Libreplanet 2024
Yesterday I enjoyed to talk "Raspberry Pi's liberation progress".
I know that the Raspberry Pi can drive a HTC Vive, for the Valve Index I am not sure.
But I also want to build my own hardware using the RP2040[1] and ICE40HX8K-CB132 and
was able to make the changes in lighthouse-fpga[2] to handle up to 32 sensors, the
same number that SteamVR devices use.
At 18:00 UTC, will do my talk "Gaming on a Talos II: How I avoid using Steam"
Here I follow the rules from [3], the conclusion I reached is that using SteamVR
to put an end to the use of SteamVR is legitimate.
[1] https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/microcontrollers/rp2040.html
[2] https://github.com/bitcraze/lighthouse-fpga
[3] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/is-ever-good-use-nonfree-program.html
Hi Tobias Platen!
Thanks for watching my talk! I'm glad that you enjoyed it ^^
Having the RP2040 in your hardware is a good idea since it doesn't require any proprietary software as far as I know. Even the BootROM is free, though you can't exactly modify it since it's read-only (burned into the chip): https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-bootrom
I've barely heard about ICE40HX8K-CB132. Is it an FPGA hardware? Does it work with freedom respecting toolchain?
Anyways, I enjoyed your talk that you gave few minutes ago. I asked some questions in the Galene chat, but there were no time for you to answer them during the session so I'll be asking questions here:
- is it possible smoothly run libre VR games without any proprietary GPU firmware?
- Since Talos II is very expensive and inaccessible, do you have any suggesions for alternatives? Also, do you think Talos II will see some price drops in the future?
- Can Taisei Project run on Talos II?
someone else's question:
libreplanetenjoyer: how much software is available for this architecture in Debian/Guix? I know you can always compile things but sometimes it could be annoying
Anyways, thank you once again for your talk!
> I've barely heard about ICE40HX8K-CB132. Is it an FPGA hardware? Does it work with freedom respecting toolchain?
Yes, it does. Read https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-hardware-designs.html
Note that the page is outdated, today we have more FPGAs that have libre toolschains.
Claire Wolf and Myrtle Shah did the reverse engineering for Lattice FPGAs.
> is it possible smoothly run libre VR games without any proprietary GPU firmware?
lofi only using speadgine on rockchip devices:
https://yewtu.be/watch?v=azyt_Vt96bg
https://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/single-board-computers
>Since Talos II is very expensive and inaccessible, do you have any suggesions for alternatives? Also, do you think Talos II will see some price drops in the future?
The price will drop when IBM releases POWER11. RaptorCS wants to enter the market for cheaper devices: https://libre-soc.org/22nm_PowerPI/
>Can Taisei Project run on Talos II?
I guess yes. There is also this project: https://chaos.social/@Toble_Miner/112032721095107280
I have a gameplay video at
https://guixgaming.isengaara.de/LibrePlanet2024-FreedomSaberGameplay.webm
I'll look forward to the talk
Escape the walled garden: Freeing the [Bad] Apple GPU
> I'll look forward to the talk
> Escape the walled garden: Freeing the [Bad] Apple GPU
me too, in fact I'm watching it right now! ^^
Same for me and my BLÅHAJ.
Awww, this is so adorable! :3
> Yes, it does. Read https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-hardware-designs.html
> Note that the page is outdated, today we have more FPGAs that have libre toolschains.
> Claire Wolf and Myrtle Shah did the reverse engineering for Lattice FPGAs.
I see, thanks for the info.
> lofi only using speadgine on rockchip devices:
> https://yewtu.be/watch?v=azyt_Vt96bg
I watched the archived stream and it looks pretty cool!
> The price will drop when IBM releases POWER11. RaptorCS wants to enter the market for cheaper devices: https://libre-soc.org/22nm_PowerPI/
good to hear that ^^
> I guess yes. There is also this project: https://chaos.social/@Toble_Miner/112032721095107280
Ooooh, gaming on the router, that's so cool! I remember thinking about if there'd be any way to to make a router usable as a personal computer. I was thinking that serial pins on the router's board could be used as UART output and serial pins could be connected to a microcontroller hooked to a small display, which would make that microcontroller and the display essentially a monitor. Then maybe the "router computer" could take user input from the USB port or through the RX pin on the board.
Anyway, this is just some hacky idea I had few years ago. It might not be very practical, but it sounds fun :P
But that project you just linked looks more like a usable computer than the idea I had :)