Topics

1

Legacy POWER Hardware / Will it run DOOM?

« on: October 17, 2025, 11:51:56 am »

A few month ago I realized that both Nintendo GameCube and iCE40 FPGA can run DOOM. In both cases this is software rendering without any GPU. But there are also some GPU designs that run on Lattice FPGAs including RasteriCEr and RasterIX. In the last few years I have been working on OpenPOWER Microwatt and got a Maze game running. Many years ago at a LAN-party I played the Nintendo WII, a gaming console with DRM that has been cracked, thanks to its GameCube mode. After I found about the PicoBoot IPL replacement, I decided that I should make homebrew games for old BigEndian PowerPC hardware, using devkit-ppc and buildroot. Doing a port of DOOM for 32 bit PowerPC should be easy. Theoretically this could run on any computer with an IBM CPU, starting from the GameCube up to the Talos II. Since I am interested in implementing a GPU on the Arctic Tern (with dual HDMI later), I will also do a port of DOOM to Microwatt first. I also have an OrangeCrab where I can test my FPGA designs, before I buy an Arctic Tern. For a different project, I am currently designing my own iCE40 FPGA board, programmed using the RP2040.

2

Applications and Porting / Porting the Dolphin Emulator to the modern OpenPOWER systems

« on: March 11, 2025, 12:29:51 pm »

As I am using my Talos II mostly for gaming currently, I decided to port the Dolphin Emulator. From my work on Libre-SOC I have a good understanding of the Power ISA. At the same time I will also continue working on OpenPOWER Microwatt and jit compilers. Hopefully I will be able to reuse some of the code that I plan to write for a later Box86 / Box64. As a first game for testing I have selected SuperTux Wii (or the GameCube port).

3

Applications and Porting / Porting VR games to the Talos II

« on: May 05, 2024, 02:08:56 pm »

Today I did a talk at libreplanet: Gaming on a Talos II: How I avoid using Steam
A gameplay video is here.

My VR setup includes four ICE40 FPGAs, the first one is the Talos II System FPGA.  The two controllers KN0 and KN1 and the headset T20 use their own bigger FPGAs for lighthouse tracking. I plan to design my own hardware that tracks using lighthouse.

There is also a forum thread on the Trisquel site.

4

Legacy POWER Hardware / Dolphin Emulator banned from Steam

« on: May 31, 2023, 10:36:23 am »

When I yesterday saw that Dolphin was banned from Steam due to a DMCA takedown request, I decided to port the Dolphin Emulator to the POWER9. A few weeks ago I had a look at the the IPL replacement modchip called picoboot for the GameCube. Steam never ran on on any IBM CPU, so I loose nothing if Steam does not my Talos II.

5

Firmware / ASPEED 2500 VGA standby mode

« on: November 12, 2022, 04:35:08 am »

When I lock the screen on my Talos II, VGA does not go off, it just shows a black screen. Is there a way to switch VGA completely off in this case and enable VGA again, when I press any key?

6

Applications and Porting / Displaylink on OpenPOWER

« on: May 13, 2022, 11:48:05 am »

Displaylink recently released the Extensible Virtual Display Interface, a linux kernel module that adds a virtual graphics output. It is released under the GNU (L)GPL and used by their DisplayLink Manager. When I was reading the POWER9 Hardware Compatibility List, my assumption that USB3.0 DisplayLink devices do not work with POWER9 was correct. The source code of the DisplayLink Manager application is not published, and there are no binaries for POWER9 either. Since the kernel module is free software that comes with good documentation, I began writing my own replacement for the DisplayLink Manager, which allows me to use the built-in screen of a ThinkPad X200 as a second display, and also indirectly connect a third Monitor via HDMI.

7

Applications and Porting / Porting Godot 4 to POWER9 and the Libre-SOC.

« on: September 19, 2021, 09:41:03 am »

I tried to compile Godot 4 on my Talos II, it failed because the Talos II does not not use an Intel CPU. The embree library currently only runs on latest Intel CPUs and the Apple M1 afaik.

8

Talos II / Trying out GUIX on my Talos II

« on: April 10, 2021, 02:36:48 am »

I recently saw a post on the GUIX mailing list "Please review blog post draft: powerpc64le-linux support"

> I've been using the Free Software firmware replacement for the NIC
> since a while now and it's working great:
> https://github.com/meklort/bcm5719-fw/

So I compiled the firmware and installed it on my Talos II. When GUIX for powerpc64le-linux comes out, I will try out.

9

Operating Systems and Porting / Guix now running on the Talos II

« on: November 21, 2020, 06:49:01 am »

I've started porting GNU Guix to modern PowerPC hardware. Currently it runs on my Talos II in BigEndian mode. BigEndian because the 32 bit boostrap binaries already run on older PowerPC hardware which was usually operated in BigEndian Mode. The video for the port is here. The discussion will happen tomorrow.