[Speakers] Re: SVLUG October 2002

[Steve Traugott]

This looks like it's going to be a great talk, Peter.  I'm personally
very interested in this topic.  Be sure to include, near the end of
the talk, a mini-HOWTO of what steps a hardware-literate kernel
developer could use to prototype a product based on the Virtex-II Pro;
who to call, what to ask for (ML300 etc.), bootstrapping, resources
and community, etc.  A handout (glossy not required) with all this on
it would be even better.

For the talk description, I'd get rid of passive voice and redundant
text, and look for other ways to make it shorter.  Also, set your line
width to 75 characters or so. 

For instance:

> As part of his talk, Peter will explain how the hardware inside the FPGA device can be upgraded even after
> deployment and how hardware functionality, similar to the Linux kernel modules, can be loaded or replaced
> at system run-time.

Better:

> Peter will explain how an FPGA lets you essentially replace hardware
> via programming, at runtime, even after deployment.  

Steve



On Thu, Jun 27, 2002 at 06:01:40PM -0700, Peter Ryser wrote:
> Steve,
> 
> here is a first draft.
> 
> - Peter
> 
> ----
> 
> WHAT:
> 
>   Linux on Programmable Hardware
> 
> WHO:
> 
>   Peter Ryser, Xilinx Inc
> 
> 
> ABOUT:
> 
> Loadable modules have made Linux configurable at run-time a few years ago. Now, the hardware and,
> especially, the on-chip peripherals are following. The Virtex-II Pro FPGAs have up to four IBM 405
> processor cores and up to 24 multi-gigabit transceivers integrated within their user-programmable logic
> fabric. This allows for very high flexibility for system architects to integrate the on-chip peripherals
> they need in the most optimal way.
> 
> Peter is responsible for the embedded Linux project on the Virtex-II Pro FPGAs. Together with MontaVista,
> he integrates the device drivers for the custom on-chip peripherals into the Linux kernel source tree. The
> main focus of his work is to bring together the high flexibility of the Linux operating system with the
> high versatility of the Virtex-II Pro architecture.
> 
> As part of his talk, Peter will explain how the hardware inside the FPGA device can be upgraded even after
> deployment and how hardware functionality, similar to the Linux kernel modules, can be loaded or replaced
> at system run-time.
> 
> Peter will bring a ML300 Reference Platform running MontaVista Linux natively on the Virtex-II Pro FPGA.
> All the peripherals like Ethernet, UARTs, PS/2 for mouse and keyboard, TFT display and touchscreen are
> implemented as soft peripherals within the FPGA. As a fun application Quake can be played on top of X11.
> The ML300 board serves both as a reference design but also as a development platform.
> 
> MORE ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
> 
> After graduating in 1994 from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich), Peter spent a few years
> at the Institute of Computer Systems of the same university in researching and prototyping Switcherland,
> an interconnected computing infrastructure based on switches and serial high-speed links offering
> scalability, guaranteed bandwidth, and QoS characteristics. After a short intermezzo at Elektrobit AG in
> Switzerland, he moved to the USA and joined Xilinx in late 2000. He is responsible for embedded software
> within the Systems Engineering Group with a focus on embedded Linux and software tools for different
> platforms.
> 
> Peter got into Linux at a time when you needed a large pile of floppy disks to install a distribution and
> kernel version numbers started with a zero. Being merely a user and administrator of his own Linux
> systems, he always liked the idea of having source code available for pure interest and also as a source
> for adding additional device drivers to the Oberon operating system.
> 
> Aside from work, Peter likes to explore California together with his family. He plans to visit all the US
> states in the next few years - that means only 44 more to go.
> 
> 

-- 
Steve Traugott 
Speaker Coordinator, Silicon Valley Linux Users Group
http://www.svlug.org
--
UNIX/Linux Infrastructure Architect, TerraLuna LLC
stevegt at TerraLuna.Org   
http://www.stevegt.com