Software to Get started

[Robert R]

Hi All,

I bought the FPGA Arty A7 FPGA to learn how to embbed microblaze soft core and write C code for it.  I opened my box, and I got my USB cable, and the Arty A7 board. 

1. Where do I find a link to the software development kit that would allow me to embbed the cores?

2. Do I need to download Xilinx SDK?

3. Is there any tutorials where I can do something basic like "Hello World", and learn the basic operations required to embbed the microblaze?

 

I would be cool to have a link in the Arty A7 for the software too.  I will keep searching for it, and I will appreciate some directions on how to get started.

 

RR

[zygot]

7 minutes ago, Robert R said:

Where do I find a link to the software development kit that would allow me to embbed the cores?

@Robert R

Hi. Welcome to the world of FPGAs. First you will need to install Vivado i order create a design that contains a MicroBlaze system. You will want the free WEB edition because you don't need a licence for the FPGA on your board. The SDK will be installed unless you choose not to but you will choose to install it because that's the application that allows you to develop you C applications for your design.

Once the tools are installed you need to start using the Document Navigator to download tutorials, user guides and other relevant information. You'll have a hard time of it if you don't understand what an FPGA consists of and how to use Vivado tools.

[Robert R]

I think the board Arty S7 Rev E. does not have a master board correctly.  SPI is on J7 and it calls out a J6.  Where can I find the ARTY S7-50 RevE board definition file?  There is only for rev B

[JColvin]

Hi @Robert R,

The Arty S7-50 only has a Rev B while the Arty S7-25 has a Rev E, so the revisions are correct.

I will request that the label for the SPI connector is correct to J7; I confirmed within the board files that the physical FPGA pins are defined correctly, but the label is wrong for this particular SPI connector.

Thank you for pointing this out. If you still need it; we have a guide that helps you set up a Microblaze based design available on our wiki here: https://reference.digilentinc.com/vivado/getting-started-with-ipi/start.

Thanks,
JColvin

[JColvin]

Hello,

The board files (https://github.com/Digilent/vivado-boards) have been updated to fix the typos. Please let us know if you happen to see any other issues.

Thanks,
JColvin

[Robert R]

On 10/29/2019 at 8:54 AM, JColvin said:

Hi JColvin,

I bought the Arty S7-50T and it says revision E in the back side of the board.

 

On 10/29/2019 at 8:54 AM, JColvin said:

 

Hi @Robert R,

The Arty S7-50 only has a Rev B while the Arty S7-25 has a Rev E, so the revisions are correct.

I will request that the label for the SPI connector is correct to J7; I confirmed within the board files that the physical FPGA pins are defined correctly, but the label is wrong for this particular SPI connector.

Thank you for pointing this out. If you still need it; we have a guide that helps you set up a Microblaze based design available on our wiki here: https://reference.digilentinc.com/vivado/getting-started-with-ipi/start.

Thanks,
JColvin

 

[Robert R]

On 10/29/2019 at 11:43 AM, JColvin said:

Hello,

The board files (https://github.com/Digilent/vivado-boards) have been updated to fix the typos. Please let us know if you happen to see any other issues.

Thanks,
JColvin

Hi JColvin,

 

The picture here on this board reveals revision E, with FPGA SC7S50CSGA324.  So the board files I am looking for is Arty S7-50T revision E.