On Tue, Nov 27, 2018 at 5:23 AM Hagen SANKOWSKI hsank@posteo.de wrote:

https://iq.opengenus.org/basic-graphics-processing-unit-gpu-design-concepts/

very simplistic

i responded six months ago to a message on rv hw-dev by a student named jacob lifshay, who needs sponsorship, as he has had to take a year out from university. i've given him USD $4,000 of my personal income to him so far so that he can continue work on kazan (a vulkan 3d software llvm engine written in rust) - i could really do with some help on sponsoring him.

next we will implement a GPGPU quad-core SMP rv64gc-sv processor capable of handling a combined workload covering general-purposes OSes, embedded 3D, and VPU as well, all in software, with custom extensions and a general design focus that can handle all three.

we will *not* be doing the "usual" insanity of compacting, shuffling, and de-compacting complex data structures into linear (shared or external) memory back and forth between a CPU and a separate GPU.

by implementing Vulkan in software it greatly simplifies and reduces the amount of work needed to be done. an experimental mesagl-vulkan driver has already begun, as an independent project, for example.

the pre-launch page which includes links to the project homepages and resources is here:

https://www.crowdsupply.com/libre-risc-v/m-class

if anyone would like to help sponsor the project - or help out - do get in touch. sponsorship is particularly important.

l.