gsmadhusudan

4 ms·

1.
by gsmadhusudan 9y ago
This is one of the raging debates within the RISC-V group and elsewhere. Is weak memory semantics really worth it or can x86 style TSO be implemented optimally.Lot of anecdotal evidence but no conclusive experiment. As part of our work we h
2.
by gsmadhusudan 9y ago
The Risc-V ISA is far more modular and extensible. Also we needed the 128 bit support for our NVM storage research and single address space OS work. No MMU, T-ISA based security, VIVT caches. Other govt projects do have ARM licenses, we c
3.
by gsmadhusudan 9y ago
It is not charity. Computing has become a public infrastructure like roads and water supply. So it is by nature a public good. The underlying foundation has to be based on the principle of the commons and not controlled by one entity. In pr
4.
by gsmadhusudan 9y ago
Yes, we are also collaborating with them. The HW is the simpler problem to solve. SW life-cycle for creating tags, embedding them in the code and ensuring that teh binary has not been tampered is the challenge and to ensure portable tag sem
5.
by gsmadhusudan 9y ago
I am not sure where we have indicated that the focus is only on IoT class cores. The E and C class are aimed at that segment and this segment probably will account for the vast majority of cores shipped. So they are the first ones to be shi
6.
by gsmadhusudan 9y ago
Yes, we will update the C Class next month since our private line has a lot of foundry specific code that needs to be removed. The I class needs more work but the design is in place. It will also move to quad issue and would be a Cortex A72
7.
by gsmadhusudan 9y ago
Everything has to be monkey proofed, going to the refreshment room when a monkey gang is around is like running the gauntlet ! We are talking really aggressive simians. But totally worth it, I could spend hours watching the monkeys. Surpri
8.
by gsmadhusudan 9y ago
That is what the team is spending is spending its time on, PPA optimization so that we have a good idea how far we can go. Iterating with as many process corners as possible to get the right compromise.. But we have to be careful, it is a n
9.
by gsmadhusudan 9y ago
Rust support is getting better. Our Rust OS is lower priority but it is needed for our tagged ISA support since we need language extensions to add security semantics to pointers. Also Rust is a much safer language. We need all this since sa
10.
by gsmadhusudan 9y ago
That is a compliment I will gladly accept. Look I come from a long line of theologians and philosophers dating back a millenia plus . The Indian ethos of not charging for knowledge has prevailed this long and I am not about to break a trad
11.
by gsmadhusudan 9y ago
I am very much interested in the maker community and would certainly do whatever it takes to engage that segment. Doc is th Achilles heel of efforts like ours and we intend to address that. Our code for example is extremely well commented a
12.
by gsmadhusudan 9y ago
http://iglc2018.com/images/iit/4.jpg https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-2200d147343aa841a43a07... http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OgX4b2N9a8E/S7OVv7jxhmI/AAAAAAAAAh... htt
13.
by gsmadhusudan 9y ago
I got a lot of emails regarding Shakti's positioning. As can be seen from our webpage, specific cores have been positioned to offer alternative to commercial cores including ARM's cores. Whether ARM gets affected by this or not i
14.
by gsmadhusudan 9y ago
On the contrary, we started Shakti because our lab can track technology faster than a commercial outfit ! I am an ex-industry architect and a startup CEO who came back to academia started this effort because the pvt sector was moving too sl
15.
by gsmadhusudan 9y ago
That means I have to develop all the code from scratch anyway. the arch lic just gets me a ISA spec doc.Might as well start with another ISA that is free. But the issue is bigger. Shakti is also an exercise in using a high level HDL. We wou
16.
by gsmadhusudan 9y ago
Also everyone is welcome to review our code and to contribute to the codebase. It is an open source project. IIT-M incubated it but we want it to be community driven. FPGA based dev packages should be announced by jan , based on standard lo
17.
by gsmadhusudan 9y ago
As the lead architect of Shakti and the guy who helped kick-start the project, I figure I am owed my 2 cents ! 1. We never positioned it as an ARM killer ! That was the imagination of the reporter who wrote the article. 2. Shakti is not a s