Arty A7-35T features

[Nazariy]

Just wanted someone to clarify the capabilities of the board Arty A7-35T:

1. The USB-UART interface. What is the "Digilent combo"? I understand it is used for JTAG programming. Does it also program the flash with the FPGA image? Can this USB-UART interface be used by the FPGA for general serial communication? How do I select between JTAG/UART?

2.  Is the flash memory used for storing both the FPGA image and the microblaze firmaware image?

Thank you,

[jpeyron]

Hi @Nazariy,

The USB-UART bridge allows you to communicate serially. The USB UART is also used to configure the FPGA as well as the FLASH depending on the Jumper setting on the Mode Jumper.  The FLASH is used to store standard HDL(verilog/VHDL)  and Microblaze projects. There are different ways to do this.  Here is our resource center which has tutorials about using the FLASH under the Additional Resources section.  The resource center also has links to projects like the Arty-A7-35-GPIO which uses the USB UART bridge in VHDL.

thank you,

Jon

[Nazariy]

That's all I wanted to know. Thank you for the links. Do I need any licences to Xilinx tools to work with Kintex 35 and Microblaze?

[jpeyron]

Hi @Nazariy,

The Arty-A7-35T here has an Artix-7 FPGA not an Kintex. The Vivado Web Pack Edition is free to use. The Vivado Design Edition can be downloaded for free as well. The Design Edition can be used on boards for free on fpga's that do not require the Design Edition to use such as the Arty-A7-35T.   Here is a good xilinx page that describes the difference between the different Editions.

cheers,

Jon