
The Mill CPU Architecture – The Compiler [video] - gizmo686
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7GDTZ45TRw
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willvarfar
(Mill team)

Any questions, ask away, happy to explain or dodge as appropriate ;)

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saucetenuto
Where should I go to understand your work if I hate watching videos but like
reading? Is the wiki the best resource?

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infogulch
Try watching the videos in 1.5x or 2x speed on youtube. This gives you the
same information density as reading and you don't miss the nice animations
travisb mentioned.

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fla
The answer at 1:26:12 [1] about the belt being in fact a 'proxy' of the bypass
network is very interesting.

[1] [https://youtu.be/D7GDTZ45TRw?t=5172](https://youtu.be/D7GDTZ45TRw?t=5172)

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pests
Yes, amazing. I've always wondered how the belt was implemented and it turns
out its not a belt at all.

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vanderZwan
I think Godard actually explicitly said that in a Q&A of one of the very first
lectures - although I have to admit at that point the finer details of the
discussion were way over my head.

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madez
He says that they are going to implement all instructions that are not
supported by the hardware[1].

I wonder if they will use automatic synthesis of code for each instruction,
and if so, how they are going to ensure good performance. Maybe
superoptimization?

Another question I have is about their stance on free firmware. Will the mill
family members require blobs?

[1] 13:50 in the linked video.

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JoachimS
Have they moved beyond vapor ware phase yet? Working silicon?

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trsohmers
Nope, they don't even have FPGA prototypes yet.

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vtsrh
It is a start-up.

They just got their patents up last year, demanding working hardware seems
unreasonable and they have working machines simulated in software.

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Zecc
Plus, I think they mention somewhere their whole long-time plan is to only
license the architecture to third-party hardware manufacturers.

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thristian
I recall somebody asking Ivan about that in a previous talk, and he pointed
out that Intel is a much larger company than ARM, so they'd rather manufacture
and sell chips, and fall back on licensing the architecture if Plan A didn't
work out.

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madez
Why is being a big company something to strive for?

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kinghajj
Ivan said something in the aforementioned video to the effect of "Last year,
Intel's dividend was as much as ARM Holding's entire revenue."

