non-Linux for Arty Z7?

[Allan Flippin]

     Looking through the Arty Z7 documentation, I see that mostly it's about people running Linux on the embedded ARM.  My application is more bare-bones.  I'll need to write C code for the ARM including interrupt handlers.  This needs to be real-time, so I can't afford the overhead of Linux running.

     In the reference manual, I see that "bare metal" programming on the ARM is possible.  But I've not been able to locate any documentation for this.  Have you got something I can read?  I just want to make sure the job is not way too complicated before embarking on it.  Thanks!

[jpeyron]

Hi @Allan Flippin,

Here is the Arty Z7 resource center which has an  a few project that do not use embedded Linux. There is an HDL (verilog) XADC and a HDMI-IN that uses our DVI2RGB and RGB2DVI IP Cores with SDK.  There is a lot of Additional Resources available as well.

The Zynq Book should be helpful even if it was made for the Zedboard/Zybo.

What kind of project are you looking to do? 

best regards,

Jon

[Allan Flippin]

Jon,

     Thanks for your speedy reply.  The Zynq Book in particular looks very useful.  I don't need Linux, but I do need to write software on the ARM.  I'll be using the Atry Z7 to help me test an SMBus peripheral chip that I just finished designing.  That chip has a good bit of analog.  I'll put the chip and associated circuitry on a board that connects to the Z7 through the Arduino shield interface.  I don't have any video, ADC or high-speed serial.  I just need the ARM to feed commands to my chip and monitor its results.  The chip uses alerts, so I'll need to write an interrupt handler for it.  That's why i don't want the Linux overhead, because it would mess up my interrupt handler timing.

Allan

[jpeyron]

Hi @Allan Flippin,

The Digilent MTDS uses the Arduino header and might be a good reference since it has a IP core available on GitHub here using the Pmod MTDS IP Core. Here is a forum thread that discusses some alterations you would need to do to get the interrupt working with the header and a Zynq processor.

best regards,

Jon