CDC 6600 emulation - was Re: How do they make Verilog code for unknown ICs?

ben bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca
Tue Jun 21 13:53:20 CDT 2016


On 6/21/2016 9:47 AM, dwight wrote:
> One has to realize that all complex chips are done in Verilog or
> VHDL. Many old designs in processors can be re-implemented from
> timing and bus diagrams.

Where do you get this info? Most of the little stuff I have seen
it is still graphic layout and Intel (or IBM ...) is not going to
tell you their design style.

> This is no longer possible with todays processors like Intel or AMD
> processors. The complexity of possible sequential events are more
> than is practical to try to analyze from the pins.
>
> One can implement an instruction set but you'll never get close to
> the bus activity of current processors.

Who knows what secrets the cache holds?

> I would say that the most important part of either language is the
> ability to describe the time of simultaneous events. This is unlike
> most programs written in C or such. Of course, one can write a
> simulation language in C.

And a useless feature in my view. Real hardware has real delays
and simulation is prone errors translating to the real hardware.


Ben.

> Dwight
>

PS: With the speed of modern transistors routing capacitance
and large die size; I think Vacuum tube/Drum memory might be better 
model for modern computing.



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