docs update

README.md

@@ -54,10 +54,12 @@ More detailed build instructions can be found [here](docs/install_vortex.md).
     $ git clone --recursive https://github.com/vortexgpgpu/vortex.git
     $ cd Vortex
 ### Install prebuilt toolchain
-    By default, the toolchain will install to /opt folder which requires sudo access. 
-    You can install the toolchain to a different location of your choice by setting TOOLDIR (e.g. export TOOLDIR=$HOME/tools).
-    $ export TOOLDIR=/opt
+    # By default, the toolchain will install to /opt folder which requires sudo access. Alternatively, you could also install the toolchain to a different location of your choice by setting the TOOLDIR environment variable
+
+    $ export TOOLDIR=$HOME/tools    
     $ ./ci/toolchain_install.sh --all
+
+### Set up environment variables
     $ source ./ci/toolchain_env.sh
 ### Build Vortex sources
     $ make -s

docs/cache_subsystem.md

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 The Vortex Cache Sub-system has the following main properties:
 
 - High-bandwidth transfer with Multi-bank parallelism
-- Non-blocking pipelined architecture with local MSHR
+- Non-blocking pipelined write-through cache architecture with per-bank MSHR
 - Configurable design: Dcache, Icache, L2 cache, L3 cache
 
 ### Cache Microarchitecture 
@@ -11,16 +11,16 @@ The Vortex Cache Sub-system has the following main properties:
 ![Image of Cache Hierarchy](./assets/img/cache_microarchitecture.png)
 
 The Vortex cache is comprised of multiple parallel banks. It is comprised of the following modules:
-- **Bank request dispatch crossbar**: assign a bank to incoming requests and resolve collision using stalls.
-- **Bank response merge crossbar**: merge result from banks and forward to the core response.
-- **Memory request multiplexer**: arbitrate bank memory requests
-- **Memory response demultiplexer**: forward memory response to the corresponding bank.
-- **Flush Unit**: perform tag memory initialization.
+- **Bank request dispatch crossbar**: assigns a bank to incoming requests and resolve collision using stalls.
+- **Bank response merge crossbar**: merges result from banks and forward to the core response.
+- **Memory request multiplexer**: arbitrates bank memory requests
+- **Memory response demultiplexer**: forwards memory response to the corresponding bank.
+- **Flush Unit**: performs tag memory initialization.
 
 Incoming requests entering the cache are sent to a dispatch crossbar that select the corresponding bank for each request, resolving bank collisions with stalls. The result output of each bank is merge back into outgoing response port via merger crossbar. Each bank intergates a non-blocking pipeline with a local Miss Status Holding Register (MSHR) to reduce the miss rate. The bank pipeline consists of the following stages:
 
 - **Schedule**: Selects the next request into the pipeline from the incoming core request, memory fill, or the MSHR entry, with priority given to the latter.
-- **Tag Access**: A single-port read/write access to the tag store.
+- **Tag Access**: single-port read/write access to the tag store.
 - **Data Access**: Single-port read/write access to the data store.
 - **Response Handling**: Core response back to the core.
 

docs/install_vortex.md

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
    sudo apt-get install build-essential zlib1g-dev libtinfo-dev libncurses5 uuid-dev libboost-serialization-dev libpng-dev libhwloc-dev
    ```
 
-2. Upgrade gcc to 11:
+2. Upgrade GCC to 11:
 
    ```
    sudo apt-get install gcc-11 g++-11
@@ -31,35 +31,26 @@
 
 4. Install Vortex's prebuilt toolchain:
 
-    ```
-    cd vortex
-    sudo ./ci/toolchain_install.sh -all
-	
-    # By default, the toolchain will install to /opt folder. This is recommended, but you can install the toolchain to a different directory by setting DESTDIR.
-    DESTDIR=$TOOLDIR ./ci/toolchain_install.sh -all
-    ```
+   ```
+   $ cd vortex
+   
+   # By default, the toolchain will install to /opt folder which requires sudo access. Alternatively, you could also install the toolchain to a different location of your choice by setting the TOOLDIR environment variable
+    
+   $ export TOOLDIR=$HOME/tools    
+   $ ./ci/toolchain_install.sh --all
+   ```
 
 5. Set up environment:
 
-    ```
-    export VORTEX_HOME=$TOOLDIR/vortex
-    export LLVM_VORTEX=$TOOLDIR/llvm-vortex
-    export LLVM_POCL=$TOOLDIR/llvm-pocl
-    export POCL_CC_PATH=$TOOLDIR/pocl/compiler
-    export POCL_RT_PATH=$TOOLDIR/pocl/runtime
-    export RISCV_TOOLCHAIN_PATH=$TOOLDIR/riscv-gnu-toolchain
-    export VERILATOR_ROOT=$TOOLDIR/verilator
-    export SV2V_PATH=$TOOLDIR/sv2v
-    export YOSYS_PATH=$TOOLDIR/yosys
-	
-    export PATH=$YOSYS_PATH/bin:$SV2V_PATH/bin:$VERILATOR_ROOT/bin:$PATH
-    ```
+   ```
+   $ source ./ci/toolchain_env.sh
+   ```
 
 6. Build Vortex
 
-    ```
-    make
-    ```
+   ```
+   $ make
+   ```
 
 
 ## RHEL 8
@@ -71,11 +62,11 @@ Note: depending on the system, some of the toolchain may need to be recompiled f
    sudo yum install libpng-devel boost boost-devel boost-serialization libuuid-devel opencl-headers hwloc hwloc-devel gmp-devel compat-hwloc1
    ```
 
-2. Upgrade gcc to 11:
+2. Upgrade GCC to 11:
 
-    ```
-    sudo yum install gcc-toolset-11
-    ```
+   ```
+   sudo yum install gcc-toolset-11
+   ```
 	
    Multiple gcc versions on Red Hat can be managed with scl
 
@@ -91,34 +82,23 @@ Note: depending on the system, some of the toolchain may need to be recompiled f
 
 5. Install Vortex's prebuilt toolchain:
 
-    ```
-    cd vortex
-    sudo ./ci/toolchain_install.sh -all
-	
-    # By default, the toolchain will install to /opt folder. This is recommended, but you can install the toolchain to a different directory by setting DESTDIR.
-    DESTDIR=$TOOLDIR ./ci/toolchain_install.sh -all
-    ```
+   ```
+   $ cd vortex
+   
+   # By default, the toolchain will install to /opt folder which requires sudo access. Alternatively, you could also install the toolchain to a different location of your choice by setting the TOOLDIR environment variable
+    
+   $ export TOOLDIR=$HOME/tools    
+   $ ./ci/toolchain_install.sh --all
+   ```
 
 6. Set up environment:
 
-    ```
-    export VORTEX_HOME=$TOOLDIR/vortex
-    export LLVM_VORTEX=$TOOLDIR/llvm-vortex
-    export LLVM_POCL=$TOOLDIR/llvm-pocl
-    export POCL_CC_PATH=$TOOLDIR/pocl/compiler
-    export POCL_RT_PATH=$TOOLDIR/pocl/runtime
-    export RISCV_TOOLCHAIN_PATH=$TOOLDIR/riscv-gnu-toolchain
-    export VERILATOR_ROOT=$TOOLDIR/verilator
-    export SV2V_PATH=$TOOLDIR/sv2v
-    export YOSYS_PATH=$TOOLDIR/yosys
-	
-    export PATH=$YOSYS_PATH/bin:$SV2V_PATH/bin:$VERILATOR_ROOT/bin:$PATH
-	
-    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=<path to mpfr>/src/.libs:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
-    ```
+   ```
+   $ source ./ci/toolchain_env.sh
+   ```
 
 7. Build Vortex
 
-    ```
-    make
-    ```
+   ```
+   $ make
+   ```