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Siliconsqueak

SiliconSqueak Logo SiliconSqueak is a processor chip that will run almost all existing Squeak images without modification. It is a hardware "virtual machine".

An Introduction explains these terms in a way that should be understandable to even those without technical backgrounds. The technical Details are also available for those who want to dig deeper.

Applications

Most SiliconSqueak versions will have more than one processor on the chip. SiliconSqueak is therefore also a parallel processor system, with 2 to 30 processors per chip. You can have many chips connected together for larger numbers of processors,

  • A future design, the SiliconSqueak Wafer, could have around 16.000 processors and their respective memories on a 'chip' the size of a CD.
  • A web server and supercomputer node model has 480 processors with a total of 64 GB DRAM running all Squeak based webservers and OpenCobalt.
  • SiliconSqueak is the central element of the Morphy computer models built around the Silicon Squeak SOC (System On a Chip) component.
  • A 10-100 Gbit/s switch/router on a chip to build intelligent distributed fiber backbones at terabit speeds supporting wireless and fiber to the home.
  • Internet 0 devices to create "The Internet of Things"
  • A low cost "Sketchpad" toy which connects to older TV sets can give more children access to Etoys and Scratch.

More Information

  • OOPSLA 2008 lecture by Jecel de Assumpção, the designer of SiliconSqueak, about some design aspects of the processor (sadly missing the last part about a future design called RNA). The Slides of OOPSLA BOF talk are available in a PDF format.
  • OOPSLA 2008 talk by David Ungar about his implementation of parallelism in Squeak for the Tilera64 processor (similar to the SiliconSqueak processor).
  • The "Industry Misinterpretations 133: Smalltalk and FPGAs" podcast has a lot of background about this project.
  • Slides of FISL 10 talk are available in PDF format. The focus was on the relation between SiliconSqueak and Open Source software and hardware.
  • Slides of SqueakFest Brazil 09 talk are available in PDF format. The focus was on how SiliconSqueak can fit into a school that is already using Etoys on conventional computers.

Some of Jecel Mattos de Assumpção Júnior's other work:

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