2016/11/05: OSWDem16 intro

µControllers vs FPGAs
Jesús Arroyo Torrens
#FPGAwars

OSHWDem 2016

1. Introduction
2. Open Source Toolchains
3. Open Source Boards
4. Open Source IDEs

What is a microcontroller?
"A small computer on a single integrated circuit". Created by Intel in the 1970's

Microcontroller workflow
It executes specific machine language instructions one by one

What is an FPGA?
"A reconfigurable digital integrated circuit". Created by Xilinx in the 1980's

(GIF created by Juan González)
FPGA internals
Interconnected Logic Blocks, Memory Blocks and I/O ports

FPGA workflow
The bit stream defines a new real circuit in the FPGA

GNU C Compiler
(1987)
Language: C
Architecture: Motorola 68000
Website:
Created by RMS and the GNU team
https://gcc.gnu.org/

GNU Compiler Collection
[1987, 2016)
Languages: C, C++, Java, Ada, Objective-C, Fortran, Go ...
Architectures: ARM, AVR, AMD64, IA-32, PIC, Xtensa, RISC-V, ...
New compilers: Clang/LLVM [2007, 2016)/[2003, 2016)

All FPGA toolchains are privative :(
...until now! :)

IceStorm
[2015, 2016)
Language: Verilog
FPGA: Lattice iCE40
Website:
Created by Clifford Wolf through reverse engineering
http://www.clifford.at/icestorm/

More storms coming
New Yosys front-ends:
VHDL
...
New FPGAs support:
Silego GreenPack4
Xilinx 7-Series
iCE40 Ultralite
...

Open Hardware
Board's schematics are Open Source
µController's schematics are still privative

Arduino
[2005, 2016)
Languages: C, C++, ...
Architecture: Atmel AVR
Sources: https://github.com/arduino

NodeMCU
[2014, 2016)
Languages: C, C++, Lua, MicroPython, ...
Architecture: Xtensa (ESP8266)
Sources: https://github.com/nodemcu

Open FPGAs
Usable with Open Source Tools
FPGA's schematics are still privative

Lattice Development Kits
FPGA: iCE40 family
No sources available

icoBOARD
(2016)
Raspberry Pi HAT
Created by icoTC team
Sources: http://icoboard.org

IceZUM
(2016)
FPGA board for makers
Created by Eladio Delgado and Juan González
Sources: https://github.com/FPGAwars/icezum

Arduino IDE
[2005, 2016)
Written in: Java, C, C++
Sources: https://www.arduino.cc

Atom
[2014, 2016)
Written in: Javascript, HTML
Sources: https://github.com/atom/atom

PlatformIO IDE
(2016)
Sources: https://github.com/platformio/platformio-atom-ide

Apio IDE
(2016)
Sources: https://github.com/FPGAwars/apio-ide

Icestudio
(2016)
Sources: https://github.com/FPGAwars/icestudio

FPGAwars community
A community to share knowledge about open FPGAs
Language: spanish
Members: ~200
Website:
GitHub:
http://FPGAwars.github.io
https://github.com/FPGAwars

World Technological Heritage
All our work belongs to everybody and is part of the Technological Heritage
Free Software released under GPL
Open Hardware created with Open Tools
Documentation released under CC BY-SA

2016/11/05: OSWDem16 intro

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2016/11/05: OSWDem16 intro