ARCv3 (HS6x) reference manual released

[lucho]

Before translating my 32-bit ARCv2 examples to the 64-bit ARCv3, I requested its Programmer's Reference from Synopsys and they sent me an EULA to agree and a spreadsheet with very detailed information to fill in in order to obtain a license. I refused to do so and tried to do the translation without it. Fortunately, due to the great similarity between ARCv2 and ARCv3, I was able to do that. Still, I was looking forward to the moment when they publish the Programmer's reference.

And this has finally happened! Synopsys released a public version of its ARCv3 Programmer's Reference manual, downloadable after filling in a simple form at

http://synopsys.com/dw/doc.php/iip/DWC_ARCv3HS6x/ARC_V3_ProgrammersReference_hs6x_public.pdf

Download starts immediately after posting the form data. But I have yet to see this ISA in silicon, let alone a single-board computer (SBC) with it. It may exist, though, just not be announced or it may have been announced but unnoticed by me, who knows? For example, embedded in some product and not in an SBC. But to program on a real hardware and not an emulator, an SBC with it and an OS (Linux or BSD) image are needed. Let's hope that some day they will be made.

Meanwhile, we can use the cross-development tools available at

https://github.com/foss-for-synopsys-dwc-arc-processors/toolchain/releases/

See "Prebuilt toolchains available for download" → "Read more" → "Linux/glibc ARC HS68" → "Little endian" (click on the latter to download...)

Unlike the toolchain, prebuilt QEMU user space emulator isn't available for download and must be built from source. How to do it is explained at

https://github.com/foss-for-synopsys-dwc-arc-processors/documentation/wiki/Building-QEMU

I do like this ISA! It has powerful instructions and addressing modes which produce more compact code than most RISCs. It's a pleasure to use.