Microprocessor Design/Resources

Microprocessor Design

Further Reading

Related Wikibooks

• Chip Design Made Easy
• MIPS Assembly
• SPARC Assembly
• Programmable Logic
• Semiconductors
• Digital Circuits
• Parallel Computing and Computer Clusters
• Floating Point
• Embedded Control Systems Design/Processors
• Embedded Systems/Microprocessor Architectures
• Floating Point/Floating Point Hardware

Wikipedia Articles

• Wikipedia:Microprocessor
• Wikipedia:CPU design
• Wikipedia:Instruction set
• Apollo Guidance Computer
• Wikipedia:soft microprocessor discusses FPGA CPUs

Wikiversity Courses

• Wikiversity:Computer_Architecture_Lab

Commons Image Categories

• Commons:Category:Microprocessors
• Commons:Category:Microcontrollers

External Links

• "homebrew CPU".
• Knowledge and Concepts of VLSI Chip Design and Development
• "Great moments in microprocessor history" by W. Warner 2004
• wiki:AlternativeMicroprocessorDesign
• wiki:DoMicroprocessorsLoveCee
• Daniel J. Sorin has some good notes online for classes he's taught: "ECE 152: Introduction to Computer Architecture" and "ECE 252 / CPS 220: Advanced Computer Architecture I".
• Jacob Nelson has some information online about his microprocessor designs: "An FPGA-based Custom Computer" and "The uToad Proof of Concept", both reminiscent of the PDP-10.
• OpenCores has many open-hardware FPGA and CPLD designs under development, including dozens of microprocessors. These include entirely new processors such as "JOP: a Java Optimized Processor", "ZPU - the worlds smallest 32 bit CPU with GCC toolchain", the "OpenRISC 1000", "MCPU ... fits into a 32 Macrocell CPLD". These also include processors designed to be software compatible with ("clean-room re-implementations of") several older proprietary processors -- MIPS, ARM, x86, AVR, PIC, 68HC11, 68000, Alpha, etc.
• The Am1601 is a stack based CPU implemented in a FPGA. It is designed to be radiation tolerant.
• VHDL Source Code for Simple 8-bit CPU
• "Microprocessor Architectures" has a "Java based simulator of a pipelined processor. ... The Java code is written in a style to simplify the process of converting the processor into a ... a FPGA implementation."
• "CPU Design HOW-TO" by Alavoor Vasudevan 2002
• The Advanced Processor Technologies Group at Manchester has microprocessor design and synthesis tools you can download and use.
• "The “high-level CPU” challenge" and "“High-level CPU”: follow-up" by Yossi Kreinin (and attached comments by a variety of other people) has some interesting ideas on CPU design.
• YASEP means "Yet Another Small Embedded Processor" by Yann Guidon: RTL source code is in VHDL, currently targeting the Actel ProASIC3 FPGA; simulator, an assembler, a disassembler, a manual, a development tool, all available for download (open source).
• StackOverflow: How does an assembly instruction turn into voltage changes on the CPU? -- good book recommendations, and an attempt to briefly summarize what this book is all about.
• Stackexchange: "A fun book to learn computer architecture" lists a few books on computer architecture and CPU design.
• Stackexchange: "Readable and educational implementations of a CPU in a HDL"
• Non-Von1 in a Spartan3E-1200 FPGA board
• Homebrew Cray-1A on a Xilinx Spartan-3E 1600 FPGA development board: built into a 1/10 scale model.
• fpga-cpu : FPGA CPU and SoC discussion list: list is for discussion of the design and implementation of field-programmable gate array based processors and integrated systems. It is also for discussion and community support of the XSOC Project.
• "Elementary Microprocessor ... The EM is intended as a simple microprocessor for educational purposes for those of us who are interested in learning not just what a CPU does, but *exactly how* a CPU works"[1]

Books

• Patterson and Hennessy, Computer Organization and Design, 3^rd Edition, Morgan Kaufman, 2005. ISBN 1558606041
• ... should we list the other design books recommended by John Doran ? ...
• Nisan and Schocken. "The Elements of Computing Systems: Building a Modern Computer from First Principles". 2005. ISBN 978-0262640688. [2]
  • Shimon Schocken. "From NAND to Tetris in 12 steps: building a modern computer from first principles" [3] is an overview of the Nisan and Schocken book.
• Hamacher, Vranesic, Zaky, Manjikian. "Computer Organization and Embedded Systems". ISBN 978-0073380650