Re: [oc] License issue about instset compatibility

[Niclas Hedhman <niclas@hedhman.org>]

On Thursday 27 February 2003 07:12, nico wrote:
> > Another interesting core would be Java: I've read
> > Holger Baxmann talking about "J2EE on a FPGA".
> > I would like to start thinking about J2ME, but
> > I don't feel Sun will be so happy to hear about
> > it.
>
> I think the opposite. Sun refuse a standard commity because they were
> afraid of microsoft power. But such Java processor have been tryed
> already without to much success ! I have heard about co-processors to
> accelerate byte code. Why not one for openrisc ?

There are plenty of ASIC and FPGA implementations of Java bytecode CPUs. Most 
of them are targetting the J2ME level and the mobile market.
Aurora VLSI has an interesting design on the shelf, which I spoke with about 
18 months back. 
Java2 SE and est. 20,000 CaffeineMark at 200MHz, ~50,000 CM @ 450MHz. A small 
set of bytecodes are not implemented in hardware.
They have it in VHDL and have been testing on FPGAs before porting to ASIC. I 
requested if the VHDL would be available (at price) but they hinted that "no 
point" because the FPGA of required size are very expensive (important to 
me).

My quoted design included the JavaCPU + a MIPS R3000 for "legacy code" and 
non-implemented bytecodes, and heaps of peripherals (such as Ethernet, 
USARTs, Timers, Counters++). At real high volumes, I could get the price down 
to $10-15 per chip or even lower. I couldn't raise the money for the 
"development cost".

Instead, I'm using aj-100 from www.ajile.com, which is much slower and only 
J2ME CLDC. That cost ~20 per CPU.

Any "open" attempt should realize that the JVM spec is fairly complex and it 
will be very hard to get it right. With such an effort, you will also need 
the class library from Sun, and to call it Java, you need to pass the 
compatibility kit. However, Sun is fairly liberal towards "open" efforts, and 
will probably contribute the TCK and J2ME licensing free of charge.
With a bit of luck, you may even get Sun's own attempts at JVM in VHDL, which 
other licensees typically purchase to get started.

Niclas
--
To unsubscribe from cores mailing list please visit http://www.opencores.org/mailinglists.shtml