Bug 394

Summary: Reach out to developers of 'BlackParrot' RV64GC Multicore SoC
Product: Libre-SOC's first SoC Reporter: Cole Poirier <colepoirier>
Component: Source CodeAssignee: Cole Poirier <colepoirier>
Status: RESOLVED INVALID    
Severity: enhancement CC: libre-soc-bugs
Priority: ---    
Version: unspecified   
Hardware: PC   
OS: Linux   
NLnet milestone: --- total budget (EUR) for completion of task and all subtasks: 0
budget (EUR) for this task, excluding subtasks' budget: 0 parent task for budget allocation:
child tasks for budget allocation: The table of payments (in EUR) for this task; TOML format:

Description Cole Poirier 2020-06-20 01:40:41 BST 
*will insert mailing list archive link here once it catches up...*

```
Going to create some bug reports related to what we can learn from a
multicore RV64GC SOC, "BlackParrot: A Linux-Capable Accelerator Host Multicore"
https://github.com/black-parrot/black-parrot

Especially their branch predictor and cache-coherency code, and their
14nm tapeout experience from july 2019.
```

Collection of info I found with a very quick search, to be followed up on

```
BlackParrot aims to be the default Linux-capable, cache-coherent, RV64GC multicore used by the world.

Project Status

The next release of BlackParrot, v 1.0, is coming in January 2020, and will contain support for 1 to 24-way cache coherent multicore, and include baseline user and privilege mode functionality and run Linux.

A 14-nm BlackParrot multicore chip was taped out in July 2019.

https://github.com/enjoy-digital/black-parrot

https://github.com/enjoy-digital/black-parrot/blob/master/GETTING_STARTED.md

https://github.com/black-parrot/black-parrot

"BlackParrot: An Agile Open Source RISC-V Multicore for Accelerator SoCs"

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9097398

Published in: IEEE Micro ( Early Access )
Page(s): 1 - 1
Date of Publication: 20 May 2020
ISSN Information:
DOI: 10.1109/MM.2020.2996145
Publisher: IEEE

Open access of same: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f4e8/fc065db9fadcb6b800718bd1f083ffac058a.pdf
```

Subtasks which may need their own bug report in the future:

* look at their branch predictor implementation
* look at their cache coherency implementation
* contact BlackParrot devs about their July 2019 14nm tapeout to see if they are willing to talk about it, see if we can gain any useful insights from them
Comment 1 Cole Poirier 2020-07-29 21:41:44 BST 
What do you technically literate people want me to ask about the BlackParrot project/SOC? From the description, at least their branch predictor implementation, and their cache coherency implementation? Or perhaps it's best to wait until you've had time to take a proper look at those implementations first. So, in that case, what do you want to ask them?
Comment 2 Cole Poirier 2020-08-03 20:41:49 BST 
There are insufficient similarities between our project and theirs for a dialogue to be fruitful.