From: nweaver@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU (Nicholas Weaver) Newsgroups: comp.arch.fpga Subject: Re: Open configuration bitstreams Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 17:58:01 +0000 (UTC) Organization: Unknown Lines: 18 Message-ID: <9rumr9$uc$1@agate.berkeley.edu> References: <3BE2DCF1.3E7E12D3@AAI.ca> NNTP-Posting-Host: soda.csua.berkeley.edu X-Trace: agate.berkeley.edu 1004723881 972 128.32.247.226 (2 Nov 2001 17:58:01 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@agate.berkeley.edu NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 17:58:01 +0000 (UTC) Originator: nweaver@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU (Nicholas Weaver) Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.ifi.unizh.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!agate.berkeley.edu!agate!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch comp.arch.fpga:11169 In article <3BE2DCF1.3E7E12D3@AAI.ca>, Patrick Maheral wrote: >Does anyone know of another FPGA with available (preferably open, >ie. no NDA required) configuration bitstream documentation. >Any pointer would be appreciated. Xilinx Virtex: Jbits provides an API to directly edit the configuration bitfiles. Appnote, "Virtex Series Configuration Architecture User's Guide" http://www.xilinx.com/xapp/xapp151.pdf Enjoy! -- Nicholas C. Weaver nweaver@cs.berkeley.edu ###### From: "Kevin Neilson" Newsgroups: comp.arch.fpga References: <3BE2DCF1.3E7E12D3@AAI.ca> <9rumr9$uc$1@agate.berkeley.edu> Subject: Re: Open configuration bitstreams Lines: 29 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 Message-ID: Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2001 18:24:15 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.178.99.17 X-Complaints-To: abuse@home.net X-Trace: news1.denver1.co.home.com 1004725455 24.178.99.17 (Fri, 02 Nov 2001 10:24:15 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2001 10:24:15 PST Organization: Excite@Home - The Leader in Broadband http://home.com/faster Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.ifi.unizh.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!uni-erlangen.de!news-nue1.dfn.de!news-mue1.dfn.de!news-was.dfn.de!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!newshub2.rdc1.sfba.home.com!news.home.com!news1.denver1.co.home.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch comp.arch.fpga:11184 Also, there's a crazy dude making a "meta FPGA" which is an FPGA with an open bitstream that resides on a Xilinx. Do a search on "meta fpga". I think he's got a website. Doesn't Altera have a public bitstream? Otherwise, how would ClearLogic be able to clone parts with just an Altera bitfile? "Nicholas Weaver" wrote in message news:9rumr9$uc$1@agate.berkeley.edu... > In article <3BE2DCF1.3E7E12D3@AAI.ca>, > Patrick Maheral wrote: > > >Does anyone know of another FPGA with available (preferably open, > >ie. no NDA required) configuration bitstream documentation. > > >Any pointer would be appreciated. > > Xilinx Virtex: > > Jbits provides an API to directly edit the configuration bitfiles. > > Appnote, "Virtex Series Configuration Architecture User's Guide" > http://www.xilinx.com/xapp/xapp151.pdf > > Enjoy! > -- > Nicholas C. Weaver nweaver@cs.berkeley.edu ###### From: Austin Lesea Newsgroups: comp.arch.fpga Subject: Re: Open configuration bitstreams Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2001 10:52:57 -0800 Organization: Xilinx Lines: 33 Message-ID: <3BE2EB89.5D046CC2@xilinx.com> References: <3BE2DCF1.3E7E12D3@AAI.ca> <9rumr9$uc$1@agate.berkeley.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: 149.199.9.10 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="------------518AA323FEBB00DEF86C0769" X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.77 [en]C-CCK-MCD (WinNT; U) X-Accept-Language: en,pdf Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.ifi.unizh.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!cambridge1-snf1.gtei.net!news.gtei.net!bos-service1.ext.raytheon.com!attla1!ip.att.net!newsgate.xilinx.com!cliff.xsj.xilinx.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch comp.arch.fpga:11161 --------------518AA323FEBB00DEF86C0769 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Well, Illegally, based on the recent court decision. Austin snip > how would ClearLogic be able to clone parts with just an Altera bitfile? snip --------------518AA323FEBB00DEF86C0769 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Well,

Illegally, based on the recent court decision.

Austin

snip

how would ClearLogic be able to clone parts with just an Altera bitfile?
snip --------------518AA323FEBB00DEF86C0769-- ###### From: "Kevin Neilson" Newsgroups: comp.arch.fpga References: <3BE2DCF1.3E7E12D3@AAI.ca> <9rumr9$uc$1@agate.berkeley.edu> <3BE2EB89.5D046CC2@xilinx.com> Subject: Re: Open configuration bitstreams Lines: 95 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0056_01C1639E.355DB200" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 Message-ID: <90DE7.44704$IR4.24255406@news1.denver1.co.home.com> Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2001 20:05:25 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.178.99.17 X-Complaints-To: abuse@home.net X-Trace: news1.denver1.co.home.com 1004731525 24.178.99.17 (Fri, 02 Nov 2001 12:05:25 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2001 12:05:25 PST Organization: Excite@Home - The Leader in Broadband http://home.com/faster Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.ifi.unizh.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!uni-erlangen.de!news-nue1.dfn.de!news-lei1.dfn.de!news-was.dfn.de!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!newshub2.rdc1.sfba.home.com!news.home.com!news1.denver1.co.home.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch comp.arch.fpga:11182 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0056_01C1639E.355DB200 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hmmm. The only news about this I could find was this, from Reuters: "Separately, Altera said that the U.S. District Court for the Northern = District of California ruled that using Altera software to program a = chip made by Clear Logic is a violation of Altera's licensing agreement = with Clear Logic." Licensing agreement? Why would Altera have made a licensing agreement = with a cloner? Was this some sort of spinoff? And why can't customers = just send the source code to Clear Logic and let them create their own = bitfile? PS here's the "MPGA" website. This page has the best ASCII schematic = I've ever seen. http://ce.et.tudelft.nl/~reinoud/mpga/README.html "Austin Lesea" wrote in message = news:3BE2EB89.5D046CC2@xilinx.com... Well,=20 Illegally, based on the recent court decision.=20 Austin=20 snip=20 how would ClearLogic be able to clone parts with just an Altera = bitfile? snip=20 ------=_NextPart_000_0056_01C1639E.355DB200 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Hmmm.  The only news about this I = could find=20 was this, from Reuters:
 
"Separately, Altera said that the U.S. = District=20 Court for the Northern District of California ruled that using Altera = software=20 to program a chip made by Clear Logic is a violation of Altera's = licensing=20 agreement with Clear Logic."
 
Licensing agreement?  Why would = Altera have=20 made a licensing agreement with a cloner?  Was this some sort of=20 spinoff?  And why can't customers just send the source code to = Clear Logic=20 and let them create their own bitfile?
 
PS here's the "MPGA" website.  = This page has=20 the best ASCII schematic I've ever seen.
http://ce.et.t= udelft.nl/~reinoud/mpga/README.html
"Austin Lesea" <austin.lesea@xilinx.com> = wrote in=20 message news:3BE2EB89.5D046CC2@xilinx.= com...
Well,=20

Illegally, based on the recent court decision.=20

Austin=20

snip=20

how would ClearLogic be able to clone = parts with=20 just an Altera bitfile?
snip = ------=_NextPart_000_0056_01C1639E.355DB200--