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CORE WAR

by Tom Cantrell

Start ý Guns Blazing ý The Curtain Rises ý RISC 101 ý 32 Bits orBust ý There's the Bell • Sources and PDF

THEREýS THE BELL

Well, not quite. For now, the soft-core battle between Altera and Xilinx is in the preliminary scowling, strutting, and stare-down phases. Many designers are still in the midst of contemplating the entire concept of field-programmable SoCs, much less getting down to the nitty-gritty of evaluating a specific core.

However, I suggest this is an approach that will ultimately touch many designers far beyond the confines of the traditional programmable logic niche. Thereýs a good chance youýll be building systems in FPGAs. That means thereýs a good chance youýll be using Xilinx or Altera parts, which also means thereýs a good chance youýll be using NIOS or MicroBlaze.

Perhaps NIOS and MicroBlaze donýt fully fall under the small-is-beautiful canopy as much as some would like. And, thereýs no doubt that the usual superduper tack-ons are only a die shrink and a press release away. For the time being, letýs give thanks for being able to do more with less and start figuring out how to take advantage of that.

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