( ESNUG 447 Item 11 ) ------------------------------------------- [09/26/05]
From: Elliot Mednick <elliot=user domain=bluespec spot calm>
Subject: The Olde Wellspring Solutions VeriWell is now Free on SourceForge
Hi John,
VeriWell, my nearly free Verilog simulator of the 1990's is now available
completely free in source code form under GPL at:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/veriwell/
I know it to compile under Linux, Solaris, and Cygwin. I think it will
compile under Windows, and we know that it doesn't compile under FreeBSD
(temporarily).
For those who don't know or don't want to admit remembering, VeriWell is a
full IEEE-1364-1995 Verilog simulator. It was sold by Wellspring Solutions
between 1992 and 1998, sold to Minc, which sold its assets to Xilinx and
then returned Elliot Mednick. A free version of it was included in several
books, including the quintessential The Verilog Hardware Description
Language by Thomas and Moorby, editions 2-4. Several now-large companies
used it (Nvidea, Franklin Elec., Konica Camera) before they got enough
funding to buy an expensive Verilog simulator, and there 2 real tapeouts
that I know of that used VeriWell for most of the project.
I ran some benchmarks, and VeriWell ran 4 times faster than Icarus Verilog.
Which is not to say VeriWell is better: it probably contains more bugs and
supports only the 1995 verision of Verilog. However, being an interpreted
simulator, it is arguably easier to use and is especially great for those
learning Verilog. The look-and-feel is similar to that of Verilog-XL (and
don't we all secretly wish that Verilog simulators could go back to that
simple user interface?).
VeriWell also supports most of PLI 1.0, and has hooks for GTKWaves.
Support is self-serve. If you are interested in being a developer, please
contact me at elliot (at) bluespec (spot) com. VeriWell could use at
least 2001 extensions and VPI.
The SourceForge forum is up for VeriWell questions and discussions. Feel
free to post your own past experiences with it.
- Elliot Mednick
Bluespec, Inc. Waltham, MA
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