microwatt

A tiny Open POWER ISA softcore written in VHDL 2008

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Anton Blanchard d511e088d2 Merge pull request #159 from shenki/fusesoc-ram-16k FuseSoC needs 16kB of RAM		5 years ago
constraints	…
fpga	…
hello_world	hello_world: Use ldcix/stdcix to access UART	5 years ago
media	…
micropython	…
openocd	…
scripts	Add test cases for new exceptions and supervisor state	5 years ago
sim-unisim	…
tests	Merge pull request #158 from paulusmack/excpath	5 years ago
.gitignore	Add test cases for new exceptions and supervisor state	5 years ago
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Makefile	Add test cases for new exceptions and supervisor state	5 years ago
Makefile.synth	make the sources volume mount SELinux friendly	5 years ago
README.md	README: hello world needs 16KB of RAM	5 years ago
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common.vhdl	Give exceptions a separate path to writeback	5 years ago
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core.vhdl	loadstore1: Move logic from dcache to loadstore1	5 years ago
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dcache.vhdl	loadstore1: Move logic from dcache to loadstore1	5 years ago
dcache_tb.vhdl	loadstore1: Move logic from dcache to loadstore1	5 years ago
decode1.vhdl	Decode attn in the major opcode decode table	5 years ago
decode2.vhdl	dcache: Implement load-reserve and store-conditional instructions	5 years ago
decode_types.vhdl	Remove sim_config instruction	5 years ago
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loadstore1.vhdl	loadstore1: Add support for cache-inhibited load and store instructions	5 years ago
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microwatt.core	Set default RAM to be 16K in microwatt.core	5 years ago
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sim_bram_helpers_c.c	Consolidate VHPI code	5 years ago
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writeback.vhdl	execute1: Simplify the interrupt logic a little	5 years ago

README.md

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

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 images. Read through the Makefile for details.
Next build microwatt:

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

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)