From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Maxim Cournoyer Subject: Re: [GNU-linux-libre] Free firmware - A redefinition of the term and a new metric for it's measurement. Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2017 09:47:08 -0800 Message-ID: <87a89o3bs3.fsf@gmail.com> References: <87tw8bjhqm.fsf@gmail.com> <2c7ae911-863f-4831-f024-060e5f899d3a@alaskasi.com> <87k2948d2q.fsf@gmail.com> <06cfad8d-0222-1c63-522d-013ecd2e6ce8@alaskasi.com> <874lzy4lq2.fsf@gmail.com> <20170213084231.GA16213@jocasta.intra> <87inod2rd4.fsf@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; boundary="=-=-="; micalg=pgp-sha256; protocol="application/pgp-signature" Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:41061) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1cdhBx-0007gg-5g for guix-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 14 Feb 2017 12:47:06 -0500 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1cdhBv-0006Sm-PD for guix-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 14 Feb 2017 12:47:05 -0500 Received: from mail-oi0-x243.google.com ([2607:f8b0:4003:c06::243]:35382) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA1:16) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1cdhBv-0006SC-Jb for guix-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 14 Feb 2017 12:47:03 -0500 Received: by mail-oi0-x243.google.com with SMTP id x84so3189366oix.2 for ; Tue, 14 Feb 2017 09:47:03 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: (David Craven's message of "Tue, 14 Feb 2017 11:41:24 +0100") List-Id: "Development of GNU Guix and the GNU System distribution." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: guix-devel-bounces+gcggd-guix-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: "Guix-devel" To: David Craven Cc: guix-devel , Christopher Howard , Workgroup for fully free GNU/Linux distributions --=-=-= Content-Type: text/plain Hi David, David Craven writes: >> I had followed some earlier developments but had lost track recently! >> I'm happy to see that they have released the sources of their >> microcontroller chip design. > > It's more than a microcontroller chip design. The people behind sifive are > from uc berkeley and also developed a full gcc toolchain backend, a linux > port, a qemu and a clang port. > > They have taped out multiple chips capable of booting Linux, and are > still working on putting the finishing touches on the privileged architecture > spec which is an open collaborative effort of the RISCV foundation, before > releasing their SoC.. The sifive developers play an important role there. > > Benchmarks for code size and performance show that their SoC and the > ISA they developed is comparable to and out performs at least all ARM > cortex-a chips with an in-order-pipeline. > > They also are developing and have taped out an out-of-order core. All of > their developments are released as free hardware. > > Their specifications have enabled me to study a real world instruction set > architecture, studying something like ARM or x86 - I'm sure people have > looked at those manuals - are not something a beginner can study to > any form of completeness, they are simply to large and too complicated. > Impressive! Sounds like something I should look more into :) Thanks for sharing. Maxim --=-=-= Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iQIzBAEBCAAdFiEEJ9WGpPiQCFQyn/CfEmDkZILmNWIFAlijQpwACgkQEmDkZILm NWK1+Q/8DBMagQWDBXlBRjoi5812ILfUlYg2VpJaefINe7U/+4sOW+XQK9wX5u5I lqF0lwQ0CkMY66Dg5nmRutWydFqP3PRzJSvW/wSWdLS39Z4U7PnkVtUUFmkVNuXn MTb9edQozyz5Cirek17TzBUE0Pe4deHb0T8IZ6ZOb37xN3OQXz2+4R/2FKAu358T GNDBEjLyuiFnqGNhD72EsXgq2hQMNxX44zEl/OehLGRJ04LZMNzXOun9hJpuF/RK DNOgbaKr6I5BYKMeB9DpbmbX/yHB4Y+cbsHy31sMLVUMVS2GS6sc6W2yx36CKOM8 x82ttwEQbSEKLfUxcy4BI0wyKUNXvTZNAdsnPxLM4Lc/dTVcHU4BjWFqelDFV/Lv myk0HFa8Rezv948/8EA8x9EZPwDF+/An5CdWcZPPRpPIXEhKPYnwIp+Bv+o7j+wL 520XjHplfOv2bKe3FyJC/B5SvVfhSi/eOjSs34OCUaCuV49UV/UCrrLOND88reqF j4zr2efH1BefF/zuwTVKNgCx6Zw9lA24eQpIw0ZUm0v21bSG4cA6EzElNcCmB+mD CuwAJbgmWov0L6zC3R6Cbd2bNAynT6Z55lMD/MRv1WPjkDKMcFYo4qbwqGCWNu8x mnasoQu3VOACfYWLESthjESoWjMDZpEJvWprVVzcZ9u3e6RgkFQ= =2zqc -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --=-=-=--