UCA - Now testing early DRAMs like 4164/41256! [2022-02-07]
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xsecret



Joined: 01 Feb 2004
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 6:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

lavrentii wrote:
Really an amazing work, it is always e pleasure to watch the development of such masterful work!

You speak about the user having the option to access CPU registers etc. So will the be a possibility to run custom assembly code on the tested CPU?


Absolutely.

The tool chain is quite easy :
1/ compile code (I use the wonderful sbasm)
2/ convert the binary to a Xilinx compliant .MEM file (I use srec_cat)
3/ Inject the .MEM file inside the FPGA .bit file (with Xilinx's data2mem.exe)
4/ Upload the bit file to the UCA's Flash (or directly to the FPGA) with the UCA Analyzer Tool.

I have a simple .bat to do these steps from command line.
Technically, it's also possible to alter directly the memory (right now, I added an option to read memory content on the fly)

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lavrentii



Joined: 14 Feb 2021
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 5:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sound great!
It would be nice if you provide a detailed instruction with an example for people inexperienced with FPGAs. Not now of course - in the future. Keep up the good work!
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xsecret



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PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 6:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'll do. (It doesn't require any skill in HDL, only some command lines) Smile
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xsecret



Joined: 01 Feb 2004
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 6:16 am    Post subject: Final Universal Chip Analyzer disclosed! Reply with quote



After 2 months working on the final hardware, changing dozen of PCBs and soldering like crazy, I'm happy to disclose the final "production" UCA! I finally redesigned the base FPGA board to add some future-proof feature like an ARM-based MCU (much more powerful than the original AVR), an USB-C connector, 512 Mb Flash, and more!

Everything is described here : https://x86.fr/final-universal-chip-analyzer-disclosed/ icon_dance

I'm now looking for a last "final" betatester. As assembling all boards by hand takes hours, I can only choose one (besides John). If you're interested and follow these conditions:
    1. Having time to spend (testing a lot of CPU and reporting issues is long)
    2. Having a quite big collection of different chips from the 70s to mid-90 (486s) era, especially with rare IC
    3. Living in the EU (Much faster to send new prototypes if needed)

please let me know!

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rjluna2



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PostPosted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 7:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow icon_clap
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cvandijk



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PostPosted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 8:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's great news!
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xsecret



Joined: 01 Feb 2004
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 18, 2021 1:21 pm    Post subject: Experimental Pentium Overdrive testing with the UCA Reply with quote



When I designed the Universal Chip Analyzer, the goal was to be able to test everything from the 4004 to the 486 DX4-100 (and CPUs sharing the same pinout like AMD/Cyrix 5×86).
Any Pentium-class CPU was out of scope due to physical limitation. Even if the UCA architecture can probably handle them from an electrical point of view, the size of adapters is just too small for the 200+ pins Socket needed for a Socket 4 or 5.
Even the Socket 3 used by Pentium Overdrive on the PCB can’t fit between the two connectors. So P5 support on the UCA looked really impossible.
Really? Wait a minute… Twisted Evil

Story continues here: https://x86.fr/experimental-pentium-overdrive-testing-with-the-uca/

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Vegeta



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PostPosted: Fri Jun 18, 2021 1:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very cool!
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debs3759



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PostPosted: Fri Jun 18, 2021 5:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very nice!
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xiaoyanxu



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PostPosted: Fri Jun 18, 2021 9:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Idea Exclamation
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Neon



Joined: 04 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 18, 2021 10:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It will mostly be used to determine function status, instruction set support, and cpuid. So it will be useful for these, too. icon_boogy
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xsecret



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PostPosted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 11:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

UCA production postponed due to IC shortage :-/

... but a lot of news will be published this week Smile

https://x86.fr/uca-production-postponed-due-to-ic-shortage/

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xsecret



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PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2022 12:10 pm    Post subject: The UCA now supports C&T Super386! Reply with quote



The UCA now supports C&T Super386!

Chips and Technologies (C&T or CHIPS) was a little-known company found in California in 1984. The company first developed one of the first EGA video chipset and some system logic chip sets for IBM’s PC-XT and PC-AT. In September 1991, C&T announced its very first and only x86-compatible CPU: an Intel 386 compatible chip named the “Super386”. It used clean-room implementation...

More : https://x86.fr/the-uca-now-supports-ct-super386/

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cvandijk



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PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2022 2:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's great news, can't wait to use it.
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xsecret



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PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 12:08 pm    Post subject: All PGA 386s benchmarked with the UCA Reply with quote



All PGA 386s benchmarked with the UCA

The C&T Super386 being the last of the PGA 386-compatible CPUs ever released to be supported by the Universal Chip Analyzer, it was time to publish some benchmarks! The current integrated benchmark uses a lot of standard x86 operations (mov, add, conditional and unconditional jumps, …) and integer math instructions (add, sub, div, mult). Keep in mind that the UCA can achieve a 0-wait-states-everywhere communication with the CPU, nullifying any added latencies from chipset, RAM, or whatever. The results below are 100% linked to the raw CPU power without any limitation from the subsystem.

More: https://x86.fr/all-pga-386s-benchmarked-with-the-uca/

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