bxxxxx Quiz and Discussion Day

1. bxxxxxQuiz and Discussion Day ENGR xD52 Eric VanWyk Fall 2012

2. Today • Quiz • Article Discussion • Feedback Discussion • Lab Planning • Project Discussion

3. Quiz • Closed Books, Closed Notes, Closed Internet • You can use MARS (but it is likely a waste of time) • 30 minutes • Email to comparch2012@gmail.com • [Quiz0] YourName

4. Discussion of Article • What surprised you in the article? • What do you want to learn more about? • Do you think the P4 was treated fairly?

5. Feedback Discussion • On Average, Hours are about right • But they bunch up too much • Should I provide finer grained deadline chunking? • Some are spending way too much time on CA • Poor group communication • Failure to seek help

6. Final Lab Sequence • Create a fully functional CPU • Your choice of MIPs or Other • Your Choice of Single, Multi, Pipelined • Test CPU • Functionally, not Manufacturing Defect • With actual Fabric Timings • Write IQ math library for your CPU • In assembly, and then assembled to Machine Code • Final Report • Write a Marketing Brief advertising Rev 1 • Internal Doc: Planned enhancements for Rev 2

7. Final Lab Sequence • This is a very aggressive lab • But I love you, and you love Comp Arch • For Monday, create project plans for hypothetical project lengths: • 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 6 months • Red / Yellow / Green feature lists • The only way to get 100% is to do 100% of it perfectly • Unanswered Questions & Research Schedule • Division of labor • Actual Names and Dates assigned

8. Final Project Sequence • What makes a good project? • Uses what we’ve learned in CA so far • Continues with your personal interests • Is achievable within time allotted • What makes a bad Project? • Is boring and/or lame • Is rigidly scoped (either over- or under-scoped) • Is unrelated to CA

9. Example Potentially Fun Projects • Process Sound / Make Music on an FPGA • Make a game on an FPGA • Implement DCPU-16 from 0x10c • Neural Networks • RFID • LEGO Turing Machine / Mechanical Computer • “Big Math” Co-processor: SVD, Physics, Crypto • Fix the K’Nex computer • Make a Clock w/ Lights n’Stuff • GPU • Make a Compiler / Scheduler / Complex Data Objects in Assembly • Write an Attack (Buffer Overflow?) • FPGA based Pocket Calculator • Faster Functional Units (ALU, etc) • Minecraft! • Multi-Core MIPs

10. Key Point: Flexible Deliverables • Enumerate, Prioritize, Nest your deliverables • Implement the DCPU-16 from 0x10^c • Runs a specific program with limited instructions • Runs all opcodes • In Modelsim • On an FPGA • On an FPGA as a co-processor

11. Planning Keys • What do you do when stuff happens? • Give possible faults with mitigations • Ex: The FPGA is too small to fit our code • Convert more behavioral code to structural • Purchase a larger FPGA (schedule?) • Run in simulation only • Reduce feature set to fit

12. Initial Project Proposal • Project Name • Team Members • 1-3 paragraphs description of project • Red / Yellow / Green Feature sets • 2 potential things that can go wrong, with mitigations • What are your two next steps? • 1-2 Pages Total • Due Thursday