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+# GARY: Graphics Adapter for Retropixel Yeeting
+
+This is a project to build a graphics adapter for the Sentinel 65X, as
+an upgrade to the VERA graphics core. It's a work in progress.
+
+## Current status
+
+Still building it. Unless you want to tinker or hack on the design,
+it's not yet ready for use. As of 2024-09, the high level architecture
+looks like this, with grayed out modules being the TODOs.
+
+![functional diagram of GARY](images/gary-architecture.jpg)
+
+You can also look at [the design requirements](Requirements.md) to get
+an idea of why this exists and roughly where we're going, although
+it's a fairly loose set of guidelines and may change as development
+progresses.
+
+## Requirements
+
+GARY is written in [Bluespec
+SystemVerilog](https://github.com/b-Lang-org/bsc), and synthesized
+with the Yosys/Nextpnr open source FPGA toolchain. If you can use nix,
+the flake.nix in this repository provides the necessary tools, which
+you can make available with `nix develop`. Otherwise, consult
+flake.nix for a list of software. At a minimum you'll need:
+ - The [Bluespec SystemVerilog toolchain](https://github.com/b-Lang-org/bsc)
+ - [Yosys](https://github.com/YosysHQ/yosys) and
+   [nextpnr](https://github.com/YosysHQ/nextpnr) with Lattice ECP5
+   support
+ - [OpenFPGALoader](https://trabucayre.github.io/openFPGALoader/) to
+   program designs onto an FPGA
+ - A [Go compiler](https://go.dev/) if you want to use the debugger
+ - [Invoke](https://www.pyinvoke.org/) to drive the build system
+ - Some kind of VCD waveform viewer like
+   [GTKWave](https://github.com/gtkwave/gtkwave) to debug failing
+   tests.
+
+If you want to run this on hardware, you'll also need supported
+hardware. Currently, the only working target is the
+[ULX3S](https://ulx3s.github.io/) board with a Lattice ECP5 LFE5U-85
+FPGA. Once the design is fully working, it may be ported to other
+boards or FPGAs.
+
+## Developing
+
+GARY uses Invoke as a small build system. You can read tasks.py to see
+the details, but these are the main available commands:
+ - `inv build <build target>`: run the Bluespec compiler on the given
+   target.
+ - `inv synth <synth target>`: run full synthesis to bitstream on the
+   given target.
+ - `inv test <test target>`: run unit tests in Bluesim.
+ - `inv clean`: delete build outputs.
+ - `inv genclk`: generate clock configuration for the Lattice ECP5 PLL
+   primitive.
+
+The overall workflow looks like this:
+ - Write Bluespec SystemVerilog in .bsv files, possibly with
+   supporting Verilog-2005 in .v files.
+ - Use `inv build` to check the Bluespec design and elaborate the
+   modules marked for synthesis.
+ - Write unit tests in `<module name>_Test.bsv` files, and use `inv
+   test` to run them. The tests run in Bluesim, and output VCD
+   waveform files if you need to debug failures.
+ - Create a top-level module in `<some dir>/Top.bsv`, with an
+   accompanying `<some dir>/pin_map.lpf` to map I/Os to physical pins
+   and set timing constraints.
+ - Run `inv synth` to synthesize the top-level module into a bitstream
+   for flashing to target.
+ - Use `openFPGALoader` to program your hardware of choice.
+
+Most development time should be spent in the upper parts of this list,
+writing tests and running them in a simulator and maybe synthesizing
+some test designs to see how well/poorly modules turn into
+hardware. Trying to diagnose buggy designs on hardware is going to be
+very frustrating, do yourself a favor and only move to hardware with
+code you've already tested a whole bunch in simulation.
+
+Build targets can be a single Bluespec file (`inv build
+lib/UART.bsv`), or a directory to build all Bluespec in that subtree
+(`inv build lib`).
+
+Test targets can be a single test file (`inv test
+lib/Strobe_Test.bsv`) or a directory to run all tests in that subtree
+(`inv test lib`, `inv test .`).
+
+Synthesis targets can be a single Bluespec file (`inv synth
+hack/Top.bsv`), a directory containing a `Top.bsv` file
+(`inv synth experiments/vram`), or the name of a hardware target
+as found in the `hardware` subdirectory (`inv synth ulx3s`).
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