Programming Nexys 2 From Os X

[duskwuff]

Let's say I have a .bit file on my Mac, and I've got a Nexys 2 plugged into a USB port. As far as I know, Adept isn't available for OS X. What, if any, are my options for programming the board? Is there any documentation available for interfacing with the USB-FX2 controller it uses? (If it comes down to it, I'm comfortable putting something together with libusb.)

 

(Yes, I'm perfectly aware that the Xilinx tools don't run on Mac OS X. And no, I'd prefer to not use a virtual machine. I have my reasons.)

[timothyheider]

I just managed to download one of the demos to my Nexys 3 with my OS X laptop using Ubuntu Desktop in Virtual Box.  Took me about a week to figure this out with some help from people on this forum.

 

OS X is not supported by Xilinx for the design tools and you need to run the Adept utilities by command line in Linux.  I was never able to use Adept on Windows but it worked great with my VirtualBox Linux platform.

 

The first thing I suggest is to get Xilinx ISE running.  This alone took me several hours.  You need to get a free license for it.

 

Definitely look at the demo projects here:

 

http://digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,400,897&Prod=NEXYS2

 

If you don't want to use an emulator I think you'll need to get a Windows machine or set up a dedicated Linux box (which I may do now that I know it works).

[duskwuff]

I've already got the Xilinx toolchain working on a remote machine. I just want some way to program the board hooked up to my laptop without the overhead of a virtual machine just for the Adept tools.