A tiny Open POWER ISA softcore written in VHDL 2008
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Paul Mackerras 0fb207be60 fetch1: Implement a simple branch target cache
This implements a cache in fetch1, where each entry stores the address
of a simple branch instruction (b or bc) and the target of the branch.
When fetching sequentially, if the address being fetched matches the
cache entry, then fetching will be redirected to the branch target.
The cache has 1024 entries and is direct-mapped, i.e. indexed by bits
11..2 of the NIA.

The bus from execute1 now carries information about taken and
not-taken simple branches, which fetch1 uses to update the cache.
The cache entry is updated for both taken and not-taken branches, with
the valid bit being set if the branch was taken and cleared if the
branch was not taken.

If fetching is redirected to the branch target then that goes down the
pipe as a predicted-taken branch, and decode1 does not do any static
branch prediction.  If fetching is not redirected, then the next
instruction goes down the pipe as normal and decode1 does its static
branch prediction.

In order to make timing, the lookup of the cache is pipelined, so on
each cycle the cache entry for the current NIA + 8 is read.  This
means that after a redirect (from decode1 or execute1), only the third
and subsequent sequentially-fetched instructions will be able to be
predicted.

This improves the coremark value on the Arty A7-100 from about 180 to
about 190 (more than 5%).

The BTC is optional.  Builds for the Artix 7 35-T part have it off by
default because the extra ~1420 LUTs it takes mean that the design
doesn't fit on the Arty A7-35 board.

Signed-off-by: Paul Mackerras <paulus@ozlabs.org>
4 years ago
.github/workflows
constraints
fpga fetch1: Implement a simple branch target cache 4 years ago
hello_world Reduce hello_world footprint to fit in 8kB 4 years ago
include
lib
litedram
liteeth
media
micropython
openocd
rust_lib_demo
scripts decode: Add a facility field to the instruction decode tables 4 years ago
sim-unisim
tests tests: Add tests for lq/stq and lqarx/stqcx. 4 years ago
uart16550
verilator
.gitignore
LICENSE
Makefile Add verilator FPGA target 4 years ago
README.md
cache_ram.vhdl
common.vhdl fetch1: Implement a simple branch target cache 4 years ago
control.vhdl core: Implement quadword loads and stores 4 years ago
core.vhdl fetch1: Implement a simple branch target cache 4 years ago
core_debug.vhdl core_debug: Stop logging 256 cycles after trigger 4 years ago
core_dram_tb.vhdl
core_flash_tb.vhdl
core_tb.vhdl
countzero.vhdl
countzero_tb.vhdl
cr_file.vhdl
cr_hazard.vhdl
crhelpers.vhdl
dcache.vhdl loadstore1/dcache: Send store data one cycle later 4 years ago
dcache_tb.vhdl
decode1.vhdl fetch1: Implement a simple branch target cache 4 years ago
decode2.vhdl core: Reorganize execute1 4 years ago
decode_types.vhdl decode: Add a facility field to the instruction decode tables 4 years ago
divider.vhdl
divider_tb.vhdl
dmi_dtm_dummy.vhdl
dmi_dtm_tb.vhdl
dmi_dtm_xilinx.vhdl Reset JTAG/DMI 4 years ago
dram_tb.vhdl
execute1.vhdl fetch1: Implement a simple branch target cache 4 years ago
fetch1.vhdl fetch1: Implement a simple branch target cache 4 years ago
fpu.vhdl FPU: Don't use mask generator for rounding 4 years ago
glibc_random.vhdl
glibc_random_helpers.vhdl
gpr_hazard.vhdl core: Implement quadword loads and stores 4 years ago
helpers.vhdl
icache.vhdl fetch1: Implement a simple branch target cache 4 years ago
icache_tb.vhdl
icache_test.bin
insn_helpers.vhdl core: Implement quadword loads and stores 4 years ago
loadstore1.vhdl loadstore1/dcache: Send store data one cycle later 4 years ago
logical.vhdl core: Make result multiplexing explicit 4 years ago
microwatt.core fetch1: Implement a simple branch target cache 4 years ago
mmu.vhdl Initialize PID register 4 years ago
multiply.vhdl
multiply_tb.vhdl
nonrandom.vhdl
plru.vhdl
plru_tb.vhdl
ppc_fx_insns.vhdl
random.vhdl
register_file.vhdl
rotator.vhdl
rotator_tb.vhdl
sim_16550_uart.vhdl
sim_bram.vhdl
sim_bram_helpers.vhdl
sim_bram_helpers_c.c
sim_console.vhdl
sim_console_c.c
sim_jtag.vhdl
sim_jtag_socket.vhdl
sim_jtag_socket_c.c
sim_no_flash.vhdl
sim_pp_uart.vhdl
sim_vhpi_c.c
sim_vhpi_c.h
soc.vhdl fetch1: Implement a simple branch target cache 4 years ago
spi_flash_ctrl.vhdl Fix an issue in flash controller when BOOT_CLOCKS is false 4 years ago
spi_rxtx.vhdl Merge pull request #265 from antonblanchard/another-spi-rxtx-reset-issu 4 years ago
sync_fifo.vhdl
syscon.vhdl
utils.vhdl
wishbone_arbiter.vhdl
wishbone_bram_tb.bin
wishbone_bram_tb.vhdl
wishbone_bram_wrapper.vhdl
wishbone_debug_master.vhdl
wishbone_types.vhdl Make wishbone_master_out and wb_io_master_out match 4 years ago
writeback.vhdl
xics.vhdl
xilinx-mult.vhdl

README.md

Microwatt

Microwatt

A tiny Open POWER ISA softcore written in VHDL 2008. It aims to be simple and easy to understand.

Simulation using ghdl

MicroPython running on Microwatt

You can try out Microwatt/Micropython without hardware by using the ghdl simulator. If you want to build directly for a hardware target board, see below.

  • Build micropython. If you aren't building on a ppc64le box you will need a cross compiler. If it isn't available on your distro grab the powerpc64le-power8 toolchain from https://toolchains.bootlin.com. You may need to set the CROSS_COMPILE environment variable to the prefix used for your cross compilers. The default is powerpc64le-linux-gnu-.
git clone https://github.com/micropython/micropython.git
cd micropython
cd ports/powerpc
make -j$(nproc)
cd ../../../

A prebuilt micropython image is also available in the micropython/ directory.

  • Microwatt uses ghdl for simulation. Either install this from your distro or build it. Microwatt requires ghdl to be built with the LLVM or gcc backend, which not all distros do (Fedora does, Debian/Ubuntu appears not to). ghdl with the LLVM backend is likely easier to build.

    If building ghdl from scratch is too much for you, the microwatt Makefile supports using Docker or Podman.

  • Next build microwatt:

git clone https://github.com/antonblanchard/microwatt
cd microwatt
make

To build using Docker:

make DOCKER=1

and to build using Podman:

make PODMAN=1
  • Link in the micropython image:
ln -s ../micropython/ports/powerpc/build/firmware.bin main_ram.bin

Or if you were using the pre-built image:

ln -s micropython/firmware.bin main_ram.bin
  • Now run microwatt, sending debug output to /dev/null:
./core_tb > /dev/null

Synthesis on Xilinx FPGAs using Vivado

  • Install Vivado (I'm using the free 2019.1 webpack edition).

  • Setup Vivado paths:

source /opt/Xilinx/Vivado/2019.1/settings64.sh
  • Install FuseSoC:
pip3 install --user -U fusesoc

Fedora users can get FuseSoC package via

sudo dnf copr enable sharkcz/danny
sudo dnf install fusesoc
  • Create a working directory and point FuseSoC at microwatt:
mkdir microwatt-fusesoc
cd microwatt-fusesoc
fusesoc library add microwatt /path/to/microwatt/
  • Build using FuseSoC. For hello world (Replace nexys_video with your FPGA board such as --target=arty_a7-100):
fusesoc run --target=nexys_video microwatt --memory_size=16384 --ram_init_file=/path/to/microwatt/fpga/hello_world.hex

You should then be able to see output via the serial port of the board (/dev/ttyUSB1, 115200 for example assuming standard clock speeds). There is a know bug where initial output may not be sent - try the reset (not programming button) on your board if you don't see anything.

  • To build micropython (currently requires 1MB of BRAM eg an Artix-7 A200):
fusesoc run --target=nexys_video microwatt

Testing

  • A simple test suite containing random execution test cases and a couple of micropython test cases can be run with:
make -j$(nproc) check

Issues

This is functional, but very simple. We still have quite a lot to do:

  • There are a few instructions still to be implemented
  • Need to add caches and bypassing (in progress)
  • Need to add supervisor state (in progress)