antonblanchard.chiselwatt/README.md

# Chiselwatt

A tiny POWER Open ISA soft processor written in Chisel.

## Simulation using verilator

* Chiselwatt uses `verilator` for simulation. It is built by default and run in
a Docker container. To build with local verilator install, edit `Makefile`.

* First build chiselwatt:

```sh
git clone https://github.com/antonblanchard/chiselwatt
cd chiselwatt
make
```

* A micropython image is included in the repo. To use it, link the memory image
into chiselwatt:

```sh
ln -s micropython/firmware.hex insns.hex
```

* Now run chiselwatt:

```sh
./chiselwatt
```

* If your operating system is not Linux, run chiselwatt inside a container:

```sh
make dockerlator
# Inside the container prompt, run:
./chiselwatt

# type "exit" to exit the container
exit
```

## Building micropython from scratch

* You can also build micropython from scratch. If you aren't building natively
on a ppc64le box you will need a cross compiler. This may be available on your
distro, otherwise grab the the powerpc64le-power8 toolchain from [bootlin](https://toolchains.bootlin.com).
If you are cross compiling, point `CROSS_COMPILE` at the toolchain. In the
example below I installed it in usr/local/powerpc64le-power8--glibc--bleeding-edge-2018.11-1/bin/
and the tools begin with `powerpc64-linux-*`:

```sh
git clone https://github.com/micropython/micropython.git
cd micropython
cd ports/powerpc
make CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/local/powerpc64le-power8--glibc--bleeding-edge-2018.11-1/bin/powerpc64le-linux- -j$(nproc)
cd ../../../
```

* Build chiselwatt, import the the micropython image and run it. We use
bin2hex.py to convert a binary file into a series of 64 bit hex values
expected by the tools:

```sh
cd chiselwatt
make
scripts/bin2hex.py ../micropython/ports/powerpc/build/firmware.bin > insns.hex
./chiselwatt
```

## Synthesis using Open Source tools (yosys/nextpnr)

Synthesis on FPGAs is supported with yosys/nextpnr. At the moment the tools support
Lattice ECP5 FPGAs. The build process uses Docker images, so no software other than Docker needs
to be installed. If you prefer podman you can use that too, just adjust it in
`Makefile`, `DOCKER=podman`.

### hello_world

The `hello_world` example should run everywhere, so start with it. Edit `src/main/scala/Core.scala`
and set memory to 16 kB (`16*1024`):

```
chisel3.Driver.execute(Array[String](), () => new Core(64, 16*1024, "insns.hex", 0x0))
```

Then link in the hello_world image:

```sh
ln -s hello_world/hello_world.hex insns.hex
```

### Building and programming the FPGA

The `Makefile` currently supports the following FPGA boards by defining the `ECP5_BOARD` parameter on make:

* Lattice [ECP5 Evaluation Board](http://www.latticesemi.com/ecp5-evaluation) - `evn`
* Greg Davill [Orangecrab](https://github.com/gregdavill/OrangeCrab) - `orangecrab`
* Q3k [Colorlight](https://github.com/q3k/chubby75/tree/master/5a-75b) - `colorlight`

For example, to build for the Evaluation Board, run:

```sh
make ECP5_BOARD=evn synth`
```

and to program the FPGA:

```sh
make ECP5_BOARD=evn prog
```

If you connect to the serial port of the FPGA at 115200 8n1, you should see "Hello World"
and after that all input will be echoed to the output. On Linux, picocom can be used.
Another option below is a simple python script.

### Micropython

Unfortunately due to an issue in yosys/nextpnr, dual port RAMs are not
working. More details can be found in <https://github.com/YosysHQ/yosys/issues/1101>.

This means we use twice as much block RAM as you would expect. This also means
Micropython won't fit on an ECP5 85F, because the ~400kB of available BRAM is halved
to ~200k. Micropython requires 384 kB.

Once this is fixed, edit `src/main/scala/Core.scala` and set memory to 384 kB (`384*1024`):

```
chisel3.Driver.execute(Array[String](), () => new Core(64, 384*1024, "insns.hex", 0x0))
```

Then link in the micropython image:

```sh
ln -s micropython/firmware.hex insns.hex
```

For example, to build for the Orangecrab, run:

```sh
make ECP5_BOARD=orangecrab synth`
```

and to program the FPGA:

```sh
make ECP5_BOARD=orangecrab prog
```

## Simple Python script for reading USB serial port

```python
#!/usr/bin/python

import serial

# configure the serial connections
ser = serial.Serial(
    port='/dev/ttyUSB1',
    baudrate=115200,
    parity=serial.PARITY_NONE,
    stopbits=serial.STOPBITS_ONE,
    bytesize=serial.EIGHTBITS
)

# read from serial
while 1:
    while ser.inWaiting() > 0:
        byte = ser.read(1);
        print("%s" %(byte))
```

## Issues

Now that it is functional, we have a number of things to add:

* A few instructions
* Wishbone interconnect
* Caches
* Pipelining and bypassing