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Article: 0
Subject: This (new) froup
From: michaelt@ssd.intel.com (Michael Tchou)
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 1994 16:25:07 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
I am delighted by the appearance of this Internet news.froup, 
and cannot resist the temptation to (attempt to) post the
first article.  In keeping with my interest and specialties,
I invite everyone to read about "my" division's supercomputer.

- michaelt/M6
----------------------- ----------------------- -----------------------
--     *** <disclaimer> ** Michael R. Tchou ** <disclaimer> ***      --
--     My inventions, produce, and the benefits thereof, are my      --
--     employer's property.  My opinions are my own, and _only_      --
--     my own.  All in all, a reasonably equitable arrangement.      --
----------------------- ----------------------- -----------------------
>:> 
>:> Giant Paragon System at Sandia Predicts Comet Fireballs
>:> 
>:> 
>:> Predictions based on shock wave simulations performed on the world's
>:> most powerful computer were borne out this week as comet fragments
>:> slammed into Jupiter and spawned spectacular fireballs visible in some
>:> cases even to amateur astronomers.
>:> 
>:> Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories used their 1,840-node Intel
>:> Paragon XP/S 140 supercomputer to model the impact effects of the
>:> Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet, accurately predicting the giant fireballs that
>:> observatories around the world have captured this week.
>:> 
>:> "No one really expected to see a fireball," said Sandia physicist Mark
>:> Boslough, who, along with project co-leader David Crawford, observed
>:> the astrophysical fireworks from the Air Force Maui Optical Station at the
>:> summit of Haleakala in Hawaii. "We predicted the visible fireballs, and we
>:> suggested that the trajectory of the fireball could be used to calculate the
>:> size of the comet fragments. Using the trajectory from our simulation, the
>:> biggest fragments would be approximately three kilometers in diameter, which
>:> is larger than most astronomers predicted."
>:> 
>:> To model the 3D hydrodynamics of the comet fragment interactions with the
>:> Jovian atmosphere, Sandia scientists Boslough, David Crawford, Allen
>:> Robinson and Timothy Trucano used PCTH, the parallel version of the widely
>:> used CTH shock physics code. The software was developed by Sandia and
>:> originally used in modeling a variety of nuclear weapons problems.
>:> 
>:> The team's 10-hour simulations on the Paragon system showed each
>:> fragment creating a bow shock similar to the shock wave at the tip of a
>:> supersonic jet fighter, with temperatures inside the bow shock region
>:> reaching as high as 35,000 degrees Centigrade. The visual output from
>:> the model depicts the flattening and breakup of the fragment, as well as
>:> the trail of hot, high-pressure air and comet debris that explodes into the
>:> surrounding atmosphere and creates the fireballs that have been highly
>:> visible this week.
>:> 
>:> Taking advantage of Sandia's mammoth Paragon system, the code used a cell
>:> size of 5 km on a size and a mesh of eight million cells. They modeled a
>:> volume of 1,440 x 1,440 x 480 km, with bilateral symmetry making the total
>:> dimensions 1,440 x 1,440 x 960 km. Their code is unique is offering a full
>:> three-dimensional simulation with realistic materials modeling that can
>:> distinguish between the comet's debris and the atmospheric materials.
>:> 
>:> "We believe our results are exceptionally accurate because the Paragon
>:> computer allowed us to model the comet behavior with higher resolution than
>:> ever before possible," said Phil Stanton, manager of Sandia's Experimental
>:> Impact Physics Department. "Resolution is especially important because the
>:> codes 'smear' or average the pressures, temperatures and conditions over
>:> a cell width, so having finer cells ends up giving us a much better look
>:> at the shock wave. The shock propagates farther and faster in our
>:> calculations compared to some of the work done on less powerful systems than
>:> the Paragon computer."
>:> 
>:> The higher resolution afforded by the Paragon system also allowed the Sandia
>:> scientists to resolve a fireball's ejection velocity and the temperatures
>:> within a fireball, according to Crawford. "Our simulation is the only one to
>:> follow the commentary debris from the time of impact through the time when the
>:> debris is ejected from the fireball," he said. "We're able to track where the
>:> material falls back onto the planet, and we expect that information to be
>:> helpful in answering our questions about some of the features of the black
>:> spots we're seeing now in our observations of Jupiter."
>:> 
>:> The Paragon system will now lend its computational muscle to the task of
>:> determining the size of the comet fragments. Using its PCTH code on the
>:> Paragon system, Sandia anticipates being able to rerun its calculations for
>:> different size fragments to match up with the observed data. "At that point,"
>:> said Stanton, "we'll be able to say with some degree of confidence what the
>:> actual fragment size was. I think that's going to be the best estimate
>:> anybody will be able to provide of the true size of these fragments."
>:> 
>:> The Paragon system at Sandia is the largest Intel supercomputer installation.
>:> It has 1,840 computational nodes, 3,680 Intel i860 XP processors, 38
>:> Gbytes of memory and 330 Gbytes of disk storage. In May of this year, the
>:> system set a new record for the Massively Parallel Linpack benchmark of
>:> 143.4 Gflops double-precision, returning the "world's fastest computer"
>:> banner to the United States. The previous record of 124.5 Gflops was set in
>:> August, 1993, by Fujitsu's Numerical Wind Tunnel, a one-of-a-kind system
>:> owned by the Japanese National Aerospace Laboratory.
>:> 
>:> Sandia is a national laboratory based in Albuquerque, N.M. and Livermore, CA,
>:> and operated by Martin Marietta Corp. for the U.S. Department of Energy.
>:> The impact modeling of the comet was supported with funds from the National
>:> Science Foundation.
>:> 
>:> 
>:> Paragon is a trademark and i860 is a registered trademark of Intel
>:> Corporation.
>:> 
>:> **********************************************************************
>:> HPCwire has released all copyright restrictions for this item.
>:> Please feel free to distribute this article to your friends and
>:> colleagues.
>:> 
> 


Article: 1
Subject: Re: This (new) froup
From: chuckc@sr.hp.com (Chuck Corley)
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 1994 18:08:20 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Michael Tchou wrote:
> I am delighted by the appearance of this Internet news.froup, 
> and cannot resist the temptation to (attempt to) post the
> first article.  In keeping with my interest and specialties,
> I invite everyone to read about "my" division's supercomputer.


        Um, OK, given your posting, maybe you or someone else can clue
me in to a few things:

  1) I was under the impression that the "fpga" in "comp.arch.fpga"
     stood for "Field Programmable Gate Array", such as the devices
     made by Xilinx, Actel, AMD, Lattice, Altera, etc.  (I apologize
     for any companies I missed).

     Why did you post an article about a supercomputer here?  Does this
     supercomputer use FPGAs?  Or is there another meaning to FPGAs
     that I'm not aware of?  Or did you just post this so that you
     could claim to be the "first poster"?

  2) Sorry if I'm not aware of the latest abbreviations, but what's a
     "froup"?  As in:  "I am delighted by the appearance of this
     Internet news.froup".


	Thanks for any pointers.

					Chuck Corley
					chuckc@sr.hp.com


Article: 2
Subject: FPGA based processors ?
From: jake@astro.ocis.temple.edu (Baiju Jacob)
Date: 27 Jul 1994 19:14:03 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Ok finally the group I have been looking for.
Has anybody made a whole fpga based machine [Besides the Splash from SRC].
Any idea about the status of the virtual machine from VCC.

-Baiju
Baiju E Jacob   Dept of Electrical Engineering, Temple University.
Ph: (215) 204-5742  | bjacob@isac.temple.edu | http://astro.temple.edu/~jake


Article: 3
Subject: Re: This (new) froup
From: lweissma@motown.ge.com (Larry M. Weissman, X3722)
Date: 27 Jul 1994 20:20:31 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
>From Chuck Corley:

>  1) I was under the impression that the "fpga" in "comp.arch.fpga"
>     stood for "Field Programmable Gate Array", such as the devices
>     made by Xilinx, Actel, AMD, Lattice, Altera, etc.  (I apologize
>     for any companies I missed).


   I also thought this group was for "Field Programmable Gate Arrays". I am starting
the design on my first FPGA (Xilinx) this week and look forward to reading about and discussing the technology here. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Larry Weissman          |  All opinions expressed are my own and  
Martin Marietta Corp.   |  in no way related to my company. All my 
Moorestown, NJ   USA    |  designs are my companies and in no way
lweissma@motown.ge.com  |  considered my own.  



Article: 4
Subject: Welcome new XILINX users
From: cshelor@cpdsc.com (Charles Shelor-Consultant)
Date: 27 Jul 1994 23:26:30 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>

Welcome to the new Xilinx users:

Get ready to spend a lot more time doing place and route than you
EVER anticipated if you are using XC4010 or larger.

Best bet, skip the Xilinx PPR software and get NeoCad!



Charles F. Shelor

SHELOR ENGINEERING              VHDL Training, Consulting, and models
3308 Hollow Creek Rd
Arlington,  TX  76017-5346      cfshelor@acm.org
(817) 467-9367




Article: 5
Subject: Learning about FPGAs
From: nklein@access1.digex.net (Norman Klein)
Date: 27 Jul 1994 22:47:59 -0400
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>

I have always worked on the software side writing drivers and
I would like get started learning about programming (??) Field
Programmable Gate Arrays. The only background that I have in 
electronics is a year's worth of electric circuits (Ohm's law,
Kirchoff's law, ...) back in school, so can someone please tell
me the prerequisites and point me to the revelant books that will
tell me how to get started working with FPGAs (preferably Xilinx's).

Thanks!!
direction of 
interfaced to h


Article: 6
Subject: Does the iFX780 qualify for discussion here?
From: bgeer@xmission.com (bgeer)
Date: 27 Jul 1994 21:10:44 -0600
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Like it sez, does discussion of the Intel iFX780 FPGA belong here as
well?

It was easy to work with except:

	We didn't like the PC programmer as we were a Sun-Unix house.
Intel did give us a Sun-based tool to build the JEDEC files, but we
still have to fight tooth & nail to get their PC-based (PC-only!)
pengn program to convert JEDEC to bitmap files.

	Intel support wasn't in any way ready to support downloading
the bitmap files to daisy chained iFX780's.  It took 3 weeks to get
the info we needed to program the right sequence to download #2 & #3
parts.

	Otherwise, they worked like a champ.

	We used them on a board w/ 2 TMS320C31's.  One did frame
buffer arbitration, another did address relocation for a poor man's
hardware anti-alias scheme, & the 3rd did video stync & tyming.  What
fun.

Cheers, Bob

-- 
<>  Bob "Bear" Geer   <>                             <>
<> bgeer@xmission.com <>  Even paranoids             <>
<>  Salt Lake City,   <>         have enemies, too!  <>
<>     Utah, USA      <>                             <>


Article: 7
Subject: Tee minulle Xilinx-suunnittelu (korvausta vastaan, tietty)
From: kuusama@sci.fi (Juha Kuusama)
Date: 28 Jul 94 06:08:06 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Teekkarit, insinööritoimistot jne. huom!

Tarvitsisin jonkun, joka suunnittelisi minulle liityntäpiirin käyttäen 
Xilinxin FPGA-piiriä. (Tekisin itse, mutta voi tulla kiire.)

Piiri ottaa dataa rinnakkaisväylältä siirtorekisteriin (2 kpl) ja kellottaa 
sen sarjamuotoisille DA-muuntimille ja sama toiseen suuntaan (AD -> 
prosessori). Helpohko sinänsä, mutta aika monta rekisteriä, joten kyllä 
siinä oma hommansa on.

Saat piirin tarkan kuvauksen ja tarvittavat työkalut käyttöösi 
(skemapiirto, automaattireititin jne, joten ei pitäisi tulla ongelmia).

Opiskelijalle hyvä erikoistyö.

Homma pitäisi saada työn alle suht. heti, jotta se olisi parissa 
kuukaudessa valmis (OK; kolmessa, jos saan nastajärjestyksen aikaisemmin).
Hommaa on varmaankin alle kuukaudeksi, mutta kuka sitä näillä säillä koko 
päivää putkea tuijottaisi.

Hinnasta sovitaan, mutta jos pyydät liikaa, teen itse.
--
Juha Kuusama
Sample Rate Systems Oy                tel. + 358 31 3165 045
Kanslerinkatu 14                      fax  + 358 31 3165 046
33720 Tampere, Finland                e-mail: Juha.Kuusama@mail.sci.fi



Article: 8
Subject: Re: This (new) froup
From: michaelt@ssd.intel.com (Michael Tchou)
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 15:28:21 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
In article <CtM2Dx.7AB@srgenprp.sr.hp.com> chuckc@sr.hp.com writes:
>Michael Tchou wrote:
>> I am delighted by the appearance of this Internet news.froup, 
>> and cannot resist the temptation to (attempt to) post the
>> first article.  In keeping with my interest and specialties,
>> I invite everyone to read about "my" division's supercomputer.
>
>        Um, OK, given your posting, maybe you or someone else can clue
>me in to a few things:
>
>  1) I was under the impression that the "fpga" in "comp.arch.fpga"
>     stood for "Field Programmable Gate Array", such as the devices
>     made by Xilinx, Actel, AMD, Lattice, Altera, etc.  (I apologize
>     for any companies I missed).
>
>     Why did you post an article about a supercomputer here?  Does this
>     supercomputer use FPGAs?  Or is there another meaning to FPGAs
>     that I'm not aware of?  Or did you just post this so that you
>     could claim to be the "first poster"?

Indeed, both the GP and the MP variants of the Paragon supercomputer
use one Xilinx FPGA per multiprocessor node-assembly.  The MP variant
also uses several of Intel's top-of-the-line iFX-780 FPGA devices per
node.  (I forgive you for not mentioning Intel in the FPGA vendor list
above...)   :-{)

In truth, my primary motivation was to make the first posting (here). 
I posted the Jupiter article because I thought that..."Dude!  Look!  I'm
the first person to ever post here!"...might be a little lacking in 
intellectual substance.

>  2) Sorry if I'm not aware of the latest abbreviations, but what's a
>     "froup"?  As in:  "I am delighted by the appearance of this
>     Internet news.froup".
>
>
>	Thanks for any pointers.
>
>					Chuck Corley
>					chuckc@sr.hp.com

The separated.by.dots syntax is an internet ascii colloquialism.  (If
one may apply the word "colloquial" to a global electronic community.)
You may already have seen this syntax used...   net.thought.police, 
net.politics, net.abuser, etcetera.  The best definition/description
I have seen (to date) maintains that adding the prefix "net." is
synonymous with including "of/to the internet" as a suffix.  Thus a
"net.addict" would be an "addict to/of the internet".

("Smileys" are also a net.colloquialism...)

The...word?..."froup" comes from the frequent misspelling of the (more
conventional) word "group" within the context of net.news.  (Usually due
to a participant's hasty typing and disinclination to make use of on-
line spell-checkers before transmitting an article.)

My own interpretation of "froup" is that it refers singularly and gen-
erically to individual internet (net.news) special interest news groups. 
I believe that it would be correct to refer to "comp.arch.fpga" as the
"c.a.f froup" (or even as the "caf froup").  I have yet to see an ex-
plicit definition for "froup"...perhaps I should write one? 

(Or have I already done so?)

- michaelt/M6
----------------------- ----------------------- -----------------------
--     *** <disclaimer> ** Michael R. Tchou ** <disclaimer> ***      --
--     My inventions, produce, and the benefits thereof, are my      --
--     employer's property.  My opinions are my own, and _only_      --
--     my own.  All in all, a reasonably equitable arrangement.      --
----------------------- ----------------------- -----------------------



Article: 9
Subject: Re: Learning about FPGAs
From: mcginley@ll.mit.edu (Chuck McGinley)
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 94 15:29:13 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
In article <31768v$dva@access1.digex.net> nklein@access1.digex.net (Norman Klein) writes:
>
>I have always worked on the software side writing drivers and
>I would like get started learning about programming (??) Field
>Programmable Gate Arrays. The only background that I have in 
>electronics is a year's worth of electric circuits (Ohm's law,
>Kirchoff's law, ...) back in school, so can someone please tell
>me the prerequisites and point me to the revelant books that will
>tell me how to get started working with FPGAs (preferably Xilinx's).
>
>Thanks!!
>direction of 
>interfaced to h

Hello to one and all. This sounds like it could be a good group.

In response to the above. First you will need at least a basic understanding of
at least TTL logic. Then I would suggest ou start at the Xilinx data book. It
is available from almost any Xilinx Distributor.

Now my question.

I am using Viewlogic Schematic capture, and the new Xact 5.0.  I have designed
a group of Serial to parallel shift registers (8) that can be read/written from
EISA bus.  The serial shifting clock runs at 40 mhz and the fastast parallel
read is roughly about 8mhz. I am using the 4000series parts. My question is
this.  Has anyone used the timespec attributes and symbols with the 4k 
libraries in the past who could be able to answer a few questions for me ?

Specifically, how do I specify the 40mhz serial shifting and the 8 mhz parallel
read\write, using these symbols and attributes ?

Thanks in advance
Chuck McGinley
mcginley@ll.mit.edu

p.s. I also have a call into customer support.
p.p.s. This is my first design over 20mhz, and I have never had to squeeze
this kind of performance out of the devices.



Article: 10
Subject: Re: Does the iFX780 qualify for discussion here?
From: richw@lsid.hp.com (Rich Wilson)
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 16:37:58 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
bgeer (bgeer@xmission.com) wrote:
: Like it sez, does discussion of the Intel iFX780 FPGA belong here as
: well?

: It was easy to work with except:

: 	We didn't like the PC programmer as we were a Sun-Unix house.
: Intel did give us a Sun-based tool to build the JEDEC files, but we
: still have to fight tooth & nail to get their PC-based (PC-only!)
: pengn program to convert JEDEC to bitmap files.

: 	Intel support wasn't in any way ready to support downloading
: the bitmap files to daisy chained iFX780's.  It took 3 weeks to get
: the info we needed to program the right sequence to download #2 & #3
: parts.

: 	Otherwise, they worked like a champ.

: 	We used them on a board w/ 2 TMS320C31's.  One did frame
: buffer arbitration, another did address relocation for a poor man's
: hardware anti-alias scheme, & the 3rd did video stync & tyming.  What
: fun.

: Cheers, Bob

: -- 
: <>  Bob "Bear" Geer   <>                             <>
: <> bgeer@xmission.com <>  Even paranoids             <>
: <>  Salt Lake City,   <>         have enemies, too!  <>
: <>     Utah, USA      <>                             <>

Bob and others,

I'm just finishing up a project which uses three FX780s.  I had very
little trouble with the tools, but when I did run into the occasional
bottleneck, I found their support (via internet Email) to be very
rapid and helpful.  I even got a free pen out of the deal for finding
an authentic bug!

I also used the tools to generate bitmaps for loading our three
parts in daisy chain fashion; it worked with no hassle, first time.
We create one file for each part, link them into our processor bootrom,
and it loads the three parts at power-on time.  Since the bootrom is
flash memory, and it can reprogram itself, this makes design changes
very easy.  (Dos platform for all Intel tools)

I did, however, find a very serious problem with the part itself, which
they don't seem willing to talk about.  I was originally planning to
run the system at 80MHz, and found that the parts, under certain
conditions, just plain don't go that fast.  Apparently the internal
feedback drivers are too wimpy, and if a signal gets fed back to too
many CFBs, it doesn't meet spec.  By bringing the lazy signal out
to an output pin via an unused output, I could make a direct Tco2
measurement.  The spec is 16nS; I was measuring 17.2nS at room
temperature at one point.  Before I used the workaround (see below),
I even saw failures at 64MHz.

If I can believe Intel, I am the first person to report this behavior,
and they were not aware previously that there might be a problem.
They have NOT been responsive to telling me how they intend to
rectify this shortcoming.

For a workaround, feedback can be taken from the pin (PINFBK).
Amazingly, this is faster than using internal feedback.  The only
problem then is in getting feedback from buried nodes.

I have my parts FULL, and with the above exception, am very happy
with them.

===========================================================================
Rich Wilson                                     Internet: richw@lsid.HP.COM
Hewlett Packard Company                                 Packet: N7WWU@N0ARY
Lake Stevens Instrument Division                        Phone: 206-335-2245
		This message is umop apisdn.  (Thanks, Don)


Article: 11
Subject: Help: Homebrew development hardware sources...
From: kgeis@ucsee.EECS.Berkeley.EDU (Ken Geis)
Date: 28 Jul 1994 19:21:14 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>

	Hi.  I would like to have any references, particularly to magazine
articles, about building programmers (EPROM, etc. and PAL/GAL, etc.)
	Also, I have heard of an FPGA from Intel (FLEXLogic, I believe)
which is inexpensive to develop.  There is a book available with a
prototyping board for about $100.  It apparently comes with an ordering form
for software, but there is no mention of software price.  Could somebody
confirm this or add information:  I had heard of Intel's FPGA's before, and
I heard that they distribute, free of charge, plans to build a programmer
and the software to run it.  Anybody?
	Thanks in advance,

		Ken Geis
		kgeis@ucsee.EECS.berkeley.edu


Article: 12
Subject: Re: Welcome new XILINX users
From: schott@cs.umbc.edu (Brian Schott)
Date: 28 Jul 1994 15:45:36 -0400
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
In article <316qf6INN5o2@sun004.cpdsc.com>,
Charles Shelor-Consultant <cshelor@cpdsc.com> wrote:

>Get ready to spend a lot more time doing place and route than you
>EVER anticipated if you are using XC4010 or larger.

When else would I have time to read news???

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\//////////////////////////////////////
// Brian Schott                     \/ email: schott@super.org           \\
\\ Supercomputing Research Center   \/ phone: (301) 805-7322             //
// 17100 Science Drive              /\ quote: WAIT UNTIL clock'event;    \\
\\ Bowie, Maryland  20715           /\        clock <= snooze;           //
/////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\






Article: 13
Subject: Re: FPGA based processors ?
From: eburke@mipos2.intel.com (Eric Burke)
Date: 28 Jul 1994 19:55:09 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
In article <316blr$dnt@cronkite.ocis.temple.edu> jake@astro.ocis.temple.edu (Baiju Jacob) writes:
>Ok finally the group I have been looking for.
>Has anybody made a whole fpga based machine [Besides the Splash from SRC].
>Any idea about the status of the virtual machine from VCC.
>
>-Baiju
>Baiju E Jacob   Dept of Electrical Engineering, Temple University.
>Ph: (215) 204-5742  | bjacob@isac.temple.edu | http://astro.temple.edu/~jake
I had a similar question.  We at school are building a new processor
(very small: 16 bit data/address, ~50 instructions, register-register
architecture), and we would like to implement on FPGAs.  Has anyone
used Mentor Graphics (or some similar tools) to synthesize VHDL code/
generic cell logic design to FPGA tools?  How easy was it?  How easy was
it to debug physical timing errors that weren't detected by the simulations?

Any other input would be great.  Thanks!

-E


Article: 14
Subject: FPGA '95 Symposium Call for Papers
From: jayar@eecg.toronto.edu (Jonathan Rose)
Date: 28 Jul 94 20:09:37 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
		    FPGA '95: Call for Papers
		1995 ACM/SIGDA International Symposium on
		    Field-Programmable Gate Arrays

			Santa Cruz, California
			February 12-14, 1995

This symposium has evolved from two previous workshops, FPGA '92 and 
FPGA '94. As Field-Programmable Gate Arrays become more essential to the 
design of digital systems there is increased desire to improve their 
performance, density and automated design. This symposium, sponsored by 
ACM/SIGDA, seeks contributions, but is not limited to, the following areas:

+ FPGA Architecture: logic & routing, memory, I/O, new commercial architectures.

+ Interactions: between CAD, architecture, applications, and programming 
  technology.

+ Applications: novel uses of FPGAs

+ Process Technology-Issues Related To FPDs

+ CAD for FPGAs: Logic optimization, technology mapping, placement, routing

+ Field-Programmable Systems: emulation and computation, partitioning across 
  chips

+ Field-Programmable Interconnect Chips/Devs

+ Field-Programmable Analog Arrays

Authors should submit 20 copies of their work (maximum 10 pages, minimum 
point size 10) by October 3, 1994. Notification of acceptance will be sent 
by November 20, 1994. 

A proceedings of accepted papers will be published (which is different from 
the publication policy of the previous related workshop). Final papers will 
be limited in length to six pages. Submissions should be sent to:

Jonathan Rose
FPGA '95
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
10 King's College Road,
Toronto, Ontario 
Canada M5S 1A4

email: jayar@eecg.toronto.edu, 
phone: (416) 978-6992, 
fax:   (416) 971-2286

General Chair: Pak Chan, UC Santa Cruz
Program Chair: Jonathan Rose, University of Toronto.

Program Committee (so far):

Duncan Buell, SRC
Pak Chan, UCSC
Jason Cong, UCLA
Ewald Detjens, Exemplar
Carl Ebeling, U. Washington
Frederic Furtek, Atmel
Dwight Hill, Synopsys
Sinan Kaptanoglu, Actel
John McCollum, Actel
Jonathan Rose, U. Toronto
Richard Rudell, Synopsys
Rob Rutenbar, CMU
Takayasu Sakurai, Toshiba
Martine Schlag, UCSC
Steve Trimberger, Xilinx



Article: 15
Subject: Re: FPGA based processors ?
From: mlindste@csugrad.cs.vt.edu (Red Sleepy)
Date: 28 Jul 1994 16:23:01 -0400
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
jake@astro.ocis.temple.edu (Baiju Jacob) writes:

>Ok finally the group I have been looking for.
>Has anybody made a whole fpga based machine [Besides the Splash from SRC].
>Any idea about the status of the virtual machine from VCC.

>-Baiju
>Baiju E Jacob   Dept of Electrical Engineering, Temple University.
>Ph: (215) 204-5742  | bjacob@isac.temple.edu | http://astro.temple.edu/~jake


The SPLASH is pretty flaky from what I understand.  I'm a senior at Virginia
Tech and we have the thing.  It only works sometimes, who knows why.  Anyway
is it really all that intellegent to rely on FPGA's for an entire
computer?  I don't know much about FPGA's so please don't flame me.

Anyway, the SPLASH is almost completely XILINX chips, and lots of them.
It's in Dr. Armstrong's advanced computer design research lab, but somebody
else Dr. Athas uses it for visualation and other things.

opps, Dr. Athas supposed to be Dr. Anthas.

just in case anybody is interested in SPLASH.

ChriS


Article: 16
Subject: What should I use
From: ike@casper.med.uth.tcm.edu (Michael Leibowitz)
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 14:51:10
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Hello, I am working with a few of my friends to devlope a paralell proccessing 
computer.  In order to build the bus interface, we were wondering what would 
be more appropriate: FPGA's, PAL's, or EPLD's?  I hear that the Xilinx FPGA's 
are hard to work with because of odd propagation times.  I would like to use 
the iFX7(whatever the high-io one is).  It has precise delays (so I'm told).  
Thank you.

PS.  I also would like to look for a group pertaining to computer architecture 
and p.p., is there such a group?


Article: 17
Subject: Re: Does the iFX780 qualify for discussion here?
From: benningf@aur.alcatel.com (some call me... Robert)
Date: 28 Jul 1994 22:21:19 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
FYI, Altera has purchased Intel's entire line of PLDs, from 22V10s to FLEXlogic,
for around $50 million.  So your iFX780 will belong to Altera by next quarter.  I
don't know what Altera plans to do with this Intel device...

Fortunately for me, I use Xilinx (I used Actel and TI a few years ago).


Good luck,
          Robert
---
[DISCLAIMER:  In the event that I am captured or killed, Alcatel Network
 Systems will destroy my files and disavow all knowledge of my existence.]
*****************************************************************************
\  Robert F. Benningfield Jr.           {benningf@aur.alcatel.com}          /
/  Member Technical Staff,   R&D Core Hardware Design Engineering           \
<  Alcatel Network Systems,  2912 Wake Forest Road,  Raleigh,               >
\  North Carolina  27609, USA           {NCSU Alumnus: MSEE '90, BSEE '89}  /
/  Phone: 919/850-5569 (work) or 919/851-5562 (play),  Fax: (919) 850-6590  \
*****************************************************************************




Article: 18
Subject: PPR vs NeoCAD (vs. APR)
From: arnim@actrix.gen.nz (Arnim Littek)
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 22:23:44 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
cshelor@cpdsc.com writes
>Get ready to spend a lot more time doing place and route than you
>EVER anticipated if you are using XC4010 or larger.
>
>Best bet, skip the Xilinx PPR software and get NeoCad!

I don't suppose you could be a bit more specific in this case?  Have
you got some side-by-side examples of the same data being submitted
to PPR and to the NeoCAD tools?  

We are still using the 3K stuff principally, and the APR tool, so I 
am not willing to comment on the PPR stuff, but in our comparisons, 
from 2018 devices right through to 3195, there are some patterns.

Firstly, the NeoCAD tools are a lot faster than the Xilinx factory
tools, by a factor of 3-4 times, particularly on the larger designs.  
This is based on the APR V3.30 which was in the last pre-XACT5.0 
release.  (Haven't tried with the APR in XACT 5.0)  The NeoCAD tools 
I've tried on are V4.1.

However, in defence of APR, it is seems more flexible, allowing
us to tailor the placement and routing in ways that the NeoCAD
isolates the user from.  For that matter, APR also seems to have that
all over PPR too.  Too bad its being put on the shelf.

The trend seems to be to isolate the user from any understanding of
what's happening.  We much prefer the use of intermediate files in
ASCII, rather than hiding things in proprietary binary files.  Nobody 
is perfect at error messages, and the more information we have to go
on when the going gets tough, the more likely we are to get out of
the situation.  Xilinx seems to be moving away from ASCII outputs, 
and NeoCAD has never been that open, as far as I know.  However, 
that's another issue altogether.

Arnim Littek.                                   arnim@digitech.co.nz


-- 
                                                    arnim@actrix.gen.nz


Article: 19
Subject: definition of FPGA
From: pngai@mv.us.adobe.com (Phil Ngai)
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 22:33:08 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
In article <CtnpnA.9JJ@SSD.intel.com> michaelt@ssd.intel.com (Michael Tchou) writes:
>use one Xilinx FPGA per multiprocessor node-assembly.  The MP variant
>also uses several of Intel's top-of-the-line iFX-780 FPGA devices per
>node.  (I forgive you for not mentioning Intel in the FPGA vendor list
>above...)   :-{)

I dispute the description of the iFX-780 as an FPGA. It is just a big
PAL. One of the advantages of FPGAs is that each macrocell has its own
set of inputs which do not have to be shared with other macrocells.
This is important when using one-hot encoded state machines as
otherwise the increase in the number of bits in the state vector often
exceeds the number of inputs available to a logic block.

If you don't have to do Place and Route, it's not an FPGA...


-- 
 Good bye, Mr. Roberti. Thanks for playing.


Article: 20
Subject: Re: definition of FPGA
From: mofo@netcom.com (mofo)
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 1994 04:14:57 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
in article <1994Jul28.223308.29847@adobe.com> pngai@mv.us.adobe.com (Phil Ngai) scribbles in crayon:
>In article <CtnpnA.9JJ@SSD.intel.com> michaelt@ssd.intel.com (Michael Tchou) writes:
>>use one Xilinx FPGA per multiprocessor node-assembly.  The MP variant
>>also uses several of Intel's top-of-the-line iFX-780 FPGA devices per
>>node.  (I forgive you for not mentioning Intel in the FPGA vendor list
>>above...)   :-{)
>
>I dispute the description of the iFX-780 as an FPGA. It is just a big
>PAL. One of the advantages of FPGAs is that each macrocell has its own
>set of inputs which do not have to be shared with other macrocells.
>This is important when using one-hot encoded state machines as
>otherwise the increase in the number of bits in the state vector often
>exceeds the number of inputs available to a logic block.
>
>If you don't have to do Place and Route, it's not an FPGA...
>
>
>-- 
> Good bye, Mr. Roberti. Thanks for playing.

you bring up a valid point, however since there are no current newsgroups
to address cplds, eplds, and pals, i suggest this group encompass the
whole range rather than attempt to resplinter into smaller subgroups 
each with an intrinsically overlapping area of discussion and a relatively
puny readership.  why not emulate the parts themselves and let the 
discussions flow in a continuum?

as to your point about fpga's with their own independent set of inputs;
i dont understand, how does this affect the ability to do one-hot
encoding?  seems like i should be able to do that in a 22v10, no?

d
-- 
this is a test of the emergency broadcasting system.  had this been
a real emergency, you would have been instructed where to send your
IRS tax forms...


Article: 21
Subject: FPGA software
From: doolitt@recycle.cebaf.gov (Larry Doolittle)
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 1994 13:06:12 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Not counting the silly (for this froup :) thread on supercomputers,
I though I would kick the ball off by asking for comments on
software support for FPGA's.

I have examined the data sheets for the Xilinx 3000 series chips,
and I think I could do some really |<oo1 stuff with them, but I
am seriously put off by the Xilinx software.  I don't want to
afford it, learn it, and be locked in to it.  I will only consider
working with hardware where I have the choice of what software
to use.  Can anybody tell me (and the rest of the group) if
Xilinx or any other vendor of in-place reprogrammable logic
(CMOS static cell or Flash storage) has:

  JEDEC standardized and documented "fuse" maps
  support from mainstream logic developers (like ABEL)
  freeware code fragments for downloading fuse maps

I have read snippets in trade magazines about Altera's FLEX line,
Intel's iFX line, and Cypress CY7C37x chips.  With the right
attitude from the manufacturer, these all sound like they could
satisfy my wants.

Thanks in advance.
                    - Larry Doolittle   doolittle@cebaf.gov 


Article: 22
Subject: Question: Using FPGA as onboard controller
From: pdonachy@galba.cs.qub.ac.uk (Paul Donachy)
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 1994 13:31:14 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Firstly, congratulations on the new newsgroup, well overdue! Secondly,  
 
might as well make use of it and see if anyone has info on the following matter:

Our research involves using FPGAs as an architectural building block in constructing a scalable reconfigurable image processing co-processor.

Initial work carried out involved implementing simple image processing operations using FPGAs (used Algotronix CHS2x4 board,now by Xilinx). The controlling of input and output from onboard memory to/from the FPGA was carried out by a general purpose on board controller, under supervision from the host 

What we would like, is to be able to have a reconfigurable controller that would carry out a specific task defined by the image processing operation required, and would carry out its operations without any interaction from the host. This controller itself would be a FPGA as it will be reconfigurable.

This dynamic control FPGA would be required to generate address sequences, bus signals as well as clock pulses to drive the other FPGAs.

Does anyone have any info about using FPGAs are contr 
ollers or any other projects in which control of this type was required. If so what devices were used.

Don hesitate to mail me, if anyone needs more info or you have anything that may help.

Thanks in advance !

Paul.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Donachy  		 	    pdonachy@elegabalus.cs.qub.ac.uk

Dept.Computer Science,  The Queens University of Belfast (QUB), 
Belfast, BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, UK     +44 232 245133 (Ext 3147) 	
--------------------------------------------------------------------
c task defined by the image processing operation required, and would carry out its operations without any interaction from the host. This controller itself would be a FPGA as it will be reconfigurable.

This dynamic control FPGA would be required to generate address sequences, bus signals as well as clock pulses to drive the other FPGAs.

Does anyone have any info about using FPGAs are contr


Article: 23
Subject: Re: PPR vs NeoCAD (vs. APR)
From: mofo@netcom.com (mofo)
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 1994 15:46:28 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
in article <Cto8vK.FzJ@actrix.gen.nz> arnim@actrix.gen.nz (Arnim Littek) scribbles in crayon:
>cshelor@cpdsc.com writes
>
>However, in defence of APR, it is seems more flexible, allowing
>us to tailor the placement and routing in ways that the NeoCAD
>isolates the user from.  For that matter, APR also seems to have that
>all over PPR too.  Too bad its being put on the shelf.
>

as a study in contrast, i have the opposite opinion.  my last project
involved such obnoxious schedules that i really didnt have the time or
the inclination to play with the xilinx XDE and tweak this node here,
move that line there.  my experience with xilinx says that if you want
to get *any* kind of performance at all from the part, you're going to
have to design the circuitry to take advantage of the architecture and
spend an enormous amount of time on advance tile placement.  be aware
of these restrictions if you are on a limited schedule.  there is no 
magic software from xilinx that just does it for you.

on the other hand, actel does isolate me from their guts and i appreciate
them for it.  i've never used their parts for high speed applications but
the punch-and-go software gives me fairly quick turn on a design without
the headaches of nitpicky details internal to the part.  i think it *should*
be that way.  unless you are assigned just the one part to design, you
dont have the time to play doctor for a sick part.


>The trend seems to be to isolate the user from any understanding of
>what's happening.  We much prefer the use of intermediate files in
>ASCII, rather than hiding things in proprietary binary files.  Nobody 
>is perfect at error messages, and the more information we have to go
>on when the going gets tough, the more likely we are to get out of
>the situation.  Xilinx seems to be moving away from ASCII outputs, 
>and NeoCAD has never been that open, as far as I know.  However, 

this i agree with.  support has never been a handholding affair so the
vendors as much as the customer would appreciate at least some preliminary
level of screening by the customer before yelling help.  hard to do with
strictly binary files.

d
-- 
this is a test of the emergency broadcasting system.  had this been
a real emergency, you would have been instructed where to send your
IRS tax forms...


Article: 24
Subject: Re: FPGA based processors ?
From: guccione@sparcplug.mcc.com (Steve Guccione)
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 1994 16:39:27 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
In article <316blr$dnt@cronkite.ocis.temple.edu>,
Baiju Jacob <jake@astro.ocis.temple.edu> wrote:
>Ok finally the group I have been looking for.
>Has anybody made a whole fpga based machine [Besides the Splash from SRC].
>Any idea about the status of the virtual machine from VCC.
>
>-Baiju
>Baiju E Jacob   Dept of Electrical Engineering, Temple University.
>Ph: (215) 204-5742  | bjacob@isac.temple.edu | http://astro.temple.edu/~jake

I have compiled a list of such machines, both commercial and research.
Below is a copy.  If anyone out there knows of a machine I have
missed, drop me a line.

-- Steve
-- guccione@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu or guccione@mcc.com
-- 7/29/94

----------------------< FPGA-based machines >------------------

            List of FPGA-based Computing Machines

Maintained by:   Steve Guccione
                 guccione@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
Last Updated:    6/8/94

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


System name:   ACME  (Adaptive Connectionist Model Emulator)
FPGA Devices:  14 Xilinx XC4010s and 6 Xilinx XC3195s
On-board RAM:  7 4K Dual-ported global memories
               each 4010 has a 4k Dual-ported memory 
External bus:  SBUS
Interconnect:  Clos Network between 4010s and 3195s
               3195s are used as programmable interconnect
               among 4010s and with global memory
Contact:       Pak K. Chan 
               Computer Engineering Board
               225 Applied Sciences
               University of California
               Santa Cruz, CA 95064
               Email:  pak@cse.ucsc.edu
Notes:         See FPGA'94 Berkeley ACM Workshop


System name:   Anyboard
FPGA Devices:  5 Xilinx 3042
On-board RAM:  384K
External bus:  ISA
Interconnect:  Fixed buses
Contact:       David E. Van den Bout
               ECE Department
               North Carolina State University
               Raleigh, NC  27695-7911
Notes:

 
System name:   ArMen 
FPGA Devices:  1 3090 per node. The MIMD/FPGA parallel machine is
               modular and extensible.
On-board RAM:  1, 2 or 4Mb/node
               each board has a T805 processor with 4 20Mb/s links.
External bus:  SBUS Archipel board with a T805.
               I/Os can be handled directly within ArMen using additional
               transputer/peripheral boards.
Interconnect:  Processor interconnection is host system dependent.
               We have two 8 nodes computers configures as cubes.
               3090 south and west ports are assembled into a linear
               ring with 36bits data path. North ports are mapped in the
               processor address space, so that they receive address/data
               from their local processor. The FPGA 32 bit south port is 
               free for extensions or input/output on each node.
Contact:       Bernard Pottier
               Laboratoire d'Informatique de Brest
               Universite de Bretagne Occidentale
               UFR Sciences, BP 802,
               Brest, 29285, FRANCE.
               Email:  pottier@univ-brest.fr
Notes:         See Napa FCCM 93 and 94 or Hawai HICSS-94 proceedings.
               ArMen can easily be connected to any host having
               an interface board for transputers. There are projects
               for commercial distribution


System name:   BORG
FPGA Devices:  2 Xilinx 3030s and 2 Xilinx 3042s
On-board RAM:  2K
External bus:  PC-bus interface in 5th FPGA
Interconnect:  4 FPGAs in a Clos network
               2 FPGAs can be used as interconnect or logic
Contact:       Pak K. Chan 
               Computer Engineering Board
               225 Applied Sciences
               University of California
               Santa Cruz, CA 95064
               Email:  pak@cse.ucsc.edu
Notes:         25 boards made by Xilinx and distributed
               for educational purposes.
               See FPGA'92 Berkeley ACM Workshop


System name:   BORG II
FPGA Devices:  2 Xilinx 4003As and 2 Xilinx 4002As
On-board RAM:  8K
External bus:  PC-bus interface in 5th FPGA
Interconnect:  4 FPGAs in a Clos network
               2 FPGAs can be used as interconnect or logic
Contact:       Pak K. Chan 
               Computer Engineering Board
               225 Applied Sciences
               University of California
               Santa Cruz, CA 95064
               Email:  pak@cse.ucsc.edu
Notes:         100 boards made by Xilinx and distributed
               for educational purposes.
               FPGAs are socketed and can be replaced by
               any 4000 series pc84 part.


System Name:   Chameleon
FPGA Devices:  7 Algotronix CAL
External Bus:  
Interconnect:  Fixed mesh
Contact:       Cuno Pfister
               pfister@cs.inf.ethz.ch
Notes:         Experimental workstation from ETH Zurich with FPGA's
               closely coupled to MIPS R3000 processor and innovative
               object based design software written in the Oberon
               language.


System name:   CHAMP (Configurable Hardware Algorithm
                      Mappable Processor)
FPGA Devices:  16 Xilinx 4013
On-board RAM:  512K Dual-ported
External bus:  VME
Interconnect:  Crossbar (using FPGAs)
Contact:       Brian Box
               Lockheed Sanders
               NCA01-2244
               P.O Box 868
               Nashua, NH  03060
	                      Phone:  (603) 885-7487
               FAX:    (603) 885-9056
               Email:  box@nhquax.sanders.lockheed.com
Notes:         


System name:   CHS 2x4
FPGA Devices:  9 Algotronix CALs (1 controller + 8 compute)
On-board RAM:  2 MB SRAM
External bus:  ISA
Interconnect:  Fixed mesh
Contact:       Tom Kean
               Xilinx Development Corp.
               53 Mortonhall Gate
               Edinburgh EH16 6TJ
               Phone:  44 31 666 2600ext204
               Fax:    44 31 666 0222
               Email:  tomk@xilinx.com
Notes:         Based on work at the University of Edinburgh by
               Tom Kean and John Gray.  Commercialized by Algotronix.
               Algotronix purchased by Xilinx in 1993.  System
               cascadable to 2 boards. No longer commercially
               available.


System name:   CM-2X
FPGA Devices:  16 Xilinx 4005
On-board RAM:  None
External bus:  Fixed
Interconnect:  None
Contact:       Craig Reese
               IDA Supercomputing Research Center
               17100 Science Drive
               Bowie, MD  20715
               Phone:  (301) 805-7479
               FAX:    (301) 805-7602
               Phone:  cfreese@super.org
Notes:         A Connection Machine 2 SIMD machine from
               Thinking Machines Corporation with the Weitek
               WTL3164 floating point processors replaced
               by Xilinx 4005s.  De-commissioned 1994.


System name:   DSP-56X
FPGA Devices:  1 Xilinx 3042
On-board RAM:  32KW-128KW (shared with DSP56000)
External bus:  SBus & Flexible
Interconnect:  See notes below.
Contact:       Michael C. Peck
               President
               Berkeley Camera Engineering
               3616 Skyline Drive
               Hayward, CA 94542-2521
               Phone: 510-889-6960
               Fax:   510-889-7606
               email: mikep@bce.com
Notes:         The DSP-56X is an SBus card that contains a
               40MHz Motorola 5600x family DSP, a Xilinx 3042, and
               memory (32K words or 128K words I believe).  The
               3042 sits directly on the 56000 bus and can
               be accessed from either the 56000 or the SBus.
               Some of the Xilinx pins are connected to the
               SBus back panel connector.


System name:   DTM-1
FPGA Devices:  16 DTM chips
On Board RAM:  32 8K x16 SRAM banks on separate DTM ports,
               dual ported to host
External Bus:  VME
Interconnect:  Packed Exponential Connections (a multi-grid mesh network)
Contact:       Worth Kirkman
               MITRE Corporation
               7525 Colshire Dr.
               McLean, VA  22102
               Phone:  (703)883-7082
               FAX:    (703)883-6708
               Email:  kirkman@mitre.org
Notes:         Built from custom DTM chips.  These devices are custom
               RAM-configurable 64x64 arrays of expandable-gate cells,
               each pipelined for 2 boolean input evaluations in a
               100MHz cycle.  256 I/O pins, each arbitrary direction
               with echo-cancellation and programmable parallel<=>
               serial sub-sampling - normally run at 1/4 the internal
               rate.


System name:   EVC  (The Engineers Virtual Computer)
FPGA Devices:  1 Xilinx 4010
On-board RAM:  Daughter board (see notes)
External bus:  SBus
Interconnect:  None
Contact:       Steve Casselman
               Virtual Computer Corporation
               Reseda, CA  91335
               Phone:  (818) 342-8294
               FAX:    (818) 342-0240
               Email:  sc@vcc.com
Notes:         The EVC is a single FPGA based transformable
               computing system. It has a daughter board area
               that has 96 user I/O from the 4010. A 2 Meg fast
               SRAM daughter board is available now.


System Name:   G-800 System
FPGA Devices:  Grouped in modules (maximum 16 -- see Notes below)
On-board RAM:  See Notes below
External Bus:  VESA (VL) Local bus
               VESA Media Channel - 100 MB/sec video bus
               80 pin connector supports 32 bit devices
Interconnect:  Bus Oriented Communication - Virtual Bus
               All Interconnect via Xilinx 4010's on G-800
               2x32 bit buses and 2x16 bit buses on G-800
               Configuration is programmable - Virtual Bus
Contact:       bovarga@gigaops.com
               2374 Eunice St.
               Berkeley, CA. 94708
Notes:         Modules have standard form factor and pinout.
               All bus lines to G-800 connect via FPGAs.
               Up to 16 modules of all types on 1 G-800 board.

               Visual Computing Module (VMC)= 2xXC4005; 4MB DRAM
                                              and 80 MIPS DSPS
               PGA10MOD = 1 x XC4010, 2MB DRAM, 128K SRAM
               PROTOMOD = same as PGA10MOD with pinouts extended
                          to pads for wirewrap, logic analyzer, etc.
                              
               16xVCMs = 32 XC4005's, 2 XC4010's on G-800, 64 MB DRAM
               16xPGA10MODs = 16 XC4010's, 2 XC4010's on G-800, and
                              32 MB DRAM and 2 MB SRAM
              
               XPGAMOD = 4xXC4010, 8 MB DRAM, 512K SRAM (available Oct)
               16xXPGAMODs = 32 XC4010's, 2 XC4010's on G-800, and
                             128 MB DRAM and 8 MB SRAM


System name:   GANGLION
FPGA Devices:  24 Xilinx 3090
On-board RAM:  24K PROM
External bus:  VME / Datacube MAXbus
Interconnect:  Fixed
Contact:       Charles Cox
               IBM Research Division
               Almaden Research Center
               San Jose, CA  95120-6099
Notes:         Used exclusively for neural networks.


System name:   Marc-1
FPGA Devices:  25 Xilinx 4005 (18 processing + 5 interconnect +
               2 control)
On-board RAM:  6 MB
External bus:  SBus
Interconnect:  5 Xilinx 4005
Contact:       David M. Lewis
               University of Toronto
               Department of Electrical Engineering
               Toronto, Canada
               Email:  lewis@eecg.toronto.edu
Notes:         Marc-1 consists of two modules.  Each module
               contains an instructions unit of 3 Xilinx 4005s,
               a datapath of 6 Xilinx 4005s, a 256K x 64
               instruction memory, a 256K x 32 data memory
               and a Weitek 3364.  These are connected by an
               interconnect module of 5 Xilinx 4005s.  Two more
               Xilinx 4005s are used to interface to the Sun
               Sparc host.


System name:   nP (The Nano Processor)
FPGA Devices:  2 Xilinx 3090
On-board RAM:  64K SRAM / 1M DRAM
External bus:  ISA
Interconnect:  Fixed
Contact:       National Technology, Inc.
               9500 South 500 West Suite #104
               Sandy, UT  84070
               Phone:  (801) 561-0114
               FAX:    (801) 561-4702
               Email:  wirthlin@gecko.ee.byu.edu
Notes:         


System name:   PAM (Programmable Active Memories) (perle-0)
FPGA Devices:  25 Xilinx 3020
On-board RAM:  0.5 MB
External bus:  VME
Interconnect:  Fixed mesh
Contact:       Patrice Bertin
               Paris Research Laboratory
               Digital Equipment Corporation
               85, avenue Victor Hugo
               92500 Rueil-Malmaison, France
               bertin@prl.dec.com
Notes:         Replaced by the DEC PAM perle-1.


System name:   PAM (Programmable Active Memories) (PeRLe-1)
FPGA Devices:  24 Xilinx 3090
On-board RAM:  4MB SRAM
External bus:  DEC TURBOchannel
Interconnect:  Fixed mesh
Contact:       Patrice Bertin
               Paris Research Laboratory
               Digital Equipment Corporation
               85, avenue Victor Hugo
               92500 Rueil-Malmaison, France
               bertin@prl.dec.com
Notes:         Set the record for RSA encryption in 1990.


System name:   PRISM (Processor Reconfiguration through
                      Instruction Set Metamorphosis)
FPGA Devices:  4 Xilinx 3090
On-board RAM:  None
External bus:  16 bit
Interconnect:  None
Contact:       Mike Wazlowski or Harvey Silverman
               Laboratory for Engineering Man/Machine Systems
               Brown University
               Providence, RI  02912
               {mew,hfs}@lems.brown.edu
Notes:         Notable for its use of C as the description language
               for the programmable logic.


System name:   PRISM-II (Processor Reconfiguration through
                         Instruction Set Metamorphosis)
FPGA Devices:  3 Xilinx 4010 per processing node
On-board RAM:  128K x 32 per 4010
External bus:  64 bit writes, 32 bit reads, on processor bus
               (it's not external)
Interconnect:  Inverted tree, or none, application selectable
Contact:       Mike Wazlowski or Harvey Silverman
               Laboratory for Engineering Man/Machine Systems
               Brown University
               Providence, RI  02912
               {mew,hfs}@lems.brown.edu
Notes:         Each PRISM-II board is a node in the Armstrong III
               loosely-coupled parallel processor. The host CPU is a
               33Mhz AMD Am29050 RISC processor. There are 20 nodes
               that are connected by a reconfigurable (of course)
               interconnection topology.


System name:   R16  and RISC4005
FPGA Devices:  1 Xilinx XC4005
On-board RAM:  64K Words (16 bit words)
External bus:  R16 bus, 16 bit addr, 16 bit data,
               Synchronous at 20 MHz
Interconnect:  Any
Contact:       Philip Freidin
               Fliptronics
               468 S. Frances St,
               Sunnyvale, CA 94086
               Phone:  (408) 737-8060 or at Xilinx (408) 879-5180
               email: philip@xilinx.com
Notes:         A 16 bit RISC processor that requires 75% of an
               XC4005, 16 general registers, 4 stage pipeline,
               Target speed is 20 MHz. Can be integrated with
               peripherals on 1 FPGA, and ISET can be extended.


System name:   Rasa Board
FPGA Devices:  3 Xilinx 4010
On-board RAM:  320K SRAM
External bus:  ISA
Interconnect:  2 Aptix FPICs
Contact:       Herman Schmit
               ECE Department
               Carnegie Mellon University
               Pittsburgh, PA 15213
               Phone: (412) 268-2476
Notes:         Integrated with a behavioral synthesis tool which
               allows specification of the desired algorithm in
               behavioral Verilog or C.


System name:   RIPP (Reconfigurable Interconnect Peripheral
                     Processor)
FPGA Devices:  8 Altera FLEX 81188
On-board RAM:  2 MB SRAM
External bus:  ISA
Interconnect:  Fixed buses / programmable interconnect
               (see Description)
Contact:       Nick Tredennick
               Altera Corporation
               2610 Orchard Parkway
               San Jose, CA  95134-2020
               Phone:  (408) 894-7000
               Email:  nickt@altera.com
Notes:         Up to 8 Altera FLEX 81188 parts, each of which
               may be replaced by an ICUBE IQ160 Field Programmable
               Interconnect Device (FPID).  Devices are grouped
               into 4 pairs of 2 devices, each sharing an SRAM
               device.  Designed by David E. Van den Bout of the
               Anyboard project.


System name:   SPARXIL
FPGA Devices:  3 Xilinx XC4010s
On-board RAM:  2 256Kx32bit SRAMs for user data
               1 128Kx8bit SRAM for on-board configuration cache
External bus:  SBus
Interconnect:  fixed
Contact:       Andreas Koch
               Institut f"ur theoretische Informatik
               Abteilung Entwurf Integrierter Schaltungen
               Gaussstr. 11
               D-38106 Braunschweig, Germany
               Email:  a.koch@tu-bs.de
Notes:         See FPL'93 Oxford workshop


System name:   SPACE (Scalable Parallel Architecture for
                      Concurrency Experiments)
FPGA Devices:  16 Algotronix CAL
On-board RAM:  
External bus:  Custom
Interconnect:  Fixed grid
Contact:       George Milne
               HardLab
               Department of Computer Science
               University of Strathclyde
               Glasgow G1 1XH
               Scotland, UK
Notes:         Used for physics research.


System name:   Spyder
FPGA Devices:  5 Xilinx 4003, 2 Actel A1280
On-board RAM:  128K SRAM plus 2K fast registers
External bus:  VME and Sun SBus
Interconnect:  Fixed
Contact:       Christian Iseli
               Logic Systems Laboratory
               Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
               CH-1015 Lausanne
               Switzerland
               Email:  chris@lslsun.epfl.ch
Notes:         A reconfigurable VLIW machine.


System name:   Spyder (version 2)
FPGA Devices:  3 Xilinx 4008 (upgradable to 4010),
               2 Xilinx 4005, 1 Actel A1280 and
               1 Actel A1225
On-board RAM:  128K SRAM plus 4K fast registers
External bus:  VME
Interconnect:  Fixed
Contact:       Christian Iseli
               Logic Systems Laboratory
               Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
               CH-1015 Lausanne
               Switzerland
               Email:  chris@lslsun.epfl.ch
Notes:         A reconfigurable VLIW machine.  A newer version
               of Spyder.


System name:   SPLASH
FPGA Devices:  32 Xilinx 3090
On-board RAM:  4 MB SRAM
External bus:  VME
Interconnect:  Linear array
Contact:       Jeffrey M. Arnold
               IDA Supercomputing Research Center
               17100 Science Drive
               Bowie, MD  20715
               Phone:  (301) 805-7479
               FAX:    (301) 805-7602
               Phone:  jma@super.org
Notes:         Replaced by SPLASH 2.


System name:   SPLASH 2
FPGA Devices:  16 Xilinx 4010
On-board RAM:  8 MB
External bus:  Sun SBus
Interconnect:  Linear array plus crossbar
Contact:       Jeffrey M. Arnold
               IDA Supercomputing Research Center
               17100 Science Drive
               Bowie, MD  20715
               Phone:  (301) 805-7479
               FAX:    (301) 805-7602
               Phone:  jma@super.org
Notes:         


System name:   TbC-Pamette (PAM - Programmable Active Memories)
FPGA Devices:  1 to 4 Xilinx 40XX in PQ-208 package
               Currently supported configurations: 4010 + 4003H
                                                   4 x 4010
On-board RAM:  Daughter board (see notes)
External bus:  DEC TURBOchannel
Interconnect:  Fixed mesh 2 x 2 matrix
Contact:       Mark Shand
               Paris Research Laboratory
               Digital Equipment Corporation
               85, avenue Victor Hugo
               92500 Rueil-Malmaison, France
               shand@prl.dec.com
Notes:         128 user I/O to daughter board.  Synchronous RAM daughter 
               board is under development.
               Pamette is targeted as a generic I/O adapter with local 
               compute capability.


System name:   TM-1  (Transmogrifier 1)
FPGA Devices:  4 Xilinx 4010
On-board RAM:  4 32Kx9 SRAMs
External bus:  custom to SUN workstation
Interconnect:  entirely programmable using Aptix AX1024 FPIC
Contact:       Jonathan Rose
               Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
               University of Toronto
               6 King's College Road
               Toronto, Ontario
               Canada  M5S 1A1
               Email: jayar@eecg.toronto.edu
Notes:         Intended more for rapid prototyping of circuits, but
               can be used for computing.


System name:   The Virtual Computer  (P-Series)
FPGA Devices:  Up to 52 Xilinx 4013
On-board RAM:  Up to 8 MB SRAM, 256K dual-ported SRAM
External bus:  Bus Independent - Current SBus interface
Interconnect:  Up to 24 ICUBE FPID
Contact:       Steve Casselman
               Virtual Computer Corporation
               Reseda, CA  91335
               Phone:  (818) 342-8294
               FAX:    (818) 342-0240
               Email:  sc@vcc.com
Notes:         The Virtual Computer P-Series consists of P1,
               P2, P3 and P4. The P1 has 14 4013s the P2 26
               4013s the P3 40 4013s and the P4 has 52 4013s.


System name:   Windchime
FPGA Devices:  Actel 1020A (1-3 per processor)
On-board RAM:  
External bus:  
Interconnect:  Mesh connected wormhole routing
Contact:       Erik Brunvand
               CS Dept.
               University of Utah
               Salt Lake City, UT, 84112 
               Email:  elb@cs.utah.edu
               Phone:  (801)581-4345
               FAX:    (801)581-5843
Notes:         MIMD multiprocessor.  Used for
               self-timed circuit experimentation.


System name:   X-12
FPGA Devices:  12 Xilinx 3195
On-board RAM:  384K SRAM (32K per FPGA)
External bus:  ISA
Interconnect:  Fixed common bus
Contact:       National Technology, Inc.
               9500 South 500 West Suite #104
               Sandy, UT  84070
               Phone:  (801) 561-0114
               FAX:    (801) 561-4702
               Email:  wirthlin@gecko.ee.byu.edu
Notes:         






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