manta/doc/todo.md

ToDo

Deadlines

• 04/12 - BRAM Core
• 04/13 - Logic Analyzer working with >16 bit inputs. Currently held up by the sample memory, but will be resolved once BRAM core is ruggedized.
• 04/14 - CDC in the Logic Analyzer. Should be handled automatically, but just need to test it - probably with a SD card example.
• 04/15 - fischer's day off
• 04/16 - VCD export and .mem export for hardware-in-the-loop

release to PyPI lists - manta v0.0.1 out

• 04/17 - write logic analyzer lab

• 04/18 - beta tester round 2, run logic analyzer lab. ethernet tx if there's time

• 04/19 - Ethernet TX

• 04/20 - Ethernet TX

• 04/21 - Ethernet TX

• 04/22 - fischer's day off

• 04/23 - fischer's day off

• 04/28/23 - start writing docs site, move appropriate bits into thesis

• 05/05/23 - slack week

• 05/12/23 - thesis due

• 05/19/23 - thesis actually due

IO Core

• add logic for ports >16 bits in width
• clock domain crossing

Logic Analyzer Core

• need to finish up simulations, those might get broken out into separate testbenches for each module
• need to write tests - this will be hard because there's no template to go off of, so need to autogenerate before running tests
• clock domain crossing
• Configurable Trigger Location: Instead of always centering the downlink core's waveform around where the trigger condition is met, you might want to grab everything before or after the trigger. Or even things that are some number of clock cycles ahead or behind of the trigger. Being able to specify this 'holdoff' or 'position' in the downlink core configuration would be nice. Especially if it's something as simple as beginning, middle, end, or just a number of clock cycles.
• Reconfigurable Trigger Modes: Being able to switch between an incremental trigger and a single-shot trigger while the HDL's on the board might be useful.
• Incremental Triggering: Only add things to the buffer when the trigger condition is met. Going to be super useful for audio applications.
• Configurable Clock Edge: (maybe) Right now when we add a waveform to a VCD file, we assume that all the values change on the rising edge of the ILA clock. And that's true: we sample them on the rising edge of the input clock. I don't know if we'd want to add an option for clocking in things on the falling edge - I think that's going to make timing hard and students confused.

BRAM Core

• write HDL
• write tests
• write interface

Documentation

• Write out what bus transactions look like and how messages get passed. probably going to need wavedrom for this.

Testing

• need to build out more tests for the python itself in test/api_gen
• try doing literally anything on Windows lol

Meta

• need to write up some kind of tutorial for beta testers to run through
• probably want to make all the manta source pass verilator lint - doesn't look like this would be too hard to do
• maybe install local github actions runner to ubuntu/macos/linux VM with boards attached to it or something - just to make sure that examples actually work for real
• OpenCores Listing: Might want to chuck this up on https://opencores.org/projects, just for kicks.
• FuseSoC integration: This will probably exist in some headless-ish mode that separates manta's core generation and operation, but it'd be kinda nice for folks who package their projects with FuseSoC.
• Test Manta on non-Xilinx FPGAs: This is in progress for the Lattice iCE40 on the Icestick, and the Altera Cyclone IV on the DE0 Nano.