4 ms·

Open Source hardware is still severely hampered by the lack of RTL tools. Even though they provide the RTL, I'm not sure that I could ever actually simulate it

Open Source hardware is still severely hampered by the lack of RTL tools. Even though they provide the RTL, I'm not sure that I could ever actually simulate it without spending >$1k on some Synposis software.

orbifold 8y ago
You can, verilator https://www.veripool.org/wiki/verilator https://www.veripool.org/wiki/verilator is a free and very performant way of doing so. It's not that hard to get into. SwerV https://github.com/westerndigitalcorporation/swerv_eh1 https://github.com/westerndigitalcorporation/swerv_eh1 uses it and Chisel uses it as a backend.
hermitdev 8y ago
Back in 2002-2003, I was in college, and my project partner and I used Icarus Verilog on FreeBSD to not have to spend our lives in the campus Sun lab. I have no idea of Icarus' state - ive not used it since, but it and some other tools that escape me allowed us to build and simulate our designs for free over 15 years ago.
- JoachimS 8y ago
  Icarus is still around. Stephen Williams has been steadfastly working on it over the years. http://iverilog.icarus.com/ http://iverilog.icarus.com/ https://github.com/steveicarus/iverilog https://github.com/steveicarus/iverilog I use it almost daily. It is a really nice Verilog simulator. I also use Verilator, ModelSim and other sims too . All of them find different issues with the code. The linter in Verilator is very nice to use to get rapid feedback.
  - hermitdev 8y ago
    That's awesome to hear. Glad it's still alive and kicking. If I had a need to Verilog again, it would be my first go-to. Damn, Icarus saved me so much time back in the day. It even performed better on my used laptop (think it was a P2-166 that we had to go to eBay to find new(er) batteries that could hold a charge, not sure, finally recycled it 2 years ago) than the commercial tools on the Sun boxes that were relatively modern in 2002-2003. I really mean it, Icarus was a life saved for me in college. I could do nearly all my work off campus at any hour instead of only being able to test in the handful of hours a week that the lab and I were free together.
JoachimS 8y ago
The build tool is setup for Synopsys VCS. Which costs $$$$. But you should be able to use free as in beer versions of Mentor/Siemens ModelSim.

orbifold 8y ago

You can, verilator https://www.veripool.org/wiki/verilator https://www.veripool.org/wiki/verilator is a free and very performant way of doing so. It's not that hard to get into. SwerV https://github.com/westerndigitalcorporation/swerv_eh1 https://github.com/westerndigitalcorporation/swerv_eh1 uses it and Chisel uses it as a backend.

hermitdev 8y ago

Back in 2002-2003, I was in college, and my project partner and I used Icarus Verilog on FreeBSD to not have to spend our lives in the campus Sun lab. I have no idea of Icarus' state - ive not used it since, but it and some other tools that escape me allowed us to build and simulate our designs for free over 15 years ago.

JoachimS 8y ago
Icarus is still around. Stephen Williams has been steadfastly working on it over the years. http://iverilog.icarus.com/ http://iverilog.icarus.com/ https://github.com/steveicarus/iverilog https://github.com/steveicarus/iverilog I use it almost daily. It is a really nice Verilog simulator. I also use Verilator, ModelSim and other sims too . All of them find different issues with the code. The linter in Verilator is very nice to use to get rapid feedback.
- hermitdev 8y ago
  That's awesome to hear. Glad it's still alive and kicking. If I had a need to Verilog again, it would be my first go-to. Damn, Icarus saved me so much time back in the day. It even performed better on my used laptop (think it was a P2-166 that we had to go to eBay to find new(er) batteries that could hold a charge, not sure, finally recycled it 2 years ago) than the commercial tools on the Sun boxes that were relatively modern in 2002-2003. I really mean it, Icarus was a life saved for me in college. I could do nearly all my work off campus at any hour instead of only being able to test in the handful of hours a week that the lab and I were free together.

JoachimS 8y ago

The build tool is setup for Synopsys VCS. Which costs $$$$. But you should be able to use free as in beer versions of Mentor/Siemens ModelSim.