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XCommons Foundation

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 11:13 am
by Folknology
The XCommons Foundation shall represent the interests of the community of users and producers of XMOS technologies, and promote its open development. A primary goal being to create a commons body of opensource code for Xmos and its community .
In particular to:
Provide clear, neutral, and sustainable ownership of contributed code.
Provide a decision-making structure for essential community activities.
Interface with XMOS, the company, to represent the needs of the Foundation membership.
Assist XMOS in the transition to greater transparency and openness for the benefit of Foundation members.
We also have a Google mail list/group which is worth joining

Along with a github code repository and account for XCommons Foundation Repository
Read

Re: XCommons Foundation

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 11:28 am
by Folknology
Welcome XCore members to the opensource group, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the group.

I would like this group to be a central place for all things opensource within XCores Exchange, please add any topics around opensource projects, communities and events that you may think are relevant to the XCore users with an interest in opensource software and hardware, particularly those relevant to XMOS and its technologies.

Here are some guidelines:

If you are working on an open source projects using XMOS technologies let us know here as well as adding them to the XCore projects area.
If you are part of an opensource community and want to use XMOS technology here is a good place to kick off the discussion.
If you are already using XMOS technologies with an opensource community, please tell us what your up to.
If you are aware of any opensource events that could be of interest to XEOS members please share them with us.
If you have any questions around relevant opensource tools and opensourcing software and hardware related to XMOS technologies let us know.
If you wish XMOS to be more involved in opensource, or wish any of the technologies to be improved for opensource this could be a good forum to express it.

I would also just like to point out that I do not work for XMOS and have no formal relationship with them except being a Linker,XCore member and customer, my role in this group is based on a passion for what I think XMOS products can bring to opensource hardware and software.

Regards
Al

Re: XCommons Foundation

Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2009 12:55 am
by russf
I'm working on an open-source project (see the 1-wire group) that contains a hierarchy of C modules, some of which I have excluded from the make process, using the XDE/Eclipse menu options, pending a better understanding of whether they will be needed later or not. If I allow those files into the make, there are various errors, including duplicate symbols.

When I publish this code, I will need to include the .project and/or the .cproject files which specify the exclusion of the files. But it's pretty nasty to include hidden files in a release like this.

The result will be a project that will be grafted into someones workspace, but will require significant directory shuffling to integrate with other code.

Has anyone had thoughts on how to cleanly partition components, to make them easy to mix and match? Are there any guidelines?

--r

Re: XCommons Foundation

Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 3:41 pm
by Folknology
Please checkout this thread on XCore:

http://www.xcore.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=51

It starts the conversation about licensing and license types, everyone here is effected by this, so its worth putting opinions forward early on.

regards
Al

Re: XCommons Foundation

Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 4:09 pm
by Folknology
I have been thinking about an Event based Operating System for sometime but am still familiarizing myself with the XMOS architecture and XC/Occam etc..

DrFingersSchaefer made a suggestion about the possibility of starting a project to create a UCLinux port for XMOS.

This reminded me about the questions of would XMOS chips benefit from an opensource operating system so I figured it may be good to extend that conversation here:

1) No operating system opensource or not, there is no benefit to adding that layer?
2) Port an existing OS as DrFingersSchaefer suggests like UCLinux
3) Create a new very lightweight event based OS which gets out of your way but is designed from scratch to be concurrent

Just wondered what everyones thoughts here might be?

Re: XCommons Foundation

Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 12:39 pm
by jonathan
Hello Open People.

XMOS has been added to the nominations for the Open100: http://bit.ly/6tF0Qt

Be good to see people posting comments or thoughts.

Re: XCommons Foundation

Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 12:03 am
by TonyD
For those PCB designers who use Easy-PC schematic capture and PCB layout software there's now a Xmos ic library at http://www.xcore.com/projects/easy-pc-pcb-library

Re: XCommons Foundation

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 11:30 pm
by jonathan
It's about time we got some kind of unified Github repo of all BSDed code.

Need a hand. :-) Who wants to help?

Re: XCommons Foundation

Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 10:43 pm
by Folknology
Heads up on an interesting open event I am involved in and which features Xmos and David May. It is 0rganised by a new group - Open Source Hardware User Group - http://oshug.org/

Begin OSHUG transmission:

Event #1 — An introduction to XCore XS1 and Amino

On the 29th April 2010 at Osmosoft, London UK (51.498325, -0.134347)

For the inaugural event we are fortunate to have presentations from Prof. David May FRS, CTO of XMOS Semiconductor, and Alan Wood of Folknology Labs.

XCore XS1 (XMOS)

David May will be known to many as architect of the transputer and author of the concurrent programming language, occam. As co-founder and chief technical officer of XMOS Semiconductor, he will be presenting an introduction to the XCore XS1 microprocessor architecture and the associated development environment. [actual abstract TBC]

XMOS is a fabless semiconductor company that develops multi-core multi-threaded processors designed to execute several real-time tasks, DSP, and control flow all at once. XMOS coined the term software-defined silicon, and this can be seen as midway between FPGA and MCU. However, unlike an FPGA there is no requirement for a complex HDL toolchain, and C and C++ can be employed in development, with XMOS extensions to C for concurrency (XC).

Amino (Folknology Labs)

Amino: a networked creator tool for hardware and software production. XMOS software-defined silicon technology serves to blur the line between software and hardware, and Amino uses this technology to further blur the line between prototyping and production. Amino is also Internet native, event driven and optimised for concurrency, and may be seen as a building block for networked open source hardware creation.

Alan Wood - a.k.a. Folknology - originally trained in systems engineering, got lost in software engineering and open source for a decade, before returning back to his hardware roots via the open source hardware and makers movement that has gathered momentum over the last few years. Al's interest lay in pushing the envelope for open source hardware/software production and agility: "We are approaching a tipping point where open source and open creation physically changes the real world not just the virtual world. With Amino we are selling a creative tool, not a finished product. We are selling possibilities. The participant decides what runs on it, not us. We just give them as much as we can to help them through that process.".

Please register to attend via Eventbrite and share on Upcoming.
Open Source Hardware

Open source hardware is an approach to building physical objects with the principle of allowing collaborative development, use and tinkering through the liberal licensing of artefacts such as manuals, software, schematic diagrams and CAD documents. Typical open source hardware projects range from simple electronic circuits to digital and radio systems, through reprogrammable computing platforms, to hardware that combines elements of electronic, mechanical and software engineering, such as 3D printers and laser engravers.
Scope

We welcome discussion on open source software but ideally there should be a hardware hacking or open source hardware link, as there are already Linux user groups which provide excellent opportunities for open source software enthusiasts to discuss, meet and share experiences.

Mostly based in and around London, we aim to organise regular meetings in addition to communicating via the mailing list. However, membership is open to all regardless of location and ability to attend meetings.

Furthermore, this is not a “land grab” and we'd be happy to help, where we can, if you are interested in starting up local groups elsewhere - whether that be sharing online resources or simply advice.

Ends OSHUG transmission..


Re: XCommons Foundation

Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 10:40 pm
by Folknology
I Have started a new project called OpenThreads which is similar and inspired by OpenCores I have also started a thread around some of the concepts of modularity and cooperation required see here :

http://xcore.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f= ... 3638#p3638

Please take a look at the concepts as it enables us to build components that are reusable and can cohabit cores in a modular fashion, I would love your feedback

regards
Al