[adrian_b]

The Lattice ECP5 must have been just an example, because in the Github repository there is another example about how to run Linux on it on a 33000 logic cell Artix FPGA board, so I assume that the core must take significantly less than 30000 cells.

Any PowerPC core, even a relatively small one like this, is much more powerful than the soft cores that are used in FPGAs when minimum size is desired.

There are also a few other bigger open-source POWER cores, which can be used for higher performance.