Putting not just the bitstream, but also the C program onto the SD Card for Genesys 2

[QI109]

On the Genesys 2 FPGA board, we can program the FPGA using a microsd card by putting the bitstream onto the card, switching the jumper to SD, then pressing on the PROG button on the board. 

However, if my FPGA design includes a Microblaze design, there does not seem to be a way to program the memory of the Microblaze CPU using the SD card. All I can do is again, add a bistream onto the card which only programs the FPGA fabric. The Microblaze itself is not programmed.

If I want to also program the Microblaze CPU from the SD card, is there a way to do so?

[JColvin]

Hi @QI109,

I'll need to look into this. I believe you could create your microblaze project and then associate the created .elf with Microblaze in the block design, and then generate the bitstream and use that bitstream in the SD card, but that would be putting the application in BRAM.

It may be possible to get microblaze fully booted from SD, but additional things would be needed; an SD controller in fabric to be used by the bootloader and something like the SREC bootloader that supports SD card usage (instead of just flash memory), but I haven't checked to see how feasible this is.

Thanks,
JColvin