Words Matter

Back in 2008 I read an awful, uninformed post on what I had thought to be a helpful and fair technology blog. I took the bait, and wrote a seven paragraph missive in response. Three months later, my response was posted; but it was severely diluted by the editor. While I'm glad my voice was heard, even as a squeak; my truths presented were castrated without any consent. The doc linked below is unedited:
Ref: S.Siegel, 2008-12-26, Letter to John Cooley

FPGA 2009

As Rodger Daltrey exclaims, "The Kids Are Alright". And so too was FPGA 2009. There is more promise than ever. And it really isn't that tough to do better than RTL!

Shep Explains Bluespec SystemVerilog

Don't Forget the Solder Wick

Our family has a nine year old CRT projector TV, one of the first consumer models that could scan 1080i. It lost red convergence a week ago, and I went a hunting for the fault. I was whining about yanking out the 18 pin power op amp that drives the red sub-coil yoke. Phil provided some motivation. Not just in his default "You are being a Wuss" cheer; but in the observation that there was little downside if I screwed up! That was all I needed to hear. An hour before kickoff, and we were good to go.

IC8C01

X58 Love

We are getting some serious miles on the X58 and liking very much what we see. Intel is surprisingly transparent with their doc. Standards are a great thing. This is getting really fun, really fast.

One of Two ML555s saying "Hello, World"

Implementation Details

The X58 chipset is rolling out and hopefully it will not be too disruptive to our efforts. I nudged Phil down a path to get his Gen2 training vibe sorted out - and I'm pleased he is making good progress. Our first date of X58 love will not arrive for another few days. In the mean time, I took a swing at trying to get either Linux or WinXP up on the uATX Intel DQ45CB motherboard. The idea is that if I can get a decent uATX platform with at least Gen1 x8 connectivity to an ML555 - we could offer a Space, Weight, and Power (SWaP) FPGA solution with COTS parts. Things seldom go as planned. Everything runs fine in WinXP "safe mode"; but in VGA mode, or with the latest Intel drivers, I fall into a lock up state like image below. Looks like Intel is revving the drivers almost weekly, so I'll just set this aside knowing it is most likely "software". Hopefully we can give it some Ubuntu love too!

Video Wedge on Intel DQ45CB (x45)

Three's a Charm

Never mind the speed bumps, we have three FPGA nodes coming up fast and furious. Up to seven nodes sit behind a PCIe switch with about 120 nS cut-through latency. ASI may be dead; but PCIe rocks! Learn more about multicomputers here.

Three Happy ML555s - Eager to Communicate

Atomic Rules Live

Thanks to David and Darlene's tireless work, we launched the Atomic Rules website yesterday. It takes a surprising amount of work to state your manifest value. Like dialing in a strategy though, once it is set, the appropriate tactics are more obvious. The fun continues.