6 ms·

Sounds really good. Is it only free as in free beer or editable too? The interesting applications for RISC-V are Vector Extensions and other application specif

Sounds really good. Is it only free as in free beer or editable too? The interesting applications for RISC-V are Vector Extensions and other application specific mods.

phire 8y ago
Beer. Pretty sure they will be precompiled RTL blobs.
- wyldfire 8y ago
  Not even. You have to pay a royalty to ship one of these M0 designs, still. It's just designed to be more appealing to research.
  - slededit 8y ago
    The blog post said royalty free though... I agree its not exactly super clear.
- duskwuff 8y ago
  > Pretty sure they will be precompiled RTL blobs. They are. Encrypted, too.
  - exikyut 8y ago
    Ugh. That's all I needed to know. (Thanks.) There goes a very large pile of potential security research out the window.
    - duskwuff 8y ago
      That all being said, my sources tell me that tools exist which can decrypt the .vp files. It's still not going to be particularly readable, but at least it's available for analysis.
      - exikyut 8y ago
        Hmm. Well, I get the impression the tools you mention are probably less hens-teeth than the ARM bitstream files ever were, so this development is pretty cool then.
kbumsik 8y ago
It is for Xilinx FPGAs only so at least it is not open-source friendly.
ISL 8y ago
Came to the comments for the same question. The difference between beer and speech is important here, as the impact of a free-as-in-speech open-source design would be substantial. Either way, thanks, ARM!
Palomides 8y ago
"DesignStart Eval enables completely free access to fixed-configuration Cortex-M0 and Cortex-M3 and full subsystem RTL for evaluation, prototype, teaching, and research. Available to all*, the packages can be downloaded instantly, requiring only a simple click-through agreement. " and if you want to make a product, "DesignStart Pro enables access to the full Cortex-M0, Cortex-M3, and subsystem RTL. Available to companies for commercial use with a no-risk, $0 license fee and success-based royalty model. Access to the IP can be requested online, requiring the signing of a simplified license agreement." so free as in... kinda freeish free trial.
- mycall 8y ago
  What's in that license agreement.. blood?
jeanmichelx 8y ago
You can add custom memory-mapped hardware though

Sounds really good. Is it only free as in free beer or editable too? The interesting applications for RISC-V are Vector Extensions and other application specific mods.

phire 8y ago

Beer. Pretty sure they will be precompiled RTL blobs.

wyldfire 8y ago
Not even. You have to pay a royalty to ship one of these M0 designs, still. It's just designed to be more appealing to research.
- slededit 8y ago
  The blog post said royalty free though... I agree its not exactly super clear.
duskwuff 8y ago
> Pretty sure they will be precompiled RTL blobs. They are. Encrypted, too.
- exikyut 8y ago
  Ugh. That's all I needed to know. (Thanks.) There goes a very large pile of potential security research out the window.
  - duskwuff 8y ago
    That all being said, my sources tell me that tools exist which can decrypt the .vp files. It's still not going to be particularly readable, but at least it's available for analysis.
    - exikyut 8y ago
      Hmm. Well, I get the impression the tools you mention are probably less hens-teeth than the ARM bitstream files ever were, so this development is pretty cool then.

kbumsik 8y ago

It is for Xilinx FPGAs only so at least it is not open-source friendly.

ISL 8y ago

Came to the comments for the same question. The difference between beer and speech is important here, as the impact of a free-as-in-speech open-source design would be substantial. Either way, thanks, ARM!

Palomides 8y ago

"DesignStart Eval enables completely free access to fixed-configuration Cortex-M0 and Cortex-M3 and full subsystem RTL for evaluation, prototype, teaching, and research. Available to all*, the packages can be downloaded instantly, requiring only a simple click-through agreement. " and if you want to make a product, "DesignStart Pro enables access to the full Cortex-M0, Cortex-M3, and subsystem RTL. Available to companies for commercial use with a no-risk, $0 license fee and success-based royalty model. Access to the IP can be requested online, requiring the signing of a simplified license agreement." so free as in... kinda freeish free trial.

mycall 8y ago
What's in that license agreement.. blood?

jeanmichelx 8y ago

You can add custom memory-mapped hardware though