Awesome Open Source Hardware

Overview

A curated list of awesome open source hardware tools, generators, and reusable designs. Focuses on tools and frameworks for digital hardware development, FPGA programming, and chip design.

Hardware Description Languages

Traditional HDLs

• Verilog - Industry standard HDL
• VHDL - DoD standard HDL
• SystemVerilog - Extended Verilog with verification features

Modern HDLs

• Chisel - Scala-based hardware construction language
• SpinalHDL - Scala-based HDL alternative to VHDL/Verilog
• MyHDL - Python-based hardware description
• Amaranth (formerly nMigen) - Python-based HDL

Design Tools

Synthesis Tools

• Yosys - Open-source synthesis suite
• ABC - System for sequential logic synthesis
• Odin II - Verilog synthesis tool

Simulation

• Verilator - Fast Verilog/SystemVerilog simulator
• Icarus Verilog - Verilog compilation system
• GHDL - Open-source VHDL simulator

Place and Route

• nextpnr - Portable FPGA place and route tool
• VPR - Academic place and route tool
• Magic - VLSI layout tool

FPGA Development

Open Source FPGA Toolchains

• Project IceStorm - Lattice iCE40 FPGA bitstream tools
• Project Trellis - Lattice ECP5 tools
• SymbiFlow - Multi-platform FPGA toolchain
• OpenFPGA - Fully open-source FPGA fabric, architecture, and CAD flow

FPGA Cores

• RISC-V processors
• DDR memory controllers
• PCIe controllers
• Ethernet MACs
• Video pipelines

CPU/SoC Designs

Open ISAs

• RISC-V - Open instruction set architecture
• OpenRISC - Open-source processor architecture
• OpenSPARC - Open-source SPARC implementation

Processor Cores

• BOOM - Berkeley Out-of-Order Machine (RISC-V)
• Rocket - RISC-V processor generator
• PicoRV32 - Size-optimized RISC-V CPU
• VexRiscv - FPGA-friendly RISC-V core

Physical Design

PDK (Process Design Kits)

• SkyWater 130nm PDK - Open-source PDK
• OpenLane - Automated RTL to GDSII flow
• OpenROAD - RTL-to-GDSII platform

Layout Tools

• Magic - VLSI layout viewer, editor, and extractor
• KLayout - High-performance layout viewer and editor
• Xschem - Schematic editor

Verification

• cocotb - Python-based verification framework
• UVM - Universal Verification Methodology
• OSVVM - Open Source VHDL Verification Methodology

Communities and Resources

• Free Silicon Foundation
• FOSSi (Free and Open Source Silicon)
• Open Hardware Summit
• RISC-V International

Applications

• Custom accelerators
• IoT devices
• Embedded systems
• Research and education
• Prototyping

Pricing

Free and open-source tools and designs.