OpenSPARC FrontPage / Whats New

The OpenBSD 4.4 Release

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:07:53 +0100

Much more platform support. Machines using the UltraSPARC IV/T1/T2 and Fujitsu SPARC64-V/VI/VII are now supported. Read the original article: http://openbsd.org/44.html (http://openbsd.org/44.html)

Community Innovation Awards Contest Winners!

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 17:29:33 +0100

The winners of the OpenSPARC Community Innovation Awards Contest designed to fuel innovation around chip technology. The contest was part of Sun's Open Source Community Innovation Awards Program, a multi-year program running across several open source communities with a $1 Million total prize. Sun developed the Open Source Community Innovation Awards Program to foster innovation on a global level and recognize the most interesting initiatives within open source communities worldwide, said Shrenik Mehta, Senior Director of Frontend Technologies and OpenSPARC program for Sun Microsystems. The winners ranged from professors and students in the academia to developers working in the industry, all of whom demonstrated extraordinary creativity and collaboration leading to some outstanding innovations that will have a very real impact on the OpenSPARC community. The OpenSPARC Contest Award categories and winners include the following: Grand Prize - Martin Johansson, Jiri Gaisler of Gaisler Research Best University Level Computer Architecture and/or VLSI course - Mark McDermott, Professor at the University of Texas, Austin Best New Bus Interface Creation as a contribution to the OpenSPARC community - Martin Johansson, Jiri Gaisler of Gaisler Research Best Demo of an Application running on an FPGA - Martin Johansson, Jiri Gaisler of Gaisler Research Best Adaptation of a Single-thread Application to a Multi-thread CMT Environment - Andrey Brito, PhD student at the Systems Engineering Group at...

Sun and Xilinx Unveil FPGA Board

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:08:33 +0100

At the International Conference for Field Programmable Logic and Applications today, Sun Microsystems, Inc. and Xilinx, Inc. unveiled a feature-rich, high-performance programmable OpenSPARC evaluation platform. The platform provides academic researchers and hardware developers with a flexible OpenSPARC-based platform to create, customize and deploy next-generation applications for a broad set of end markets including supercomputers, industrial, scientific and medical (ISM), aerospace defense, and storage and networking. Our collaboration with industry leaders such as Xilinx will continue to drive the momentum and expansion of the UltraSPARC ecosystem, said Mike Knudsen, vice president, business development and marketing for Sun's Microelectronics unit. The microprocessor industry is steadily shifting towards CMT architectures, and this new OpenSPARC FPGA evaluation platform puts us in a prime position to enable faster time-to-market for our customers.

HOTCHIPS20: Presentation on Rock Microprocessor

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:31:12 +0100

Presented at HOTCHIPS20: Rock: A third Generation 65nm, 16-Core, 32 Thread + 32 Scout-Threads CMT SPARC Processor (http://www.opensparc.net/publications/presentations/hotchips20-rock-a-third-generation-65nm-16-core-32-thread-+-32-scout-threads-cmt-sparc-processor.html)

FPGA Tutorial

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:00:00 +0100

7/3/08: Tutorial on using OpenSPARC T1 in an FPGA updated for release 1.6, OpenSPARC T1 FPGA Implementation (http://www.opensparc.net/publications/presentations/fpga-tutorial.html)

UltraSPARC specs updated

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:00:00 +0100

The following specs have been updated and these new revisions superceded all previous versions. UltraSPARC Architecture 2005 Specification, Hyperprivileged Edition (../cgi-bin/goto.php?w=http://opensparc-t1.sunsource.net/specs/UA2005-current-draft-HP-EXT.pdf) UltraSPARC Architecture 2005 Specification, Privileged Edition (../cgi-bin/goto.php?w=http://opensparc-t1.sunsource.net/specs/UA2005-current-draft-P-EXT.pdf) UltraSPARC Architecture 2007 Specification, Hyperprivileged Edition (../cgi-bin/goto.php?w=http://opensparc-t2.sunsource.net/specs/UA2007-current-draft-HP-EXT.pdf) UltraSPARC Architecture 2007 Specification, Privileged Edition (../cgi-bin/goto.php?w=http://opensparc-t2.sunsource.net/specs/UA2007-current-draft-P-EXT.pdf)

OpenSPARC T2 Version 1.1 Released

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:28:55 +0100

Read more (http://www.opensparc.net/opensparc-t2/version-1.1-released.html) for new features in release 1.1 Download Release 1.1 (http://www.opensparc.net/opensparc-t2/downloads.html) and OpenSPARC T2 specifications (http://www.opensparc.net/opensparc-t2/index.html)

Updated Hypervisor Spec.

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 11:00:00 +0100

The Hypervisor API Specification has been updated: UltraSPARC T1 Hypervisor API Specification (../cgi-bin/goto.php?w=http://opensparc-t1.sunsource.net/specs/Hypervisor-api-current.pdf)

China Universities Join OpenSPARC

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:55:42 +0100

Sun Microsystems, Inc. and the Ministry of Education (MOE) for the People's Republic of China announced a three-year collaboration agreement designed to meet China's demand for cultivating integrated circuit (IC) engineering talent and industry development. Read more about the announcement and watch video excerpts from Scott McNealy's keynote speech at the Education and Research Conference 2008 including OpenSPARC and partnership with the Chinese Ministry of Education. Also Dr. James Hoe's highlights from the Panel Discussion at the ERC. Read more... (http://www.opensparc.net/news/2008-03/china-universities-join-opensparc.html)

OpenSPARC Workshop in Brazil at University of San Paolo

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:20:43 +0100

University of Sao Paulo (USP), Brazil conducted an OpenSPARC workshop on March 24-26. Some notes from the first day of the workshop below. http://www.pad.lsi.usp.br/joomla/index.php?option=com_content task=view id=465 Itemid=1 (http://www.pad.lsi.usp.br/joomla/index.php?option=com_content task=view id=465 Itemid=1) Read Marcelo Vitor Moretti Arbore blog (/blogs/2008-04/marcelo-vitor-moretti-arbore-opensparc-workshop.html)

MICRO-40: Introduction to OpenSPARC

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:57:16 +0100

12/1/07: Tutorial presented at MICRO-40 (http://www.microarch.org/micro40/) on December 1-5, 2007, Introduction to OpenSPARC (/publications/presentations/micro-40-introduction-to-opensparc.html)

OpenSPARC Course Material

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:09:17 +0100

Collaborate and share course material related to OpenSPARC, chip multi-threading, multi-core in many areas including hardware design, design tools, CMT Architecture, software systems design, operating systems, concurrent computing and other related areas. We're looking for professors who have a passion for teaching and contributing to their field of study by sharing their course material with others. Take a look at site we are developing and the course materials already available: http://wiki.opensparc.net/bin/view.pl/CourseMaterial (http://wiki.opensparc.net/bin/view.pl/CourseMaterial). We thankful for the support and generosity of professors who choose to share their research, pedagogy, and knowledge to benefit others.

OpenSPARC Centers of Excellence

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 17:46:17 +0100

Eight major universities are now official OpenSPARC Technology Centers of Excellence: University of California, Santa Cruz University of Texas, Austin University of Michigan, Ann Arbor University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Carnegie Mellon University Stanford University University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand Peking University, China Each Center of Excellence has a minimum two-year commitment, during which time they'll execute chip design research and course work based on Sun's chip multi-threading (CMT) design. Visit our Centers of Excellence web page (https://www.opensparc.net/university/centers-of-excellence.html).

Paper presented at A-SSCC 2007

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 17:33:05 +0100

12/6/07: Paper presented at A-SSCC 2007 (http://www.a-sscc.org) on November 12-14, 2007, UltraSPARC T2: A Highly-Threaded, Power-Efficient, SPARC SOC (/publications/technical-papers/ultrasparc-t2-a-highly-threaded-power-efficient-sparc-soc.html)

Several Updated and New Sun Blueprints

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 15:44:01 +0100

12/7/07: Several Updated and New Sun Blueprints Solaris Operating System Hardware Virtualization Product Architecture (../publications/published-by-sun/solaris-operating-system-hardware-virtualization-product-architecture.html) by Chien-Hua Yen Beginners Guide to LDoms: Understanding and Deploying Logical Domains (../publications/published-by-sun/beginners-guide-to-ldoms-understanding-and-deploying-logical-domains.html) by Tony Shoumack Using the Cryptographic Accelerators in the UltraSPARC T1 and T2 Processors (../publications/published-by-sun/using-the-cryptographic-accelerators-in-the-ultrasparc-t1-and-t2-processors.html) by Ning Sun, Chi-Chang Lin Developing and Tuning Applications on UltraSPARC T1 Chip Multithreading Systems (../publications/published-by-sun/developing-and-tuning-applications-on-ultrasparc-t1-chip-multithreading-systems.html) by Denis Sheahan Sun's High-Performance and Reliable Web Proxy Solution (../publications/published-by-sun/suns-high-performance-and-reliable-web-proxy-solution.html) by Ning Sun Energy Efficiency Strategies: Sun Server Virtualization Technology (../publications/published-by-sun/energy-efficiency-strategies-sun-server-virtualization-technology.html) by Jeff Savit

Updated OpenSPARC T2 Specs

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:37:54 +0100

12/5/07: Updated versions of the OpenSPARC T2 Core Microarchitecture Specification and OpenSPARC T2 System-On-Chip (SoC) Microarchitecture Specification (http://www.opensparc.net/opensparc-t2/index.html).

Presentation and Paper from HLDVT 07

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:00:00 +0100

11/14/07 - A paper and presentation from HLDVT 07, High Level Design Validation and Test Workshop 2007 (http://www.hldvt.com/07/), on November 7-8, 2007 at Irvine, CA. Paper: Coverage-directed test generation through automatic constraint extraction (/publications/published-by-community/hldvt-07-coverage-directed-test-generation-through-automatic-constraint-extraction.html) by Onur Guzey and Li-C. Wang, University of California Santa Barbara Presentation: Post-Silicon Verification Methodology on Sun's UltraSPARC T2 Processor (../cgi-bin/goto.php?w=/pubs/preszo/07/20071020HLDVTPostSiVerif.pdf) by Jai Kumar, Verification Technologist, Catherine Ahlschlager, Manager, Formal Verification and Peter Isberg, Manager, Test Generation Technologies, Sun Microsystems

OpenSPARC T2 Beta Program Closing

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:00:00 +0100

11/13/07 - Last chance to apply for the OpenSPARC T2 beta program, we're closing the beta program this Friday Nov. 16, 2007.http://www.opensparc.net/faqs/opensparc-t2/ (../faqs/opensparc-t2/) OpenSPARC T2 Specifications released: http://www.opensparc.net/opensparc-t2/index.html (../opensparc-t2/index.html) Next opportunity to look at the OpenSPARC T2 RTL code will be when its released. (which will not be too long from now)

Electric Floorplan of OpenSPARC T1

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:30:39 +0100

10/29/07 - The Electric VLSI Design System is an open-source Electronic Design Automation (EDA) system that can handle many forms of circuit design, including custom IC layout, Schematic Capture (digital and analog), textual languages such as VHDL/Verilog, and much more. It has many built-in tools (DRC, ERC, simulators, generators, routers, etc.) and built-in technologies (different CMOS variations, nMos, Bipolar, etc.) The software is available at www.staticfreesoft.com (http://www.staticfreesoft.com/) The OpenSPARC team has done some initial work with using Electric to generate a floorplan using Electric (/eda/electric.html).

Updated Fan Buttons

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 11:06:30 +0100

8/30/07: Updated Fan Buttons (/buttons.html).

Updated OpenSPARC T1 Microarchitecture Specification

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 12:43:08 +0100

8/27/07: Updated OpenSPARC T1 Micro Architecture Specification (http://opensparc-t1.sunsource.net) to reflect changes with release 1.5

HOTCHIPS19: VictoriaFalls: Scaling Highly-Threaded Processor Cores

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 14:59:54 +0100

8/21/07: Presentation made at the HOT CHIPS 19 (http://www.hotchips.org/hc19/main_page.htm), on August 20-21, 2007, Stanford, CA. VictoriaFalls: Scaling Highly-Threaded Processor Cores (/publications/presentations/hotchips19-victoriafalls-scaling-highly-threaded-processor-cores.html)

New Project: Transplant

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:31:25 +0100

The Transplant project (http://transplant.sunsource.net/) provides the capability for simulating portions of real-world, full-system workloads on the OpenSPARC RTL. The key idea is to transplant architectural register and memory state from full-system functional simulators such as SAM and Simics to the RTL model. This process allows RTL simulation for workloads such as operating systems and databases that are otherwise too slow to simulate or require resources (e.g., I/O) that are not modeled in RTL.

OpenSPARC T1 Version 1.6 Released

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 15:10:05 +0100

New Features in the Release 1.6 of OpenSPARC T1 T1 core supports single- and four-thread options on FPGAs Reference designs boot OpenSolaris on single- or four-thread mode Xilinx Virtex-5 technology support Networking (ftp, telnet) support These new features are designed to enable a user to build real systems using the OpenSPARC T1 core. For further details on Xilinx, please refer to the Xilinx University program (http://www.xilinx.com/univ/). Download Details (http://www.opensparc.net/opensparc-t1/downloads.html) and OpenSPARC T1 Specfications (http://www.opensparc.net/opensparc-t1/index.html)

Updated Sun Blueprint, Beginners Guide to LDoms: Understanding and Deploying Logical Domains

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 02:00:00 +0100

07/24/07: Updated Sun Blueprint, Beginners Guide to LDoms: Understanding and Deploying Logical Domains (../publications/published-by-sun/beginners-guide-to-ldoms-understanding-and-deploying-logical-domains.html)

OpenSPARC T1 Micro Architecture Supplement - Crossbar Interface

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 02:00:00 +0100

06/28/07: OpenSPARC T1 Micro Architecture Supplement - Crossbar Interface (http://opensparc-t1.sunsource.net/) NOTE: 8/27/07 now included in the 1.5 release of OpenSPARC T1.

Presentation from RAMP Retreat Summer 2007

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 02:00:00 +0100

06/28/07: Presentation from RAMP Retreat, Summer 2007 (http://ramp.eecs.berkeley.edu/), on June 13-14, 2007 in San Diego, CA. OpenSPARC T1 on Xilinx (../cgi-bin/goto.php?w=/pubs/preszo/07/fcrc_ramp_summer_07.pdf)

Presentation made at Workshop on Computer Architecture Education 2007

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 02:00:00 +0100

06/19/07: Presentation made at Workshop on Computer Architecture Education 2007 (http://www4.ncsu.edu/%7Eefg/wcae2007.html), on June 9, 2007 in San Diego, CA. Industry Perspective on Chip Multi-Threading: Bridging the Gap with Academia using OpenSPARC (../publications/presentations/wcae-2007-industry-perspective-on-chip-multi-threading-bridging-the-gap-with-academia.html)

Presentation made at Synopsys University Reception

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 02:00:00 +0100

06/19/07: Presentation made at Synopsys University Reception, on June 4, 2007 in San Diego, CA. Energy Efficient Design Innovate with OpenSPARC (../publications/presentations/synopsys-university-reception-energy-efficient-design---innovate-with-opensparc.html)

New Cool Tool Released: GCC for SPARC 4.0.4.

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 02:00:00 +0100

06/15/07: New Cool Tool Released: GCC for SPARC 4.0.4 (http://cooltools.sunsource.net/gcc/4.0.4/install.html). Improvements in this release Installation is relocatable and can be installed in any directory. Installation can be done without root privilege. Better debugging of C++ programs. Updated gcc version. Improved run time performance. Support for the SPARC Advance Product Line architectures. Bug fixes for all issues reported on forums