FPGA Night

Class #2
Unallocated Space, Severn MD
fpga@unallocatedspace.org
Presenter: David Protzman

Agenda

A few words about Unallocated Space

Overview of last class
Download example code
Launching ISE
Build example project
Launching Impact, Mojo Loader, and Adept
Uploading bit file to FPGA
Tweaking example project
Loading the simulator
Simulate example project
UCF files
Viewing RTL and technology schematics
Questions/Comments/Concerns

Unallocated Space

~ 3 years old
Free to the public
Run by donations
Memberships available
$25/mo - Check-in card
$50/mo - Storage space and 2U of server space
$100/mo - Key (upon approval) to Unallocated Space
Suggested donation for this class: $5

Previous Class

What is an FPGA?
Slices, Configurable logic blocks, muxes, flip flops, etc
Different brands of FPGAs
Xilinx, Altera, Lattice
Types of Xilinx FPGAs
Spartan, Virtex, Artix, Kintex, Easy Path
Difference between CPLD and FPGA
Special parts of an FPGA
DCM, PLL, DSP, RAM, IO
Brief talk about ISE

Downloading Example Code

We will be using GitHub

Goto https://github.com/Unallocated
This contains all of the Unallocated Space projects
You want FPGA_NIGHT

Downloading Example Code

Downloading Example Code

Extract code somewhere useful

Make sure to remember where!!
Well come back to these files later

Launching ISE - Windows

Look for ISE Design Suite 32/64 Bit Command Prompt

Launching ISE - Windows

Type ise (no quotes) and press enter

Launching ISE - Linux

Bring up a terminal
Figure out where ISE was installed
Most likely in /opt/Xilinx/14.7/
If you dont know, then you can try this
find / -name ise -executable 2>/dev/null
Determine if you are using 32 or 64 bit by running
uname -r
You have 64 bit if you see x86_64
For 64 bit run (Substitute PathToISE with the path to your ISE location)
source PathToISE/ISE_DS/settings64.sh
For 32 bit run (Substitute PathToISE with the path to your ISE location)
source PathToISE/ISE_DS/settings32.sh

Launching ISE - Linux

Example

Launching ISE - Linux

This terminal now knows how to launch all of the ISE tools
Simply run
ise

Launching ISE - OSX

Xilinx does not support OSX at *ALL*

Launching ISE

Try to use the launcher for the correct architecture

If you are running a 64 bit OS, run the 64 bit version
Failure to run the correct version can cause
Crashes
Impact might not work (Weird library issues)

Opening Example Project

Opening Example Project

Choose the correct
folder for your board

Opening Example Project

Opening Example Project

Opening Example Project

Opening Main VHDL Source

Double
click

Opening Main VHDL Source

Building the Design

Double
Click

Building the Design

This part will take some time

The design will go through the following steps
Synthesis
Implementation
Translate
Map
Place and Route
Bit file generation

Programming

Programming the FPGA is done using JTAG

Boards may have special software, or use Impact
Mojo - Mojo Loader (http://embeddedmicro.
com/tutorials/mojo/installing-mojo-loader/)
Basys2, Nexys3, Atlys - Adept (http://digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.
cfm?NavPath=2,66,828&Prod=ADEPT2)
Spartan 3 Core Development Kit - Impact (Part of ISE)

Mojo Loader

For Linux, you might have to run it as root

Open a terminal and change directory to the mojo-loader folder
Run:
./mojo-loader
sudo ./mojo-loader
For Windows you just need to double click on mojo-loader.exe

Uncheck this for

now

Mojo Loader

Change this to *
since the output file
from ISE is a .bit, not
a .bin

Mojo Loader

Click Load to
upload the bit
file to the
FPGA

Digilent Adept - Windows

Go to http://digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,66,828
&Prod=ADEPT2 and download the Adept System

Digilent Adept - Windows

Make sure that the Runtime and Application are selected

Digilent Adept - Windows

This drop down will
hold previously
loaded bit files

Click here to
select the bit file
to upload

Your FPGA should

show up here once
connected to the
computer

Click here after

selecting the file.
This will upload the
bit file to the FPGA

Digilent Adept - Linux

Go to http://digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,66,828
&Prod=ADEPT2 and download the Linux Runtime and Utilities files for
your OS
Check uname -r for 32/64 bit

Digilent Adept - Linux

Extract the contents of the Runtime file

Run the following command
sudo ./install.sh
Accept all defaults unless you want to change the install location
Extract the contents of the Utilities file
Run the following command
sudo ./install.sh
Accept all defaults unless you want to change the install location
Run the following command with the board plugged in to verify installation
djtgcfg enum
This command should list your device

Digilent Adept - Linux

There is not GUI :(

Programming is done with the following command
Nexys3
djtgcfg prog -i 0 -d Nexys3 -f myBitFile.bit
Atlys
djtgcfg prog -i 0 -d Atlys -f myBitFile.bit
The -i is the device index in the JTAG chain. For programming the
FPGA, this will just be 0. To store to the flash, this value might
change
The -d is the device name (output from the enum command earlier)
The -f is the path to the bit file that will be sent to the FPGA

Impact - Windows & Linux

The tool is the same for both Windows and Linux

Get back to the terminal/console that ISE was launched from
If you are running Linux, you will need to either open a new terminal or
press CTRL+Z, then type bg (no quotes) to background the ISE
process.
Instead of ise, run impact (no quotes on either)

Impact - Windows & Linux

Leave this be as it will
attempt to automatically
detect your FPGA
Make sure that
your board is
plugged up
before clicking
OK!

Impact - Windows & Linux

This is the
FPGA part that
was found in
the boundary
scan

Click Yes to
select a bit file to
upload

If the FPGA and JTAG

programmer are
plugged up and
everything went right,
you should see Identify
Succeeded

Impact - Windows & Linux

Find the bit file you

want to upload to the
FPGA

Click Open
once you have
the file selected

Impact - Windows & Linux

Click No

Impact - Windows & Linux

Here you have the
option to verify that
the program was
successful. Leave
unchecked for
quicker uploads.

Click OK to close

Impact - Windows & Linux

1. Right click on the
chip
2. Select Program

Blinky Blinky

Everyone should now have all 8 LEDs flashing ~ every second!

Tweaking the Example

Find the following line

if(divider = X/2) then
Divide X by 2
Ex:
if X was 100000000 (one hundred million), change it to 50000000
(fifty million)
Double click on Generate Programming File again
Upload resulting bit file to the FPGA
What happened to the speed the LEDs blink at?

Loading the Simulator

Loading the Simulator

Click this radio button

Loading the Simulator

UCF file is gone

Loading the Simulator

Clicking on the
VHDL file should
cause the bottom
panel to show ISim
Simulator

Loading the Simulator

Double click on this