F-CPU Freedom CPU
Projects
  • F-CPU
  • F-Mainboard
  • F-Tools

    Communication
  • Mailing lists
  • IRC
  • Forum

    Administrative
  • Groups & Teams
  • Voting List

    Misc
  • Design
  • Manual
  • Developement Principles
  • FAQ
  • Old Arch
  • Original website
  • The development

    • This Project is an experiment to prove it's possible to develop a processor in a bazaar-style environment.
    • There is no leading or ivory tower (this is not a "cathedral"). Anyone may join the team and contribute - or even contribute without officially "joining" in any way. Even those with limited or no knowledge of CPU development can have something to contribute.
    • The name of the game is Freedom, so our designs are being developed openly and will be openly distributable under a GNU GPL-like license, so anyone will be able to (if they have the funding at least) take our designs and manufacture and sell their own FCPU or derivative chips, but any changes will have to be made freely available again.
    • We are aware of the extreme ambitiousness of this Project, but we believe it to be necessary for the continued existence of free software in a world of increasingly proprietary hardware, so we will persevere until we are successful.
    • Remember, here at the Freedom CPU Project we are not anti-Intel, anti-Microsoft, or in fact anti-anything. We are only pro-Freedom!
    • Never flame, never respond to flame bait, but please do make and take constructive criticism.

    Schedule

    There is no exact schedule. However there are several important tasks (that we should try to paralellize as much as possible) to get to the FCPU:

    On the hardware side
    • Make a Design
    • VHDL
    • Simulate and debug
    • FPGA prototype
    • Implement: synthesis and verification
    On the software side
    • BIOS work
    • gcc work
    • Linux kernel work
    On the administrative side
    • Coordination
    • Finance: sponsors/donations
    • Distribute
    If everything works as expected there will be only two things to do
    • Enjoy :-)
    • Start on the next version.
    Every part should documented as much as possible.
    temporary webmaster
    Last modified: Sun Mar 14 02:07:50 CET 1999