Author Topic: Practical hardware and operating systems on Microwatt?  (Read 4991 times)

pocock

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 296
  • Karma: +32/-0
    • View Profile
Practical hardware and operating systems on Microwatt?
« on: June 09, 2020, 09:15:06 am »

Search engines return a lot of publicity about Microwatt but I couldn't see any practical examples of hardware and operating systems

Which FPGAs are people aiming for or testing right now?

Is it at the stage where somebody could build something vaguely similar to a Raspberry Pi, even if it lacks some of the ports?

Is it stable enough to run any GNU/Linux or BSD OS right now?

Debian Developer
https://danielpocock.com

ClassicHasClass

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 464
  • Karma: +35/-0
  • Talospace Earth Orbit
    • View Profile
    • Floodgap
Re: Practical hardware and operating systems on Microwatt?
« Reply #1 on: June 09, 2020, 10:43:52 am »
I'm hearing they're either at or near the point a Linux can boot, but I haven't played with it in awhile, so I don't know how feasible it is. I'm trying to keep the budget down and haven't bought new toys in a bit, or I'd pick up some hardware and try to build something with it.

MPC7500

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 587
  • Karma: +41/-1
    • View Profile
    • Twitter
Re: Practical hardware and operating systems on Microwatt?
« Reply #2 on: June 09, 2020, 11:12:21 am »
Dunno, if you're on Twitter. Linux on Microwatt.

pocock

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 296
  • Karma: +32/-0
    • View Profile
Re: Practical hardware and operating systems on Microwatt?
« Reply #3 on: June 09, 2020, 04:46:13 pm »

Thanks for that feedback

This is the Arty A7 board:
https://reference.digilentinc.com/reference/programmable-logic/arty-a7/start

and it has a radio module that can do things like Zigbee:
https://store.digilentinc.com/pmod-rf2-ieee-802-15-rf-transceiver/

That could make it an interesting competitor for devices like the Zigate USB dongles.  Note that Zigate is currently programmed using a proprietary toolchain and the Arty A7 radio module also requires what appears to be a proprietary SDK right now.

It would be interesting to see all of that opened up like the POWER ISA.
Debian Developer
https://danielpocock.com

MPC7500

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 587
  • Karma: +41/-1
    • View Profile
    • Twitter

MPC7500

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 587
  • Karma: +41/-1
    • View Profile
    • Twitter
Re: Practical hardware and operating systems on Microwatt?
« Reply #5 on: June 10, 2020, 04:21:49 am »
And Lattice ECP5.
But with some issues from February.

MPC7500

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 587
  • Karma: +41/-1
    • View Profile
    • Twitter

ClassicHasClass

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 464
  • Karma: +35/-0
  • Talospace Earth Orbit
    • View Profile
    • Floodgap
Re: Practical hardware and operating systems on Microwatt?
« Reply #7 on: June 19, 2020, 02:10:31 pm »
Nice. I'm going to have to get one of these up and running.