Tooling for OpenASIP — an open-source toolset for designing application-specific instruction-set processors (ASIPs) based on the Transport Triggered Architecture. A fork that runs on macOS (Apple Silicon) as well as Linux, plus VS Code extensions for the files the design flow is built on.
What it is
OpenASIP is an open-source toolset for designing application-specific instruction-set processors based on the Transport Triggered Architecture. It is developed at Tampere University.
The work here does two things: it makes the toolchain build and run on macOS (Apple Silicon) as well as Linux, and it puts the design flow inside VS Code rather than the legacy native GUIs.
Available now
Edit OpenASIP Architecture Definition Files — the processor architecture description.
Edit OSAL operation definitions — the operation set.
Edit Hardware Database files — register file and function unit implementations.
Install from the Visual Studio Code Marketplace, or search the Marketplace for NicolasSchieli from the Extensions view.
Requires VS Code 1.74 or later. No OpenASIP installation needed — the editors read and write the files directly.
A fork of upstream OpenASIP carrying macOS (Apple Silicon) support, plus bug fixes found while making it work. CI runs on both Linux and macOS arm64.
Processors and hardware description files produced by the toolset are MIT-licensed. That is upstream's own arrangement, and it leaves you free to license the processors you generate.
Builds from source on macOS (Apple Silicon) and on Linux — Debian and Ubuntu carry most of the prerequisites. It builds its own patched LLVM, so allow time and disk on a first install; the repository README has the steps.
Planned
A brew install for the toolchain. Not published yet.
Licensing
Upstream
OpenASIP is developed at Tampere University: github.com/cpc/openasip.
This site covers a fork of that project and companion tooling, not a replacement. It is not affiliated with, nor endorsed by, the upstream project or the university.