AVR-Chat

On Fri, 2009-11-20 at 09:15 -0600, David Kelly wrote:
>   
> On Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 12:58:37PM +0000, Luke Whitmore wrote:
> > This is pretty interesting. I suppose intellectual property law is
> > bound to rear it's ugly head when FPGAs are considered.
> 
> Why do you sound so negative? Has long been established that a CPU
> instruction set, registers, and memory map are all outside of patent
> law.
> One can patent implementations, such as instruction pipelines and
> instruction overlapping. Probably the biggest risk of IP violation
> would
> be if one instructed customers to use Atmel documentation for
> non-Atmel
> product.

That's good to know.  After hearing about certain companies trying to
patent UI components under international IP law, my cynicism kicks in
well before knowing the facts sometimes :)

> > I wonder if there's an open-source movement producing designs in the
> > commons for FPGA devices? AFAIK, Atmel have always been very good to
> > the open-source community - how can they adapt once FPGA use becomes
> > more ubiquitous?
> 
> FPGA costs more. It takes a fairly big FPGA to host a CPU.
> 
> I suspect Atmel has AVR cores available for licensing, other companies
> do the same for their product.

In that case it sounds like there'll be a need for traditional ICs for
some time then.  Atmel probably aren't panicking just yet. 

> While FPGA's are relatively expensive, for some applications they are
> dirt cheap. If you need a rad-hard space qualified CPU about your only
> option is an IP core in an FPGA. Unlike a mask-made CPU, each and
> every
> cell of an FPGA can be verified after manufacture. That each cell is a
> clone of the others increases confidence. Much NRI can be spent
> designing the cell for durability and radiation hardness. It can be
> tested with identical cells surrounding it to ensure the others do not
> affect it. In a hardwired CPU most every gate has a unique combination
> of gates surrounding it.

I'd like to learn more about FPGA's .. there's something very appealing
about the flexibility and the fact that an FPGA can be seen as a blank
canvas.  Brings out the scifi geek in me.

I read about his a while back.  Looks like it could be a good project,
but I think it might be a bit too advanced for a beginner.. what do you
think?  Do you have any recommendations?

http://www.fpga4fun.com/digitalscope.html

> 
> -- 
> David Kelly N4HHE, dkelly@HiWAAY.net
> ========================================================================
> Whom computers would destroy, they must first drive mad.
> 
> 
> 
>