Deep dive into the MIPS RISC processor arch: un-obfuscated RTL and more

Now engineering students in colleges learning VLSI design can go deeper in learning CPU architecture, thanks to Imagination Technologies for making available un-obfuscated RTL code for its MIPS CPU To the academic users. Processor companies such as Intel and ARM offer different levels of access to the architecture. However there is no fully open free access to every user for most of the latest popular 32-bit processor architectures. The move by Imagination Technologies in offering more open access to its MIPS architecture and also the RTL code helps VLSI design engineers in the semiconductor domain to experiment and learn a lot more than what they used to do. The University Programme (IUP) called MIPSfpga by Imagination offers free and open access to a fully-validated, current generation MIPS CPU in a complete teaching package. Imagination said in its release "Until now, what’s been missing from all of these courses is access to real, un-obfuscated RTL code that will enable professors and students to study and explore a real CPU. Imagination is changing that with MIPSfpga, bringing a new CPU architecture education paradigm to universities around the world." imagination is offering a complete free-to-download package for universities, Getting Started Guide, teaching guide for professors, and examples designed to enable students to see how the CPU works and exp...