Kestrel Computer Project
Aiming to build a full-stack, open source, and open hardware home computer.
This project is now archived, due to Raptor Engineering Releases Kestrel, The “First Open-HDL/Open Firmware BMC”, which I read on 2021 Feb 09. I cannot risk legal action from Raptor Engineering, especially considering how much our respective projects overlap. — Samuel A. Falvo II, 2021 Feb 09
- No back doors. No hardware locks or encryption. Open hardware means you can completely understand the hardware.
- No memberships in expensive special interest groups or trade organizations required to contribute peripherals.
- No fear of bricking your computer trying to install the OS of your choice. Bootstrap process is fully disclosed.
- Designed to empower and encourage the owner to learn about and even tweak the software and the hardware for their own benefit.
- No mass storage or operating system? Hack around in the built-in, ROM-resident programming language environment.
- Built on 64-bit RISC-V-compatible processor technology.
- Compatible with Digilent Nexys-2 FPGA development board.
The Kestrel project is all about freedom of computing and the freedom of learning using a completely open hardware and software design.
Also check out the other Kestrel blog, at hackaday.io.
Latest Posts
- 01 Feb 2018
- On ELF, Part 2
- 29 Jan 2018
- On ELF, Part 1
- 22 Nov 2017
- Thawing Kestrels: Rebooting the Dream
- 07 Mar 2017
- Winter for Kestrels: Shutting Down a Dream
- 31 Jan 2017
- Kestrel-3 leans towards mainframes, I/O channels
- 28 Dec 2016
- Discovering Memory Address Windows Without Device Trees
- 06 Dec 2016
- Modular Firmware
- 16 Jun 2016
- CGIA Update: Video Serialization
- 11 May 2016
- Instead of CGIA, Go With a Super-VDP Instead?
- 01 Apr 2016
- Announcing Kestrel-4
- 29 Mar 2016
- VIBE 2.2
- 09 Feb 2016
- EDOS: Event Driven Operating System
- 13 Dec 2015
- Lessons Learned #4: Flat Namespaces
- 10 Dec 2015
- Lessons Learned #3: Garbage Collection
- 09 Dec 2015
- Lessons Learned #2: Records
- 08 Dec 2015
- Lessons Learned #1: Syntax Matters
- 11 Oct 2015
- Event-Driven Kernel for Kestrel-3
- 15 Sep 2015
- The BSPL Compiler
- 13 Aug 2015
- How PatientIO Came To Be
- 12 Aug 2015
- Some History and a GUI Code Walkthrough
- 04 Aug 2015
- On Object Hierarchies
- 04 Aug 2015
- Bring Back GCOM?
- 27 Jul 2015
- Towards a performant, scalable, and consistent I/O subsystem for the Kestrel-3
- 07 Jul 2015
- RapidIO, RetroForth, and RISC-V Update
- 14 Jun 2015
- Stepwise Refinement of an Event-Driven Forth Interpreter Part 3: Multiplication
- 20 May 2015
- Stepwise Refinement of an Event-Driven Forth Interpreter Part 2: Basic Correctness Checks
- 17 May 2015
- Stepwise Refinement of an Event-Driven Forth Interpreter
- 19 Apr 2015
- Kestrel-3 User's Guide Available Now
- 18 Apr 2015
- Event-Driven Forth and its Implications
- 11 Mar 2015
- Why Not Machine Forth for the RISC-V Platform?
- 24 Feb 2015
- STS V2: Evented or Not?
- 14 Feb 2015
- Using the One-Pass RISC-V Assembler
- 04 Jan 2015
- I'm So Very Sorry
- 31 Dec 2014
- Prototype 2-Pass Assembler Works!
- 25 Dec 2014
- Kestrel Update: Emulators, Fake UARTs, and Memory Maps
- 07 Oct 2014
- Kestrel Adopts RISC-V Instruction Set Architecture
- 06 Oct 2014
- Kestrel Progress Report
- 08 Dec 2013
- Programming Without Lambdas
- 19 Nov 2013
- Of Shoulders and Giants --- Inspiration Behind Kestrel
Kestrel-3 User's Guide Available Now
With the recent progress made on the Kestrel-3 emulator, I've decided to start to maintain the Kestrel documentation as an integral part of the development process. Happily, the very first results of this is now available for viewing. Click here to review the user's guide on LeanPub now!
Why?
With each passing day, technically capable consumers of computing technology increasingly lose their rights with computer hardware. The successful deployment of UEFI in the market, with Microsoft controlling which operating systems receive a key that permits it to be booted, poses a potential threat to system- and application-software and hardware development freedom. While some look to prominent Linux suppliers as an escape from the Intel/Microsoft/Hollywood oligarchy, I have taken a different route -- I decided to build my own computer completely from scratch. My computer architecture is fully open; anyone can review the source, learn from, and hack it to suit their needs.
Featured: Towards a performant, scalable, and consistent I/O subsystem for the Kestrel-3
Today, I presented a tech-talk on what I'm currently thinking the Kestrel-3's I/O architecture should be. I'm calling the I/O implementation "PatientIO", as a pun on "RapidIO." For the purposes of this talk, PatientIO and RapidIO can be thought of identically. PatientIO differs from RapidIO only in how device enumeration happens, and on supported interconnect media; however, these topics are not covered.
Featured: Shoulders of Giants
The list below summarizes some of the most interesting ideas from each market or specific computer. Over time, as the Kestrel hardware and software evolves, you might see one or two of the ideas listed below shine through. Or, you might see something else all-together. This list cannot be considered exhaustive. Read more...