This document compares microcontrollers and FPGAs, and discusses open source tools for both. It introduces microcontrollers and FPGAs, describing their internals and workflows. It then outlines open source toolchains like GCC and IceStorm for programming microcontrollers and FPGAs. Several open source boards are presented, including Arduino, NodeMCU and icoBOARD. Finally, open source IDEs like Arduino IDE, Atom, and FPGA-specific ones like Apio and Icestudio are covered. The document promotes open source development and sharing of knowledge within the FPGAwars community.

1. µControllers vs FPGAs
Jesús Arroyo Torrens
#FPGAwars
OSHWDem 2016

2. 1. Introduction
2. Open Source Toolchains
3. Open Source Boards
4. Open Source IDEs

3. 1. Introduction

4. What is a microcontroller?
"A small computer on a single integrated circuit". Created by Intel in the 1970's

5. Microcontroller internals

6. Microcontroller workflow
It executes specific machine language instructions one by one

7. FPGA time!

8. What is an FPGA?
"A reconfigurable digital integrated circuit". Created by Xilinx in the 1980's

9. (GIF created by Juan González)
FPGA internals
Interconnected Logic Blocks, Memory Blocks and I/O ports

10. FPGA workflow
The bit stream defines a new real circuit in the FPGA

11. 2. Open Source Toolchains

12. GNU C Compiler
(1987)
Language: C
Architecture: Motorola 68000
Website:
Created by RMS and the GNU team
https://gcc.gnu.org/

13. GNU Compiler Collection
[1987, 2016)
Languages: C, C++, Java, Ada, Objective-C, Fortran, Go ...
Architectures: ARM, AVR, AMD64, IA-32, PIC, Xtensa, RISC-V, ...
New compilers: Clang/LLVM [2007, 2016)/[2003, 2016)

14. GCC flow

15. All FPGA toolchains are privative :(
...until now! :)

16. IceStorm
[2015, 2016)
Language: Verilog
FPGA: Lattice iCE40
Website:
Created by Clifford Wolf through reverse engineering
http://www.clifford.at/icestorm/

17. IceStorm flow

18. More storms coming
New Yosys front-ends:
VHDL
...
New FPGAs support:
Silego GreenPack4
Xilinx 7-Series
iCE40 Ultralite
...

19. 3. Open Source Boards

20. Open Hardware
Board's schematics are Open Source
µController's schematics are still privative

21. Arduino
[2005, 2016)
Languages: C, C++, ...
Architecture: Atmel AVR
Sources: https://github.com/arduino

22. NodeMCU
[2014, 2016)
Languages: C, C++, Lua, MicroPython, ...
Architecture: Xtensa (ESP8266)
Sources: https://github.com/nodemcu

23. Open FPGAs
Usable with Open Source Tools
FPGA's schematics are still privative

24. Lattice Development Kits
FPGA: iCE40 family
No sources available

25. icoBOARD
(2016)
Raspberry Pi HAT
Created by icoTC team
Sources: http://icoboard.org

26. IceZUM
(2016)
FPGA board for makers
Created by Eladio Delgado and Juan González
Sources: https://github.com/FPGAwars/icezum

27. 4. Open Source IDEs

28. Arduino IDE
[2005, 2016)
Written in: Java, C, C++
Sources: https://www.arduino.cc

29. Atom
[2014, 2016)
Written in: Javascript, HTML
Sources: https://github.com/atom/atom

30. PlatformIO IDE
(2016)
Written in: Javascript, HTML
Sources: https://github.com/platformio/platformio-atom-ide

31. Open FPGA IDEs

32. Apio IDE
(2016)
Written in: Javascript, HTML
Sources: https://github.com/FPGAwars/apio-ide

33. Icestudio
(2016)
Written in: Javascript, HTML
Sources: https://github.com/FPGAwars/icestudio

34. Stack of tools

35. FPGAwars community
A community to share knowledge about open FPGAs
Language: spanish
Members: ~200
Website:
GitHub:
http://FPGAwars.github.io
https://github.com/FPGAwars

36. World Technological Heritage
All our work belongs to everybody and is part of the Technological Heritage
Free Software released under GPL
Open Hardware created with Open Tools
Documentation released under CC BY-SA

37. µControllers vs FPGAs
Jesús Arroyo Torrens
#FPGAwars
OSHWDem 2016