Soft Processor Core

Hi ng,

im searching for a soft processor IP core with the following capabilities:
- Interrupt (more than one interrupt / e.g. saving registers in stack)
- 32 Bit ALU
- common Instructionset (e.g. MIPS or an open source assembler included)
- 'easy' to enhance special purpose registers and their neccesary additional
instructions (e.g. Real Time Clock and load RTC-Register to Accumulator)

I found at opencores.com many IP-Cores:
-miniMIPS:
miniMIPS seems to be a good choice, but it doesn't fit in a Spartan3 - 200k
Gates (108% of LUTs). Did i miss to adapt some Xilinx-specific
synthesize-adaptions?

- CPUgen
not very good commented source-code... and i think it can only handle one
interrupt, right??

- Xilinx Microblaze (not free)
does it really occupie only 1000 LUTs with a 32Bit ALU and multiple
interrupts?
Big disadvantage is the relative high prize of 75Cent per implemented core.

if you have some experience with soft processor cores, please help me with
some suggestions.

thanks,
stefan

Stefan Oedenkoven wrote:
> Hi ng,
> 
> im searching for a soft processor IP core with the following capabilities:
> - Interrupt (more than one interrupt / e.g. saving registers in stack)
> - 32 Bit ALU
> - common Instructionset (e.g. MIPS or an open source assembler included)
> - 'easy' to enhance special purpose registers and their neccesary additional
> instructions (e.g. Real Time Clock and load RTC-Register to Accumulator)
> 
> I found at opencores.com many IP-Cores:
> -miniMIPS:
> miniMIPS seems to be a good choice, but it doesn't fit in a Spartan3 - 200k
> Gates (108% of LUTs). Did i miss to adapt some Xilinx-specific
> synthesize-adaptions?
> 
> - CPUgen
> not very good commented source-code... and i think it can only handle one
> interrupt, right??
> 
> - Xilinx Microblaze (not free)
> does it really occupie only 1000 LUTs with a 32Bit ALU and multiple
> interrupts?
> Big disadvantage is the relative high prize of 75Cent per implemented core.
> 
> if you have some experience with soft processor cores, please help me with
> some suggestions.
> 
> thanks,
> stefan
> 
> 
> 
Hi,

Yes, MicroBlaze occupies 1000 LUTs.
MicroBlaze is shipped as part of EDK which cost $495.
There are no license fee or royalty fee with the usage of MicroBlaze as 
long as you have bought the EDK.
The 75 cent is the cost of the 1000 LUTs that MicroBlaze occupies.

G�ran

"G&#4294967295;ran Bilski" <goran.bilski@xilinx.com> wrote in message
news:cnapf8$n0p1@cliff.xsj.xilinx.com...
> Stefan Oedenkoven wrote:
> > Hi ng,
> >
> > im searching for a soft processor IP core with the following
capabilities:
> > - Interrupt (more than one interrupt / e.g. saving registers in stack)
> > - 32 Bit ALU
> > - common Instructionset (e.g. MIPS or an open source assembler included)
> > - 'easy' to enhance special purpose registers and their neccesary
additional
> > instructions (e.g. Real Time Clock and load RTC-Register to Accumulator)

there is one full SoC environment, all tools, simulator, debugger, plug and
play
bus - peripherals, etc...
its all GPLed! (except the debug monitor)

look at GRLIB www.gaisler.com
LEON3 based SoC is larger than Microblaze system :(
S3-400 is smallest device where it fits at all, and that almost bare CPU and
RAM system

> > I found at opencores.com many IP-Cores:
> > -miniMIPS:
> > miniMIPS seems to be a good choice, but it doesn't fit in a Spartan3 -
200k
> > Gates (108% of LUTs). Did i miss to adapt some Xilinx-specific
> > synthesize-adaptions?

Hm, I did smalles MB system synthesis, I think MB soc can fit into S2-100,
into S3-200 it fits also, but not very much peripherals :(

> > - CPUgen
> > not very good commented source-code... and i think it can only handle
one
> > interrupt, right??

CPUgen: that projects seems to be dead, if you have some arch of some .exe
files and no full sources and if that has been static no updates for 6+
months, its dead (or not being public any more, other possibility)

> > - Xilinx Microblaze (not free)
> > does it really occupie only 1000 LUTs with a 32Bit ALU and multiple
> > interrupts?
> > Big disadvantage is the relative high prize of 75Cent per implemented
core.
> >
> > if you have some experience with soft processor cores, please help me
with
> > some suggestions.
> >
> > thanks,
> > stefan
> >
> Hi,
>
> Yes, MicroBlaze occupies 1000 LUTs.
> MicroBlaze is shipped as part of EDK which cost $495.
> There are no license fee or royalty fee with the usage of MicroBlaze as
> long as you have bought the EDK.
> The 75 cent is the cost of the 1000 LUTs that MicroBlaze occupies.
>
> G&#4294967295;ran

:) the 75 cent is some marketing stuff, if could be the price of MB only in
the cheapest cell/dollar device in 250,000 qty. in real applications the MB
SoC price (FPGA fabric price...) would calculate a little above dollar at
least, more likely several dollars (or more in small qty design).

Antti

Hi,

> There are no license fee or royalty fee with the usage of MicroBlaze as
> long as you have bought the EDK.
> The 75 cent is the cost of the 1000 LUTs that MicroBlaze occupies.

I found this statement in the MB FAQ:

      10. If I understand you correctly, after purchasing the MicroBlaze
soft processor with the development kit for $495, we can use  MicroBlaze in
as many projects and products as we want?
      Yes. When you buy the MicroBlaze kit, you have a license to use the
MicroBlaze processor in as many Xilinx FPGA designs as you want at that
site. (A site is defined as a geographic location including a five mile
radius.) There is no limit to the number of Xilinx FPGA projects in which
you can implement MicroBlaze. There is no per device or project royalty.


What do they mean with this obscure site limitation? So for a big company
(with departments >5miles away from each other) i need more licences over
even for selling it to customers living somewhere >5 miles away? ;-) I've
never seen such a clause...

Hmmm... but without the 'per instance' licence the mb-core becomes more
attractive for me.
Maybe you can tell me, if there is a online gate-count application for the
mb-core. i can only find this 950 logic blocks minimum statement on the
xilinx site.
And is it possible to (easily) add own peripherals units (time
capture/release arrays) to the peripheral bus of the mb?

regards,
Stefan




>
> G�ran

Stefan Oedenkoven wrote:
(snip)

>       10. If I understand you correctly, after purchasing the MicroBlaze
> soft processor with the development kit for $495, we can use  MicroBlaze in
> as many projects and products as we want?
>       Yes. When you buy the MicroBlaze kit, you have a license to use the
> MicroBlaze processor in as many Xilinx FPGA designs as you want at that
> site. (A site is defined as a geographic location including a five mile
> radius.) There is no limit to the number of Xilinx FPGA projects in which
> you can implement MicroBlaze. There is no per device or project royalty.

> What do they mean with this obscure site limitation? So for a big company
> (with departments >5miles away from each other) i need more licences over
> even for selling it to customers living somewhere >5 miles away? ;-) I've
> never seen such a clause...

My guess, given that there is no per device cost, is that development
machines need to be within the 5 mile radius.   For $495 you can 
probably afford more than one if the company is spread out more.

That doesn't say anything about remote connections, either text
only or remote viewing of graphics (such as VNC), from machines within
the 5 mile radius.   I would check for such restrictions, also.

-- glen

Stefan Oedenkoven wrote:
> 
> Hi ng,
> 
> im searching for a soft processor IP core with the following capabilities:
> - Interrupt (more than one interrupt / e.g. saving registers in stack)
> - 32 Bit ALU
> - common Instructionset (e.g. MIPS or an open source assembler included)
> - 'easy' to enhance special purpose registers and their neccesary additional
> instructions (e.g. Real Time Clock and load RTC-Register to Accumulator)
> 
> I found at opencores.com many IP-Cores:
> -miniMIPS:
> miniMIPS seems to be a good choice, but it doesn't fit in a Spartan3 - 200k
> Gates (108% of LUTs). Did i miss to adapt some Xilinx-specific
> synthesize-adaptions?
> 
> - CPUgen
> not very good commented source-code... and i think it can only handle one
> interrupt, right??
> 
> - Xilinx Microblaze (not free)
> does it really occupie only 1000 LUTs with a 32Bit ALU and multiple
> interrupts?
> Big disadvantage is the relative high prize of 75Cent per implemented core.
> 
> if you have some experience with soft processor cores, please help me with
> some suggestions.

I believe there is an open source version of microBlaze called Mblaze,
IIRC.  There are also tons of 32 bit risc cores that have been developed
and are supported by versions of the gnu compiler, again IIRC.  Check
out www.opencores.org

-- 

Rick "rickman" Collins

rick.collins@XYarius.com
Ignore the reply address. To email me use the above address with the XY
removed.

Arius - A Signal Processing Solutions Company
Specializing in DSP and FPGA design      URL http://www.arius.com
4 King Ave                               301-682-7772 Voice
Frederick, MD 21701-3110                 301-682-7666 FAX

Hi Stefan,

Stefan Oedenkoven wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> 
>>There are no license fee or royalty fee with the usage of MicroBlaze as
>>long as you have bought the EDK.
>>The 75 cent is the cost of the 1000 LUTs that MicroBlaze occupies.
> 
> 
> I found this statement in the MB FAQ:
> 
>       10. If I understand you correctly, after purchasing the MicroBlaze
> soft processor with the development kit for $495, we can use  MicroBlaze in
> as many projects and products as we want?
>       Yes. When you buy the MicroBlaze kit, you have a license to use the
> MicroBlaze processor in as many Xilinx FPGA designs as you want at that
> site. (A site is defined as a geographic location including a five mile
> radius.) There is no limit to the number of Xilinx FPGA projects in which
> you can implement MicroBlaze. There is no per device or project royalty.
> 
> 
> What do they mean with this obscure site limitation? So for a big company
> (with departments >5miles away from each other) i need more licences over
> even for selling it to customers living somewhere >5 miles away? ;-) I've
> never seen such a clause...
>
I don't think we will go out and start measuring the distance at 
customer sites.

There are some tools (not Xilinx tools) which checks on what timezone 
you are in.
I know since I tried to connect to a license server in San Jose, USA 
from my home in Sweden and the tool reported that the license didn't 
allow this due to that I was in a different continent.

> Hmmm... but without the 'per instance' licence the mb-core becomes more
> attractive for me.
> Maybe you can tell me, if there is a online gate-count application for the
> mb-core. i can only find this 950 logic blocks minimum statement on the
> xilinx site.
It really depends on the target FPGA and what options you enable on 
MicroBlaze. There are too many combinations of targets and options to 
make this table easy to use.
It's far more easier to implement what you want feature that you need in 
the tools and see what you get.
> And is it possible to (easily) add own peripherals units (time
> capture/release arrays) to the peripheral bus of the mb?
> 
Yes, It's easy to do this in the tools.
There are two different buses you can use for MicroBlaze.
The OPB and the FSL. Which to use is depending on what you want to do.

> regards,
> Stefan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>>G�ran
> 
> 
> 
Regards,
G�ran Bilski

In article <2vsl6fF2lpgieU1@uni-berlin.de>,
Stefan Oedenkoven <stefan-oedenkoven@gmx.de> wrote:

>What do they mean with this obscure site limitation? So for a big company
>(with departments >5miles away from each other) i need more licences over
>even for selling it to customers living somewhere >5 miles away? ;-) I've
>never seen such a clause...

My bet is that it is for economy-of-tech-support reasons:  With two
distinct geographic locations, Xilinx probably figures that the tech
support load is increased as opposed to a single co-located
development shop where you are more likely to ask a coworker first.


-- 
Nicholas C. Weaver.  to reply email to "nweaver" at the domain
icsi.berkeley.edu

Don't forget to look at the Altera's NIOS II. You can buy a developers
kit (board and development tools) for about $1000.00. You can download
Quartus II Webpack and NIOS II Evaluation from their website.

Derek

Hi G�ran & Nicholas,

thank you for this infos.
i think for further details i'll contact your colleagues in the Munich
office.

regards,
stefan

"G&#4294967295;ran Bilski" <goran.bilski@xilinx.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:cnb8j8$n0p2@cliff.xsj.xilinx.com...
> Hi Stefan,
>
> Stefan Oedenkoven wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> >
> >>There are no license fee or royalty fee with the usage of MicroBlaze as
> >>long as you have bought the EDK.
> >>The 75 cent is the cost of the 1000 LUTs that MicroBlaze occupies.
> >
> >
> > I found this statement in the MB FAQ:
> >
> >       10. If I understand you correctly, after purchasing the MicroBlaze
> > soft processor with the development kit for $495, we can use  MicroBlaze
in
> > as many projects and products as we want?
> >       Yes. When you buy the MicroBlaze kit, you have a license to use
the
> > MicroBlaze processor in as many Xilinx FPGA designs as you want at that
> > site. (A site is defined as a geographic location including a five mile
> > radius.) There is no limit to the number of Xilinx FPGA projects in
which
> > you can implement MicroBlaze. There is no per device or project royalty.
> >
> >
> > What do they mean with this obscure site limitation? So for a big
company
> > (with departments >5miles away from each other) i need more licences
over
> > even for selling it to customers living somewhere >5 miles away? ;-)
I've
> > never seen such a clause...
> >
> I don't think we will go out and start measuring the distance at
> customer sites.
>
> There are some tools (not Xilinx tools) which checks on what timezone
> you are in.
> I know since I tried to connect to a license server in San Jose, USA
> from my home in Sweden and the tool reported that the license didn't
> allow this due to that I was in a different continent.
>
> > Hmmm... but without the 'per instance' licence the mb-core becomes more
> > attractive for me.
> > Maybe you can tell me, if there is a online gate-count application for
the
> > mb-core. i can only find this 950 logic blocks minimum statement on the
> > xilinx site.
> It really depends on the target FPGA and what options you enable on
> MicroBlaze. There are too many combinations of targets and options to
> make this table easy to use.
> It's far more easier to implement what you want feature that you need in
> the tools and see what you get.
> > And is it possible to (easily) add own peripherals units (time
> > capture/release arrays) to the peripheral bus of the mb?
> >
> Yes, It's easy to do this in the tools.
> There are two different buses you can use for MicroBlaze.
> The OPB and the FSL. Which to use is depending on what you want to do.
>
> > regards,
> > Stefan
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >>G&#4294967295;ran
> >
> >
> >
> Regards,
> G&#4294967295;ran Bilski