fpgatools/README
Wolfgang Spraul 1f5d790f09 more switches
2012-09-14 04:19:23 +02:00

83 lines
2.9 KiB
Plaintext

Introduction
fpgatools is a toolchain to program flexible programmable gate arrays
(FPGAs). The only supported chip at this time is the xc6slx9, a cheap
(ca. 10 USD) but powerful 45nm-generation chip with about 2400 LUTs,
block ram and multiply-accumulate devices.
The principles of fpgatools are:
*) reach the maximum physical performance of the chip
*) fast development cycles
*) independent toolchain that only depends on other free software
*) lightweight C implementation without GUI
*) supported platform: Linux
*) license: public domain
FAQ
todo
Libraries
- libfpga-test autotest suite
- libfpga-cores reusable cores
- libfpga-stdlib standard design elements on top of libfpga-control
- libfpga-control programmatic access to libfpga-model
- libfpga-model memory-only representation of an FPGA
- libfpga-floorplan reads and writes .fp floorplan files
- libfpga-bit reads and writes .bit bitstream files
Design Utilities
- new_fp creates empty .fp floorplan file
- fp2bit converts .fp floorplan into .bit bitstream
- bit2fp converts .bit bitstream into .fp floorplan
- draw_svg_tiles draws a simple .svg showing tile types
fpgatools Development Utilities
- autotest executes test suite
- sort_seq sorts line-based text file by sequence numbers in strings
- merge_seq merges a pre-sorted text file into wire sequences
- pair2net reads the first two words per line and builds nets
- hstrrep high-speed hashed array based search and replace util
Design Principles
- small independent command line utilities, no GUI
- plain C, no C++
- simple Makefiles
- text-based file formats
- automatic test suite
- public domain software
TODO (as of 2012-08, expected time to delivery: months to years
completion status overall: 1%)
* support chips other than xc6slx9, maybe an ftg256 or fgg484-packaged
xc6 or the xc7a100
* many more test cases for autotester
* smarter autotester that can remember and verify groups of tests,
automatically oversee test execution, etc.
* 3 Debian packages: libfpga, libfpga-doc, fpgatools
* auto-crc calculation in .bit file
* many more cases in logic block configuration
* configuration of bram and macc blocks, bram initialization data
* routing switches
* many more cases in model of switches and inter-tile connections
* write standard design elements for libfpga-stdlib library
* support lm32 or openrisc core, either via libfpga or iverilog backend
* several places might benefit from a bison parser:
- switchbox description into bit parser/generator (bit_frames.c)
- inter-tile wire connections (model_conns.c)
- configure devices and route wires
* ipv6 or vnc in hardware?
* iverilog fpga backend
ChangeLog
2012-08-20
* Beginning of full fidelity circle with model, floorplan, conversion from
and to bitstream and floorplan formats.
2012-06-03
* Project started.