If they never release the source, including all the fpga verilog files then this is pointless to the open source community.
Edit: actually I just realized my comment is kind of pointless. Even if he released the fpga source code, a thing a lot of projects like these never do, it still wouldn’t be possible to reproduce one of these using only free and open source software. This is because the only fpgas that let you program them using open source software and not a locked-down windows-only bloatfuck program that needs an internet connection and licensing are the lattice ice40 fpgas. Tl;dr this can’t be fully “open source”.
I wonder if it would be possible to make an ice 40 based video card that could still do opengl.
Open source fpgas cost up to $10 per chip, $17 if you want the big chungus 256 pin one with lots of extra memory and logic blocks. You can get pcb printing services for like $7 per board but I think I paid less than that last time I built something.
I’m pretty sure custom made ASICs cost orders of magnitude more than that.
If they never release the source, including all the fpga verilog files then this is pointless to the open source community.
Edit: actually I just realized my comment is kind of pointless. Even if he released the fpga source code, a thing a lot of projects like these never do, it still wouldn’t be possible to reproduce one of these using only free and open source software. This is because the only fpgas that let you program them using open source software and not a locked-down windows-only bloatfuck program that needs an internet connection and licensing are the lattice ice40 fpgas. Tl;dr this can’t be fully “open source”.
I wonder if it would be possible to make an ice 40 based video card that could still do opengl.
You could probably fab it onto an ASIC, which avoids the non-free software part (aside from the fab itself). So still way cool.
Open source fpgas cost up to $10 per chip, $17 if you want the big chungus 256 pin one with lots of extra memory and logic blocks. You can get pcb printing services for like $7 per board but I think I paid less than that last time I built something.
I’m pretty sure custom made ASICs cost orders of magnitude more than that.
For one, sure, but I’m guessing prices come down quite a bit once we’re talking larger numbers, like hundreds of thousands.
But those are really good prices though.