T1: A RISC-V Implementation of Cray

The tech industry recently witnessed the introduction of T1, a RISC-V based emulation of the legendary Cray-1. This innovation was developed by Monsonite, a Hackaday.io user.

The Cray-1, launched in 1976, was the original supercomputer— a term used to denote the world's fastest computer at the time. The Cray-1 garnered acclaim for its stunning speed and performance, boasting a speed of 80 MHz and a million floating-point operations per second.

However, the Cray-1's design was not suitable for modern times due to its use of thirty-two 12-bit wide memory banks, making it an unfeasible option for today's 64-bit computers.

Monsonite, however, found a workaround to this issue. He utilized the RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA) to simplify the design. This open-source hardware ISA is designed to enable a new generation of processors to run more efficiently.

With RISC-V, Monsonite developed T1, a Cray-1 emulator that runs on a BeagleV Starlight board. The BeagleV Starlight board is a single-board computer that uses the RISC-V architecture.

The T1 also features a 128-bit wide data path and four floating-point units. It operates at a speed of 400 MHz, which is five times faster than the original Cray-1.

The T1 emulator is still a work in progress, but its development is an exciting step forward in the world of technology. It showcases the creative potential of the RISC-V architecture and opens up new opportunities for the emulation of legacy systems.