OpenCores is a community developingdigitalopen-source hardware throughelectronic design automation (EDA), with a similar ethos to thefree software movement. OpenCores hopes to eliminate redundant design work and significantly reduce development costs. A number of companies have been reported as adopting OpenCores IP in chips,[1][2] or as adjuncts to EDA tools.[3][4] OpenCores is also sometimes cited as an example of open source in the electronics hardware community.[5]
OpenCores has always been a commercially owned organization. In 2015, its core active users established the independentFree and Open Source Silicon Foundation (FOSSi Foundation), and created another directory on the librecores.org[6] website as the basis for all future development, independent of commercial control. It has been shut down to redirect to a post on the FOSSi Foundation website seven years later in favor of a simple web search, reasoning that "free and open source silicon is no longer a dream".[7]
Damjan Lampret, one of the founders of OpenCores, stated on his website that it began in 1999.[8] The new website and its objectives were reported publicly byEE Times in 2000[9] andCNET News in 2001.[10] Through the following years it was supported by advertising and sponsorship, including byFlextronics.[1]
In mid-2007 an appeal was put out for a new backer.[11] That November, Swedish design house ORSoC AB[12] agreed to take over maintenance of the OpenCores website.[13]
EE Times reported in late 2008 that OpenCores had passed the 20,000 subscriber mark.[14] In October 2010 it reached 95,000 registered users and had approximately 800 projects. In July 2012 it reached 150,000 registered users.
During 2015, ORSoC AB formed a joint venture with KNCMiner AB to developbitcoin mining machines. As this became the primary focus of the business, they were able to spend less time with the opencores.org project. In response to the growing lack of commitment, the coreOpenRISC development team set up theFree and Open Source Silicon Foundation (FOSSi), and registered thelibrecores.orgArchived 22 August 2019 at theWayback Machine website as the basis for all future development, independent of commercial control.[15]
In the absence of a widely accepted open source hardware license, the components produced by the OpenCores initiative use several differentsoftware licenses. The most common is theGNU LGPL, which states that any modifications to a component must be shared with the community, while one can still use it together withproprietary components. The less restrictive3-clause BSD license is also used in some hardware projects, while theGNU GPL is often used for software components, such as models and firmware.
The library will consist of design elements fromcentral processing units,memory controllers,peripherals,motherboards, and other components. Emergingsemiconductor manufacturers could use the information and license designs for free.
The emphasis is on digital modules called "cores", commonly known asIP Cores. The components are used for creating both customintegrated circuits (ASICs) andFPGAs.
The cores are implemented in thehardware description languagesVerilog,VHDL orSystemC, which may be synthesized to either silicon orgate arrays.
The project aims at using a common non-proprietarysystem bus namedWishbone, and most components are nowadays adapted to this bus.
Among the components created by OpenCores contributors are:
In April 2011 OpenCores opened donations[18] for a new project to develop a completesystem on a chip design based on the OpenRISC processor and implement it into anASIC-component. OpenCores affiliated with OpenCores,[clarification needed] for exampleOpenSPARC andLEON.