MMIX on FPGA

(I tried to ask something similar a few days ago, but have yet to see
it on the list-- please forgive me if this is a duplicate.

I could be misremembering, but I seem to recall somebody (perhaps Tommy
Thorn?) saying that they knew of someone working on creating an FPGA
version of Knuth's MMIX CPU.

Does this ring a bell with anyone? Anyone know the status of this
project, or how to get in touch with the people involved?


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On Tue, 2008-08-12 at 18:41 +0000, Michael_Dorfman wrote:

> I could be misremembering, but I seem to recall somebody (perhaps
> Tommy
> Thorn?) saying that they knew of someone working on creating an FPGA
> version of Knuth's MMIX CPU.
>
> Does this ring a bell with anyone? Anyone know the status of this
> project, or how to get in touch with the people involved?

There was a thread on [mmixmasters-discussion]
end of last year. It was indeed Tommy Thorn
t...@numba-tu.com who started the thread.

Hellwig


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Here's the story:

fpgammix runs nearly all of the user-level integer subset of MMIX. Still lacking is handling of stack under- and overflow.

Note, this is _not_ a slick, well tested, high performance implementation like YARI. I wanted to throw together a quick implementation first so I could understand what it would take to make a faster pipelined implementation.

Nobody appeared interested and eventually other priorities took over, so I haven't touched it in almost a year.

If anyone is interested, I can release it under, say, GPL.

I had some fun writing a demo using audio, bitmapped graphics, PS/2 keyboard and mouse.

Tommy
--- On Sat, 8/23/08, Hellwig Geisse wrote:

> From: Hellwig Geisse
> Subject: Re: [fpga-cpu] MMIX on FPGA
> To: f...
> Date: Saturday, August 23, 2008, 10:30 AM
> On Tue, 2008-08-12 at 18:41 +0000, Michael_Dorfman wrote:
>
> > I could be misremembering, but I seem to recall
> somebody (perhaps
> > Tommy
> > Thorn?) saying that they knew of someone working on
> creating an FPGA
> > version of Knuth's MMIX CPU.
> >
> > Does this ring a bell with anyone? Anyone know the
> status of this
> > project, or how to get in touch with the people
> involved?
>
> There was a thread on [mmixmasters-discussion]
> end of last year. It was indeed Tommy Thorn
> t...@numba-tu.com who started the thread.
>
> Hellwig
>
>
> To post a message, send it to: f...
> To unsubscribe, send a blank message to:
> f... Start a New Thread

--- In f..., Tommy Thorn wrote:
> If anyone is interested, I can release it under, say, GPL.
>
> I had some fun writing a demo using audio, bitmapped graphics, PS/2
keyboard and mouse.

Which platform did you use ?
Which eval board ?

Cheers


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Altera's Nios Dev Kit, Cyclone ed (EP1C20), but it's fairly portable.

It does take up most of the EP1C20.

Tommy

--- On Sat, 8/23/08, e2kcpu wrote:

> From: e2kcpu
> Subject: [fpga-cpu] Re: MMIX on FPGA
> To: f...
> Date: Saturday, August 23, 2008, 2:51 PM
> --- In f..., Tommy Thorn
> wrote:
> >
> >
> > If anyone is interested, I can release it under, say,
> GPL.
> >
> > I had some fun writing a demo using audio, bitmapped
> graphics, PS/2
> keyboard and mouse.
>
> Which platform did you use ?
> Which eval board ?
>
> Cheers
>
>
> To post a message, send it to: f...
> To unsubscribe, send a blank message to:
> f... Start a New Thread

--- In f..., Tommy Thorn wrote:

> fpgammix runs nearly all of the user-level integer subset of MMIX.
Still lacking is handling of stack under- and overflow.
>
> Note, this is _not_ a slick, well tested, high performance
implementation like YARI. I wanted to throw together a quick
implementation first so I could understand what it would take to make
a faster pipelined implementation.
>
> Nobody appeared interested and eventually other priorities took
over, so I haven't touched it in almost a year.
>
> If anyone is interested, I can release it under, say, GPL.
>
> I had some fun writing a demo using audio, bitmapped graphics, PS/2
keyboard and mouse.
>

I just saw this today, via the web-- for some reason it didn't come
through to me via the mailing list.

In any event: YES! I am definitely interested. It sounds
fascinating, and I'd love to see it. I'd also love to help on the
underflow/overflow issue, or any other outstanding issues.

Thanks!


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I made my sources available via git on repo.or.cz/w/fpgammix.git

If you don't do git, there's a "snapshot" link to a tar ball.

Have fun and let me have your questions.

Tommy
--- On Thu, 8/28/08, Michael_Dorfman wrote:

> From: Michael_Dorfman
> Subject: [fpga-cpu] Re: MMIX on FPGA
> To: f...
> Date: Thursday, August 28, 2008, 8:12 AM
> --- In f..., Tommy Thorn
> wrote:
>
> > fpgammix runs nearly all of the user-level integer
> subset of MMIX.
> Still lacking is handling of stack under- and overflow.
> >
> > Note, this is _not_ a slick, well tested, high
> performance
> implementation like YARI. I wanted to throw together a
> quick
> implementation first so I could understand what it would
> take to make
> a faster pipelined implementation.
> >
> > Nobody appeared interested and eventually other
> priorities took
> over, so I haven't touched it in almost a year.
> >
> > If anyone is interested, I can release it under, say,
> GPL.
> >
> > I had some fun writing a demo using audio, bitmapped
> graphics, PS/2
> keyboard and mouse.
> > I just saw this today, via the web-- for some reason it
> didn't come
> through to me via the mailing list.
>
> In any event: YES! I am definitely interested. It sounds
> fascinating, and I'd love to see it. I'd also love
> to help on the
> underflow/overflow issue, or any other outstanding issues.
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> To post a message, send it to: f...
> To unsubscribe, send a blank message to:
> f... Start a New Thread

--- In f..., Tommy Thorn wrote:
>
> I made my sources available via git on repo.or.cz/w/fpgammix.git
>
> If you don't do git, there's a "snapshot" link to a tar ball.
>
> Have fun and let me have your questions.
>
> Tommy

Too cool!

I'm new to the FPGA game-- what board/kit would you recommend for this
project (preferably under, say, $1500)?

Michael


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--- On Thu, 8/28/08, Michael_Dorfman wrote:
> Too cool!
>
> I'm new to the FPGA game-- what board/kit would you
> recommend for this project (preferably under, say, $1500)?

I'm sure there are as many opinions as there are people, but let
me give you mine and the justification.

Of all the dev kits I've found, I have yet to find one better value
than the DE2-70 from Terasic:

http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&CategoryNo9&No"6

The FPGA on that board is an Altera Cyclone 2 EP2C70 which at
68,416 LE (LUT + FF) is one of the largest FPGAs with free tool support (the Cyclone 3 EP3C120 is the only larger one). Add to that all the features on the board and you have a winner.

If you're a student or are affiliated with an academic institution, you
can get a significant discount over the $600 stock price.

I haven't ported fpgammix to this board yet, but it shouldn't take
very much effort at all.

There are definitely cheaper boards out there, but IMO none are this
good a value and most are simply too wimpy for MMIX.

Cheers
Tommy



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Hi Folks.

I just back from holiday and picked up on this email trail. Tommy
what is YARI?

Cheers.

Robert.

--- In f..., Tommy Thorn wrote:
>
> I made my sources available via git on repo.or.cz/w/fpgammix.git
>
> If you don't do git, there's a "snapshot" link to a tar ball.
>
> Have fun and let me have your questions.
>
> Tommy
> --- On Thu, 8/28/08, Michael_Dorfman wrote:
>
> > From: Michael_Dorfman
> > Subject: [fpga-cpu] Re: MMIX on FPGA
> > To: f...
> > Date: Thursday, August 28, 2008, 8:12 AM
> > --- In f..., Tommy Thorn
> > wrote:
> >
> > > fpgammix runs nearly all of the user-level integer
> > subset of MMIX.
> > Still lacking is handling of stack under- and overflow.
> > >
> > > Note, this is _not_ a slick, well tested, high
> > performance
> > implementation like YARI. I wanted to throw together a
> > quick
> > implementation first so I could understand what it would
> > take to make
> > a faster pipelined implementation.
> > >
> > > Nobody appeared interested and eventually other
> > priorities took
> > over, so I haven't touched it in almost a year.
> > >
> > > If anyone is interested, I can release it under, say,
> > GPL.
> > >
> > > I had some fun writing a demo using audio, bitmapped
> > graphics, PS/2
> > keyboard and mouse.
> > >
> >
> > I just saw this today, via the web-- for some reason it
> > didn't come
> > through to me via the mailing list.
> >
> > In any event: YES! I am definitely interested. It sounds
> > fascinating, and I'd love to see it. I'd also love
> > to help on the
> > underflow/overflow issue, or any other outstanding issues.
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > To post a message, send it to: f...
> > To unsubscribe, send a blank message to:
> > fpga-cpu-unsubscribe@...! Groups Links
> >
> >
>


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