NEORV32 is a target for SweetAda

[gabriele-galeotti]

Hi,

don't know if this is the right place, but I would like to inform you that I created
a very little, minimal target example of Ada code running on NEORV32 (simulated
under GHDL), inside the SweetAda repository (https://github.com/gabriele-galeotti/SweetAda).
The code does only initialization and output a message over the simulated UART,
but it works. Maybe one day I will try it even on real hardware.

Hope this is interesting for your project.

G

[stnolting]

That's really cool - thanks for sharing!
So now you can execute Ada applications on the core?

[gabriele-galeotti]

Hi Stephan,

I've finally been able to put the NEORV32 core on a DE10-Lite board, MAX10M50 FPGA.

I've used one of the examples in the repository @ https://github.com/emb4fun/neorv32-examples

Now I have in front of me Ada code running on physical hardware, UART handling + TIMER interrupt
are full working.

Soon I will upload this new target in SweetAda repository @ https://github.com/gabriele-galeotti/SweetAda

[stnolting]

Great news - thanks for sharing!
Do you have any demo setup or tutorial for this? 😉
I would like to test this on my own board as well.

[gabriele-galeotti]

I will pack the project for you, and then upload to my website, just give me a little bit of time.

I generated the SOF HW file out-of-the-box in Quartus from the example project above, with the notice that I/O addresses in that project are different from the current manual hosted here. I don't know if it's only due to an old release, I am pretty new in NEORV32 :)

Indeed there are two setups, one for the GHDL simulator and one for the DE10-Lite, but they run equally well, interrupt timer, UART TX, and some LED pattern blinking also for the DE10-Lite. Clock is set @ 90 MHz, UART brate = 19200.

After JTAG programming with the USB-Blaster, in the project that I am going to pack you will find the binary to be executed with the internal bootloader, but you can build it yourself if you have a GNAT Ada toolchain (and you know how to deal with SweetAda -- sorry, my docs are so far very outdated). In any case, ask everything, I am available for explanations. Current sources are already uploaded in Github in the directory .../platforms/NEORV32.

That being said, I can do more for NEORV32. Nothing sure, but most likely next June I will be an official speaker at the AIEC '24 Ada-Europe International Conference meeting which will take place in Barcelona at the BSC, and I want to expose, besides the whole SweetAda system, this project as part of the demo.

Standby for another post when the packed project will be ready.

[gabriele-galeotti]

Hi Stephan.

I've just uploaded a package for you in my website. Download:

https://www.sweetada.org/packages/SweetAda_for_SN.tar.gz.

There is a MANUAL.txt inside the package, with other support files.
I hope to fullfill your needs.

It's interesting also for me to understand what other people think
about SweetAda. Just ping me if something is not clear, missing or
bad explained, or whatever.

Let me know, bye.

[stnolting]

Thank you so much!
I will have a look at this as the weekend. Hopefully, I will be able to give you some (useful) feedback.

[tmeissner]

I'm also very interested in this project. Had an Ada training last week and now I'm thrilled to do some Ada on the neorv32. Is the code in the sweetAda repository updated to the functionality you wrote 2 weeks ago?

Now I have in front of me Ada code running on physical hardware, UART handling + TIMER interrupt
are full working.

[gabriele-galeotti]

Fine.

Yes, the repository is up-to-date.

I would like to stress about SweetAda being heavily a work in progress, so some language functionalities are limited (no tasks and no protected objects), but basic capabilities are ok.

Feel free to contact me, I will be happy to help you to make SweetAda run on your system.

[tmeissner]

I don't need protected types or tasks, as my FW will be pretty simple. I plan to use a simple main loop which checks for global (volatile) variables set by ISR routines. What has to be working are the interrupts for peripherals like SPI, UART and the Wishbone IF. I will contact you when I'm starting with the project and have questions, thanks 🙂