AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Xilinx ise 14.7/nexys 3 spartan 612/31/2022 It's hard to write clean code in BASIC! It would be kind of fun to build a CPU that was more or less optimized for Algol or even Pascal. I had to write a tiny Algol compiler in grad school ('76) and the only machine I could get at ran time-shared BASIC. I have the original 2 volume Algol 60 books that include the source listings. Nothing has changed (or improved), just migration from board to board. I have puttered with this thing for about 10 years. The original ran at about 400 kHz with lots of steps per instruction (not to mention an adder that didn't implement carry logic but instead repeatedly applied carry operations until none remained) and mine runs at 50 MHz. The real machine had only 8k words and mine has the max of 32k words. It even has the IBM Electronic Circuit Analysis Package (ECAP) that I used in my undergrad studies. The Plotter is emulated in an mbed with the optimized output fed over TCP to my LaserJet. In addition to the CPU and Compact Flash disk drive, I also have serial ports for the Console Typewriter, Console Keyboard, Printer and Card Reader. Next I will move it to the Artix or Basys 3 if there are enough cells and it looks like there are. I started the project on a Spartan 3 Starter Board and have moved it to a Nexys2. The original was a very cool computer - the first a person could see over. It runs the entire OS including Fortran and the Macro Assembler. My project is a code perfect implementation of an IBM 1130 that I first programmed in 1970. I'm starting to come around with Vivado but it's been a struggle. I have a bunch of Spartan 3 type boards and I don't intend to scrap them just because a new chip is on the market. I have been using it for 12! I will be using ISE 14.7 forever. ISE has been around for more than 15 years. That's a pretty huge investment and I suspect they will amortize it over 10 years or so. According to the Wiki article, Xilinx spent $200M developing Vivado. This is a node and chip locked version so you can really only design for the specific chips/boards for which you are licensed (if you want to use IP). You can get free certificates for this version when you buy certain specific boards such as the Arty or Digilent Basys3 (among many others). The next version up, System (?), comes with access to some amount of IP including the ILA (Internal Logic Analyzer) which is quite handy. But the WebPack version is quite limited in that you don't get access to Xilinx IP and ChipScope won't work, among other things. Xilinx has offered a WebPack version of their ISE software for years.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |