cgi/web/or1k/orpsoc">http://www.opencores.org/projects.cgi/web/or1k/orpsoc</A> The peripherals you require are all there, and there is a full GNU toolchain and Linux 2.6 port.[/q] Very interesting, thanks! Do you know if a complete system like OR1K can run on my Spartan-3A development board? or, if not, if there's some other readily-available (retail) development board that it works on? 2008/12/4 Jeremy Bennett jeremy.bennett at embecosm.com>: OpenRISC, and its SoC derivative ORPSoC meet your criteria. Take a look at: http://www.opencores.org/projects.cgi/web/or1k/orpsoc The peripherals you require are all there, and there is a full GNU toolchain and Linux 2.6 port. Very interesting, thanks! Do you know if a complete system like OR1K can run on my Spartan-3A development board? or, if not, if there's some other readily-available (retail) development board that it works on?

Off-the-shelf personal computer? by JeremyBennett on Dec 5, 2008			JeremyBennett Posts: 815 Joined: May 29, 2008 Last seen: Jun 13, 2019
On Fri, 2008-12-05 at 02:45 +1000, Luke Gorrie wrote: [q] 2008/12/4 Jeremy Bennett <<A HREF="http://www.opencores.org/mailman/listinfo/cores">jeremy.bennett at embecosm.com</A>>: [q]> OpenRISC, and its SoC derivative ORPSoC meet your criteria. Take a look > at: > > <A HREF="http://www.opencores.org/projects.cgi/web/or1k/orpsoc">http://www.opencores.org/projects.cgi/web/or1k/orpsoc</A> > > The peripherals you require are all there, and there is a full GNU > toolchain and Linux 2.6 port.[/q] Very interesting, thanks! Do you know if a complete system like OR1K can run on my Spartan-3A development board? or, if not, if there's some other readily-available (retail) development board that it works on?[/q] Hi Luke, You may like to talk to ORSoC (the owners of opencores.org). They sell an OpenRISC development board. See <A HREF="http://www.orsoc.se.">http://www.orsoc.se.</A> But since you already have a board... There are various older examples on the website, including using the XSV800 board, which was based on the Xilinx Virtex FPGAs. Since Spartan is also Xilinx, I would imagine the migration is not too difficult. An updated hardware guide for a modern off-the-shelf board would be much appreciated on the website if you'd like to write one... HTH, Jeremy -- Tel: +44 (1202) 416955 Cell: +44 (7970) 676050 SkypeID: jeremybennett Email: <A HREF="http://www.opencores.org/mailman/listinfo/cores">jeremy.bennett at embecosm.com</A> Web: www.embecosm.com On Fri, 2008-12-05 at 02:45 +1000, Luke Gorrie wrote: 2008/12/4 Jeremy Bennett jeremy.bennett at embecosm.com>: > OpenRISC, and its SoC derivative ORPSoC meet your criteria. Take a look > at: > > http://www.opencores.org/projects.cgi/web/or1k/orpsoc > > The peripherals you require are all there, and there is a full GNU > toolchain and Linux 2.6 port. Very interesting, thanks! Do you know if a complete system like OR1K can run on my Spartan-3A development board? or, if not, if there's some other readily-available (retail) development board that it works on? Hi Luke, You may like to talk to ORSoC (the owners of opencores.org). They sell an OpenRISC development board. See http://www.orsoc.se. But since you already have a board... There are various older examples on the website, including using the XSV800 board, which was based on the Xilinx Virtex FPGAs. Since Spartan is also Xilinx, I would imagine the migration is not too difficult. An updated hardware guide for a modern off-the-shelf board would be much appreciated on the website if you'd like to write one... HTH, Jeremy -- Tel: +44 (1202) 416955 Cell: +44 (7970) 676050 SkypeID: jeremybennett Email: jeremy.bennett at embecosm.com Web: www.embecosm.com

Off-the-shelf personal computer? by Unknown on Dec 9, 2008			Not available!
2008/12/4 <<A HREF="http://www.opencores.org/mailman/listinfo/cores">junktb at gmail.com</A>>: [q] I'd recommend using the Leon 3 CPU, which is featuring an excellent bundle of tools, documentation and extensive controller sets.[/q] Thanks! I'm really glad to have both Leon/GRLIB and ORSoC on my radar now :-) Incidentally I'm working on a research project to try and cut out the middle man (firmware/operating system) that sits between hardware and high-level applications. If anyone is interested in seeing my trials and tribulations they're over at <A HREF="http://lukego.livejournal.com/">http://lukego.livejournal.com/</A> and I'd be very interested in any helpful advice people might have :-) Cheers, -Luke 2008/12/4 junktb at gmail.com>: I'd recommend using the Leon 3 CPU, which is featuring an excellent bundle of tools, documentation and extensive controller sets. Thanks! I'm really glad to have both Leon/GRLIB and ORSoC on my radar now :-) Incidentally I'm working on a research project to try and cut out the middle man (firmware/operating system) that sits between hardware and high-level applications. If anyone is interested in seeing my trials and tribulations they're over at http://lukego.livejournal.com/ and I'd be very interested in any helpful advice people might have :-) Cheers, -Luke

Off-the-shelf personal computer? by JeremyBennett on Dec 9, 2008			JeremyBennett Posts: 815 Joined: May 29, 2008 Last seen: Jun 13, 2019
On Tue, 2008-12-09 at 14:49 +1000, Luke Gorrie wrote: [q] 2008/12/4 <<A HREF="http://www.opencores.org/mailman/listinfo/cores">junktb at gmail.com</A>>: [q]> I'd recommend using the Leon 3 CPU, which is featuring an excellent > bundle of tools, documentation and extensive controller sets.[/q] Thanks! I'm really glad to have both Leon/GRLIB and ORSoC on my radar now :-) Incidentally I'm working on a research project to try and cut out the middle man (firmware/operating system) that sits between hardware and high-level applications. If anyone is interested in seeing my trials and tribulations they're over at <A HREF="http://lukego.livejournal.com/">http://lukego.livejournal.com/</A> and I'd be very interested in any helpful advice people might have :-)[/q] Interesting project. Have you ever looked at the Nemesis operating system: <A HREF="http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/srg/netos/old-projects/nemesis/index.html">http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/srg/netos/old-projects/nemesis/index.html</A> Some of the underlying philosophy seems close to what you are trying to achieve. Almost everything occurs in user space - there is virtually no kernel. Hope this is of interest, Jeremy -- Tel: +44 (1202) 416955 Cell: +44 (7970) 676050 SkypeID: jeremybennett Email: <A HREF="http://www.opencores.org/mailman/listinfo/cores">jeremy.bennett at embecosm.com</A> Web: www.embecosm.com On Tue, 2008-12-09 at 14:49 +1000, Luke Gorrie wrote: 2008/12/4 junktb at gmail.com>: > I'd recommend using the Leon 3 CPU, which is featuring an excellent > bundle of tools, documentation and extensive controller sets. Thanks! I'm really glad to have both Leon/GRLIB and ORSoC on my radar now :-) Incidentally I'm working on a research project to try and cut out the middle man (firmware/operating system) that sits between hardware and high-level applications. If anyone is interested in seeing my trials and tribulations they're over at http://lukego.livejournal.com/ and I'd be very interested in any helpful advice people might have :-) Interesting project. Have you ever looked at the Nemesis operating system: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/srg/netos/old-projects/nemesis/index.html Some of the underlying philosophy seems close to what you are trying to achieve. Almost everything occurs in user space - there is virtually no kernel. Hope this is of interest, Jeremy -- Tel: +44 (1202) 416955 Cell: +44 (7970) 676050 SkypeID: jeremybennett Email: jeremy.bennett at embecosm.com Web: www.embecosm.com

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