A tiny Open POWER ISA softcore written in VHDL 2008
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Paul Mackerras dc6b1df653 execute1: Don't execute ld/st instruction when taking interrupt
This fixes a bug in the logic where we would still send a load
or store instruction to loadstore1 even though we have decided
to take an asynchronous interrupt.

Reported-by: Michael Neuling <mikey@neuling.org>
Signed-off-by: Paul Mackerras <paulus@ozlabs.org>
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control.vhdl
core.vhdl loadstore1: Move logic from dcache to loadstore1
core_debug.vhdl
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countzero.vhdl
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cr_file.vhdl
cr_hazard.vhdl
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dcache.vhdl loadstore1: Move logic from dcache to loadstore1
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decode1.vhdl Decode attn in the major opcode decode table
decode2.vhdl dcache: Implement load-reserve and store-conditional instructions
decode_types.vhdl Remove sim_config instruction
divider.vhdl
divider_tb.vhdl
dmi_dtm_dummy.vhdl
dmi_dtm_tb.vhdl
dmi_dtm_xilinx.vhdl
execute1.vhdl execute1: Don't execute ld/st instruction when taking interrupt
fetch1.vhdl
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glibc_random.vhdl
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gpr_hazard.vhdl
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icache.vhdl
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icache_test.bin
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loadstore1.vhdl loadstore1: Add support for cache-inhibited load and store instructions
logical.vhdl
microwatt.core Set default RAM to be 16K in microwatt.core
multiply.vhdl
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plru.vhdl
plru_tb.vhdl
ppc_fx_insns.vhdl
register_file.vhdl
rotator.vhdl
rotator_tb.vhdl
sim_bram.vhdl
sim_bram_helpers.vhdl
sim_bram_helpers_c.c Consolidate VHPI code
sim_console.vhdl
sim_console_c.c Consolidate VHPI code
sim_jtag.vhdl
sim_jtag_socket.vhdl
sim_jtag_socket_c.c Consolidate VHPI code
sim_uart.vhdl
sim_vhpi_c.c Consolidate VHPI code
sim_vhpi_c.h Consolidate VHPI code
soc.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
writeback.vhdl execute1: Simplify the interrupt logic a little

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
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)