
Kestrel Computer Project - ycmbntrthrwaway
https://kestrelcomputer.github.io/kestrel/
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nickpsecurity
It's an interesting exploration. I at least got two things out of this:

1\. That the two-pass assembler design from 6502 was only 2KB. Tricks from
software like that tend to come in handy later on embedded systems.

2\. His links on stepwise refinement of the Forth interpreter give a nice
illustration of the concept. I rarely see an example that doesn't involve
formal methods that turn most away or some useless objective.

So, mostly him having fun in his spare time. Yet, at least two reasons to keep
a link to the project. Also, he ended up using the approach I keep suggesting
here: port the Oberon System because it's simple and has plenty of features.
He's doing that on Kesterel 3.

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tux1968
The Kestrel-4 sounds great. It's a shame it was canceled April 2nd.

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ZenoArrow
Where does it say that? I don't see any blog posts about the cancellation of
Kestrel-4.

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ZenoArrow
RE: The post above, I made a mistake, this version of the Kestrel-4 was an
April Fool's joke.

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kc5tja
Yes, Kestrel-4 (at least as documented on that page) is an April Fools joke.
:)

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gaze
They best not be suggesting that they run a RISC-V in the fpga.

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cesarbs
It's the fifth bullet point in the list at the top of the page.

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gaze
Either they buy a risc-v chip someone taped out or they synthesize one in the
FPGA. The latter will be competitive with 10-20 year old technology.

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kc5tja
I'm planning on using a soft-core processor because FPGA dev boards are
plentiful and relatively inexpensive. My plans are to await silicon from
LowRISC project before considering real glass.

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nickpsecurity
On an unrelated note, Kestrel _Institute_ has been doing high assurance
systems synthesized from specifications for a long time:

[http://www.kestrel.edu/home/projects/](http://www.kestrel.edu/home/projects/)

Maybe people will find that Kestrel more interesting. :)

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dreamcompiler
That was my first thought: "Is Cordell Green building a computer? Cool!"

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nickpsecurity
"Using Specware, we've specified and synthesized an entire computer. We even
have flow charts of the hand movements of assdmbly line sorkers. The entire
process, from design to manufacturing, should be correct by construction. As
will be the computer."

He then added, "That's assuming the following assumptions are true. There's
about 500 of them do bear with me on this PowerPoint..."

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dreamcompiler
Nice. I should have known.

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danbruc
This project seems to be in a superposition of enormously ambitious project,
light-years away from reaching the goal and elaborated joke. Does that sound
about right? I really have a hard time telling from looking at the repository
and I never heard of it before.

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ZenoArrow
Depends on what you mean. If you're looking for a computer that can replace
your daily driver, then yes it's years away from that. However, if you're
looking for a new platform to explore and tinker with without needing FPGA
knowledge, then it's close to that already.

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freekh
Aha, I didn't understand that the kestrel 4 was an April fools joke?
Blazemonger support? :) I was seriously dreaming about doing something similar
but kestrel 3 is real afaics :)

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kc5tja
Kestrel-3 is software emulation only at this point. However, after making some
last minute touches to the system firmware (a dialect of eForth for both
simplicity and hackability), I will switch over to working on Verilog. I
already have video, keyboard, and GPIO cores written, so I only need to focus
on the CPU.

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tomcam
It's based on Oberon! Woo hoo!

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kc5tja
I tried to port Oberon, but was not yet successful in getting the compiler
fully debugged. I also need to finish the system image linker so I can
generate bootable images. For this reason, I pushed ahead with putting Forth
in firmware.

However, I do intend on completing Oberon at some point (or trying to solicit
help in that area; porting OSes is most definitely NOT my strong suit).
Instead of putting in ROM, though, it'll be bootable off of SD card.

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bickfordb
Another Kestrel:
[https://kestrel.soe.ucsc.edu/](https://kestrel.soe.ucsc.edu/)

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freekh
Just yesterday I was dreaming about doing something very similar! I wonder how
he have had time to get so far - it is extremely impressive!

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codezero
The link to the Nexys2 doesn't result in any products, is that still
available?

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kc5tja
No, it went out of stock after I'd put the site up. I'll remove the link (or
find an alternative to something that describes what the Nexys-2 is) when I go
to update docs.

I have not selected a replacement board yet (since my Nexys-2 still works
fine, I intend on continuing to use it for the time being). If, after I post a
complete set of Verilog sources, someone wants to try porting to the hardware
of their choice, I'll be happy to include relevant links on the site. (Or
until I change boards myself, whichever comes first.)

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polskibus
Isn't kestrel the name of the new asp.net server?

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slavik81
A kestrel is a type of bird. A falcon. There's lots of projects and products
named after it.

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kazinator
Spelled "kestral" in Nethack. :)

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fjarlq
No, it's spelled "kestrel" in NetHack.

[https://github.com/NetHack/NetHack/blob/NetHack-3.6.0/dat/bo...](https://github.com/NetHack/NetHack/blob/NetHack-3.6.0/dat/bogusmon.txt#L97)

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kazinator
I mis-remembered. It's a monster from Rogue! I could swear I played some Rogue
variant very long ago where it was spelled with an "a". Quick research shows
that Rogue had it as "kestrel" since forever, though. These "hallucinatory
monsters" ("bogusmon") seem like a new addition to Nethack.

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fjarlq
Heh, I wondered if you were actually remembering such an esoteric fact about
NetHack.

Looks like kestrel in NetHack dates back to version 3.1.0, released January
1993. The comment says "Rogue", so I'm sure it was done in tribute. They also
added emu, xeroc, and venus flytrap as monster names from Rogue, used while
the player is hallucinating.

