Xputer - FAQ & FQAPrefaceThe decline of the microprocessor: the tail wagging the dog. Add-on accelerators provide most of the throughput needed. We introduce innovative reconfigurable accelerators - soon catching the leading edge. Research and development of kressarray and reconfigurable accelerator coprocessor machines, as well as tools for: application development - compilation from C program sources - image processing - cellular phones - multimedia handies etc. Key words:Xputer, xputer,accelerator, ALU array, ASIP, CCM, co-design,
codesign,
compiler, computing, custom computing, data sequencing, data
scheduling,
embedded, embedded systems, FCCM, field-programmable,
field-programmable
ALU array, FPAA, FPGA, FPL, high performance, high performance
computing,
high performance computers, Kress, Kress Array, Kress Machine, machine
paradigm, microprocessor, parallel, parallel computing, parallel
computers,
parallelizing compiler, partitioning, placement, rALU, reconfigurable,
reconfigurable ALU, reconfigurable logic, routing, software-only
accelerators,
structural programming, supercomputers, supercomputing Contents
IntroductionXputers and related application development have many novel facets.
That's why it is fascinating to get introduced to Xputers.This is a
collection
of questions and answers about Xputers, about what an Xputer is, and,
what
it is not. How and where is it useful? Why is it important? Why does it
have mainstream potential? The Impact of XputersThe Xputer is a novel hardware platform ready to serve as an
extremely
powerful general purpose accelerator. It is based on a new non-von
Neumann
machine paradigm featuring dramatic speed-up factors compared to
implementations
on von Neumann processors. Software-Only Speed-up to Real-Time OperationCode which can be compiled and downloaded into RAM we call software.
But also field-programmable logic like the data path of an Xputer or
the
circuits from Xilinx and other vendors is based on ("hidden")
RAM (configuration RAM). Hardware has become soft. It is programmable
by
"structural software" (whereas von Neumann processors are programmable
by "procedural software"). |