[task #15838] Submission of Freely Programmable Computer

[Gary Wong]

URL:
  <https://savannah.nongnu.org/task/?15838>

                 Summary: Submission of Freely Programmable Computer
                 Project: Savannah Administration
            Submitted by: gtw
            Submitted on: Wed 16 Dec 2020 02:48:42 PM EST
         Should Start On: Wed 16 Dec 2020 12:00:00 AM EST
   Should be Finished on: Sat 26 Dec 2020 12:00:00 AM EST
                Category: Project Approval
                Priority: 5 - Normal
                  Status: None
                 Privacy: Public
        Percent Complete: 0%
             Assigned to: None
             Open/Closed: Open
         Discussion Lock: Any
                  Effort: 0.00

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Details:

A new project has been registered at Savannah
This project account will remain inactive until a site admin approves
or discards the registration.


= Registration Administration =

While this item will be useful to track the registration process,
*approving or discarding the registration must be done using the specific
Group Administration
<https://savannah.nongnu.org/siteadmin/groupedit.php?group_id=12115> page*,
accessible only to site administrators,
effectively *logged as site administrators* (superuser):

* Group Administration
<https://savannah.nongnu.org/siteadmin/groupedit.php?group_id=12115>


= Registration Details =

* Name: *Freely Programmable Computer*
* System Name:  *fpc-iii*
* Type: non-GNU software and documentation
* License: GNU General Public License v3 or later (Many of the component
definitions are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
International License (CC BY-SA)+additional permissions, compatible with GNU
GPL 3+.)

----

== Description: ==
This is FPC-III, the Freely Programmable Computer.  It is designed to allow
users to program it as flexibly as is practical, by avoiding technical or
legal restrictions on the ways it can be configured.

The design is centred around an 84,000 logic element FPGA (which can be
configured to incorporate one or more soft CPUs), and also includes 512 MB
RAM, and small flash and EEPROM configuration storage.  Peripherals include an
SD card, 100 Mb Ethernet, HDMI, various USB ports, and an amateur radio
transceiver.

The hardware (schematic and PCB layout) is specified in KiCad format, and
sample logic is provided in the Verilog hardware description language.



== Other Software Required: ==
The schematics and PCB layout files require KiCad to be useful in practice:
GNU GPL 3+, https://kicad.org/

The programmable logic was written with the intent of synthesis via Yosys (ISC
licence, http://bygone.clairexen.net/yosys/), nextpnr (ISC licence,
https://github.com/YosysHQ/nextpnr), and related tools.  However, the same
logic could equally well be used in conjunction with (e.g.) Icarus Verilog 
(GNU GPL 2+, http://iverilog.icarus.com/), which would then provide a strictly
software simulation, so no single tool is a strict dependency.


== Other Comments: ==
When I affirm "My project runs primarily on a completely free OS", I feel I
very much fulfill the spirit of the statement, although in literal terms it
would be more accurate to say "my project aims to exist primarily BENEATH a
completely free OS".

Similarly, claiming that FPC-III is Free Software is slightly vague -- not
because it isn't free, but because it isn't exactly software.  A more concrete
classification is that it is "The Program" under the GNU GPL 3 definition: it
is a copyrightable practical work, published as the preferred form for making
modifications to that work.  Whether or not it is "software" depends more on
the choice of technology used to instantiate it.


== Tarball URL: ==
https://savannah.nongnu.org/submissions_uploads/fpc-iii.tar.gz






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