Re: [Embedlets-dev] Re:[Hardware] Components Definition Implementation

[Holger B. <ho...@bi...>]

> Holger,
>
> Nice to have you on board!

.. i love it to being back ;-)

>> What do think about Hardware Description Language?
> [...]
>> I have a strong feeling ...
> How about bypassing HDL by compiling Java directly into a FPGA!?
>
> http://www.xilinx.com/ise/advanced/forge.htm

Yes, i am an evaluator of this tech too, but it has the old drawback: 
no reflection, no introspection, no dynamic classloading. Than i will 
stay with asm, pacal, or at least c.

> I have just signed up for the free 3 month Forge test period and I am 
> in the
> process of trying to decide what Spartan development board to purchse.

ohh, may i help you? Take the from burch at

http://www.burched.com.au/

it is faily cheap for the usable size, has many goodies avail and he is 
a really nice guy :)

> I think that putting Embedlets into an FPGA using this kind of 
> technology could
> prove to be very interesting.

This is the direction i will definetely go. But i think it is too early 
to build the wave. Meanwhile i have opened a project at 
www.opencores.org

> I would love to hear your impressions of Forge when you get a chance.

As i said above: i will not go deeper into this because of the lacking 
features. There are more javaishing implementations (not effortable ip 
cores) on the market.

But at all, my concern was not to bind the embedlets to gate arrays or 
pour our PIC's/AVR's/8051'ths into these. I will point my finger to the 
already existing HDL, especially to the JHDL. There are the main 
features needed for the Embedlets already implemented. Inclusive the 
necessary abstraction for the tools. I would suggest: load JHDL down, 
go through the Getting Started, have a look at the class and package 
structure - i am sure you will find something...

We should be able to describe the single sensors/actors and 
calculators/performers in a similar manner. Based on standards like 
VHDL and EDIF, compilable from java to a bitstream or to what we need.

Not sure that my english is sufficient and my brain is powerfull at 
8:00am without sleep.

... will be back

bax