Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!not-for-mail From: Neil Franklin Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: FPGAs for old CPUs (was Re: Origin of Halt and Catch Fire) Date: 17 Oct 2000 22:13:49 +0200 Organization: My own Private Self Lines: 36 Message-ID: <6usnpvcjk2.fsf_-_@chonsp.franklin.ch> References: <8q1g2s$6vi$1@taliesin.netcom.net.uk> <39C4A6A4.C9243260@patriot.net> <39e2e13e.1341763@news.clara.net> <39dcce62.10742286@news.mindspring.com> <8rmr50$sgr$1@plutonium.btinternet.com> <8s2fu2$qth$1@morgoth.sfu.ca> <8s3bm8$1a9$1@news.kersur.net> <971681289.877424@inv.ihug.co.nz> <8sfi41$ts5$1@enyo.uwa.edu.au> NNTP-Posting-Host: chonsp.franklin.ch X-Trace: chonsp.franklin.ch 971813629 629 10.0.3.2 (17 Oct 2000 20:13:49 GMT) X-Complaints-To: news@chonsp.franklin.ch NNTP-Posting-Date: 17 Oct 2000 20:13:49 GMT X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:66275 John "West" McKenna writes: > David Given wrote: > > : BTW, John West, who I think is a regular here, once sent me a design for a > : 32-bit 6502 processor --- that was backwards compatible with existing > : code. Now, there's a feat. > > Used to be a regular, until his newsreader of choice stopped being able to > post (a site issue I can't be bothered fixing). > http://www.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au/~john/65020.html 32bit 6502? Now that is a totally wacko idea. Long live the net. > Anyone got some FPGA design software? :-) Best site found so far [1]: http://geda.seul.org/links.html It actually points to all sorts of open source electric engineering stuff. But there is quite a bit of FPGA stuff among it. [1] my FPGA knowledge is still next to zero. I am only just getting into the field [2]. But the idea of an FPGA hardware PDP is just infinitely more attractive than an software emulator. [2] kindled by seeing: http://surfin.spies.com/~dgc/pdp8x/ PDP-8/X implements an PDP8/I in an Xilinx XCS10 FPGA. -- Neil Franklin, neil@franklin.ch.remove http://neil.franklin.ch/ Nerd, Geek, Hacker, Unix Guru, Sysadmin, Roleplayer, LARPer, Mystic ###### From: aek@spies.com (Al Kossow) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: FPGAs for old CPUs (was Re: Origin of Halt and Catch Fire) Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2000 13:24:49 -0700 Organization: Apple Computer, Inc. Lines: 14 Message-ID: References: <8q1g2s$6vi$1@taliesin.netcom.net.uk> <39C4A6A4.C9243260@patriot.net> <39e2e13e.1341763@news.clara.net> <39dcce62.10742286@news.mindspring.com> <8rmr50$sgr$1@plutonium.btinternet.com> <8s2fu2$qth$1@morgoth.sfu.ca> <8s3bm8$1a9$1@news.kersur.net> <971681289.877424@inv.ihug.co.nz> <8sfi41$ts5$1@enyo.uwa.edu.au> <6usnpvcjk2.fsf_-_@chonsp.franklin.ch> NNTP-Posting-Host: haxrus.apple.com X-Trace: news.apple.com 971814255 887 17.205.21.66 (17 Oct 2000 20:24:15 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@news.apple.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 17 Oct 2000 20:24:15 GMT Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!paloalto-snf1.gtei.net!news.gtei.net!forum.apple.com!news.apple.com!haxrus.apple.com!user Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:66325 In article <6usnpvcjk2.fsf_-_@chonsp.franklin.ch>, Neil Franklin wrote: > It actually points to all sorts of open source electric engineering > stuff. But there is quite a bit of FPGA stuff among it. > One of the critial things missing from all of these tools is the actual routing info for a real part, which the vendors refuse to release, requiring you to buy their expensive tool chains. -- The eBay Curse: "May you find everything you're looking for.." ###### Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!not-for-mail From: Neil Franklin Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: FPGAs for old CPUs (was Re: Origin of Halt and Catch Fire) Date: 19 Oct 2000 20:34:00 +0200 Organization: My own Private Self Lines: 37 Message-ID: <6uwvf4ptnr.fsf@chonsp.franklin.ch> References: <8q1g2s$6vi$1@taliesin.netcom.net.uk> <39C4A6A4.C9243260@patriot.net> <39e2e13e.1341763@news.clara.net> <39dcce62.10742286@news.mindspring.com> <8rmr50$sgr$1@plutonium.btinternet.com> <8s2fu2$qth$1@morgoth.sfu.ca> <8s3bm8$1a9$1@news.kersur.net> <971681289.877424@inv.ihug.co.nz> <8sfi41$ts5$1@enyo.uwa.edu.au> <6usnpvcjk2.fsf_-_@chonsp.franklin.ch> NNTP-Posting-Host: chonsp.franklin.ch X-Trace: chonsp.franklin.ch 971980440 496 10.0.3.2 (19 Oct 2000 18:34:00 GMT) X-Complaints-To: news@chonsp.franklin.ch NNTP-Posting-Date: 19 Oct 2000 18:34:00 GMT X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:66439 aek@spies.com (Al Kossow) writes: > In article <6usnpvcjk2.fsf_-_@chonsp.franklin.ch>, Neil Franklin > wrote: > > > It actually points to all sorts of open source electric engineering > > stuff. But there is quite a bit of FPGA stuff among it. > > One of the critial things missing from all of these tools is the > actual routing info for a real part, Sure. But that is about the only component missing. > which the vendors refuse to > release, Actually according to an recent thread on comp.arch.fpga a company called NeoCad managed to reverse engineer the bitstream for one Xilinx sufficiently well, that Xilinx started cooperating with them. This lead to one of the posters start thinking about reverse engineering it and using it as the base for an open source tool. > requiring you to buy their expensive tool chains. Actually you only need that one component. And according to the c.a.f crowd it is one of the cheaper tools, or even free (beer, not speech). I have archived the thread at: http://neil.franklin.ch/Usenet/comp.arch.fpga/20001002_Amplify_experience -- Neil Franklin, neil@franklin.ch.remove http://neil.franklin.ch/ Nerd, Geek, Hacker, Unix Guru, Sysadmin, Roleplayer, LARPer, Mystic