How about an indiegogo or kickstarter project for a FPGA board that would plug into this:
http://www.raspberrypi.org/products/compute-module-development-kit/ or this: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13097 or this: http://www.mouser.com/new/Freescale-Semiconductor/freescale_tower_system/?gclid=CjwKEAjwqO-gBRCEyp2Fufm0lBASJAAZrX-5AWIHEXmSxSISYGndWQZ6YpVpHo0i65Tj9FJb43o4whoCY__w_wcB or .... -rl On Fri, Sep 19, 2014 at 7:39 AM, Alexander Burger <a...@software-lab.de> wrote: > Hello List, > > we are proud to announce PilMCU, the Lisp Machine on a Chip! :) > > We, that is George Orais (who persuaded me into the project) and me. > Georg built the actual machine in Verilog, and I did the changes and > extensions to PicoLisp. > > > PilMCU is an implementation of 64-bit PicoLisp directly in hardware. A > truly minimalistic system. PicoLisp is both the machine language and the > operating system: > > * Memory management is trivial, just the Lisp heap and the stack > * The built-in database is extended to hold a "file system" > * One SSD per database file for mass storage > * "Processes" run as tasks and coroutines > * Events (timing and interrupts) via a 'wait' instruction > * Complex I/O protocols are delegated to peripheral chips > > The final hardware can be very lightweight. Low transistor count and > power consumption. No overhead for an OS. It is conceivable for a later > stage to put many interconnected CPUs on a single chip. > > At present, we have it running in the Verilog simulator, and in an > emulator (adaption of the PicoLisp 'emu' architecture). > > > How shall we proceed? We need investors (or crowdfunding) to polish, > manufacture and distribute the real thing. > > We imagine something in the line of an "Embedded Lisp Machine" or a > "Lisp Machine Kit". Perhaps for home brewing, educational institutions > and/or robotics research? > > Is anybody interested -- or knows people who are? > > > For the fun of it, here is a sample session: > > $ make mcu && vvp -M. -mtty mcu # Build and start Verilog engine > : > > $ make emu && ./emu ssd@ ssdA # Or: Build and start the emulator > : > > Now we are in an environment equivalent to the standard 'pil +'. The > database is open on two image files for two SSD drives. Besides the > normal, full DB functionality > > : (show *DB) > {1} (7 . {17}) > T ({2} {20} {56} {64} {105} {146}) > -> {1} > > you can call 'in', 'out', 'load' and 'rm' on files which are maintained > in external symbols: > > : (dir) > -> ("lib.l" "lib/") > > : (dir "lib") > -> ("btree.l" "db.l" "dbg.l" "misc.l" "pilog.l" "sq.l") > > : (in "lib/db.l" (read)) > -> (de dbs Lst (default *Dbs (_dbs 1))) > > : (out "foo/bar/mumble.l" (prinl "Hello world")) > -> "Hello world" > : (in "foo/bar/mumble.l" (line)) > -> ("H" "e" "l" "l" "o" " " "w" "o" "r" "l" "d") > > : (dir "foo/bar") > -> ("mumble.l") > > : (cd "foo/bar") > -> "foo/bar/" > : (dir) > -> ("mumble.l") > > : (pwd) > -> "foo/bar/" > > Path names are stored as a normal B-Tree in the DB root: > > : (scan) > "foo/bar/mumble.l" {172} > "lib.l" {2} > "lib/btree.l" {64} > "lib/db.l" {105} > "lib/dbg.l" {20} > "lib/misc.l" {56} > "lib/pilog.l" {146} > "lib/sq.l" {166} > > They point to external symbols, like {2} for "lib.l". > > (load '{2}) > > is equivalent to > > (load "lib.l") > > The values of these symbols hold the file size: > > : (show '{2}) > {2} 12401 > -> {2} > > They should not have properties, and store the raw file data invisibly > in dynamically maintained DB blocks. > > The rest of the system is standard PicoLisp :) > > ♪♫ Alex > -- > UNSUBSCRIBE: mailto:picolisp@software-lab.de?subject=Unsubscribe >
