51 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
51 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
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# Varvara's rusty bicycle
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This project is a (re)implementation of the Varvara personal computer in Rust, intended to target WASM and a web browser emulator.
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- [Varvara](./doc/varvara.md) ([upstream docs](https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/varvara.html)) is an 8bi personal computer reminiscent of video game controllers. Varvara is also a character in [Rekka](https://kokorobot.ca/site/home.html)'s art; this is her personal computer.
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- [Tal](./doc/tal.md) ([upstream docs](https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/uxntal.html)) is the reference assembler language for programming. The Tal is a friendly, hoofed quadruped implied to be helping Varvara.
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- [UXN](./doc/uxn.md) ([upsteram docs](https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/uxntal_reference.html)) is the instruction set underlying the Varvara computer.
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## WTF UXN?
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The entire uxn/tal/varvara stack will likely scan as unusual to professional developers.
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Why design an 8/16bi microarchitecture in 202X?
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The answer is that varvara is best understood as a political and art project.
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Devine and Rekka are artists, living on a boat and embracing a minimalist/solarpunk/permaculture politic.
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While Devine appears to have more professional software development experience than they let on, the entire project is amateur.
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To those who've spent time with computer design, many design decisions in the system may seem odd.
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Fundamentally the answer to many of the WTFs is that ... varvara isn't designed for that.
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Why doesn't it have signed arithmetic?
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Why doesn't it have memory protection?
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Why doesn't it have floating point?
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Why doesn't it have a real multiprocessing/interrupt model?
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Why doesn't it have a networking model?
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Why doesn't it have ...
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Because it's an unscalable[¹](https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.08850) vision of personal computing.
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It's designed to let a person with limited computing and network resources build their own reality marble of personal software.
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"you build your pocket universe, and then in you go"
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There's [a bunch of software](https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/roms.html) for Varvara, all of which should emphasize this point.
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Building [your own spreadsheet engine](https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/nebu.html) is certainly a statement.
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## Why this project?
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Having done some compiler and computer architecture work, the Varvara computer was ... baffling.
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The documentation is far more artistic than implementer or even user centric.
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This project is the results of my effort to reverse engineer and document the Varvara system well enough to re-implement it.
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Varvara isn't my vision of my personal computer.
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I've got different requirements and expectations.
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But I have a lot of respect for the relative success of the project, especially considering that I've spun my wheels on my own vision for years.
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So consider this my meditation on an artifact.
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## License
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This software is released under the [Anti-capitalist software license v1.4](./LICENSE.md).
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