How to use on board USB/UART interface in Zybo?Couldn't find any MIOP pins as mentioned in reference manual

[Nilakshan]

I want to test UART using Zybo.I want to know how to use the on  board USB/UART port in Zybo.

[jpeyron]

Hi Nilakshan,

Here is a thread that discusses this topic and as well which MIO pins. How are you setting up your image processing project with a zynq processor with IP cores, HDL, or embedded linux also what version of Vivado are you using? If you are using embedded linux what distro i.e. petalinux,yocto ....  ?  If you are trying to use a soft core processor the ZYNQ processor facilitates that process so following the tutorial Getting started with Zynq here will help you use the USB/uart. Also here is our github with two different HDMI projects that use uart as well.

cheers,

Jon

[Nilakshan]

I went through them.Most of the tutorials based on block design and SDK.What I'm using in Vivado 2016.2 is Verilog coding.Is that block design similar to Jframes or do I have any option to learn? 

[jpeyron]

Hi @Nilakshan,

I'm not familar with JFRAMES but to better describe the ZYNQ architecture, it is taking a microcontroller that uses a arm9 processor and tying fpga fabric to it. Xilinx and Digilent have made many IP cores that support different desired functions for the fpga in the fabric that communicate with the microcontroller. This allows for quick development with a drag and drop type environment(is this what you mean about JFRAMES?) where vivado facilitates alot of the low level connections. Communication through the uart/usb is supported through the microcontroller side of the ZYNQ architecture. We do not support uart communication through this port otherwise. If you are not wanting to use this type of design but rather use verilog/VHDL then to use a usb connection to move data with a verilog design that facilitates a uart controller you could use the PmodUSBUART here.  Also Here is a link to @hamster fpga's projects that should help with the HDMI using VHDL. 

cheers,

Jon

[jamey.hicks]

I haven't used the JDK on zedboard or zybo, but I did run Android on zedboards and was able to get its GUI to display, which uses quite a bit of Java. Android really needs a GPU, which zynq does not have, so I do not recommend this path for a GUI.

If JFRAMES works in Ubuntu 16.04, you might be able to run it on the ARM processor of a zybo, if you run Ubuntu on the zybo. In this case, you only need a small program to run on the zybo.

Another option, if you have some skill with networking, is to run your UI on another machine and stream the data to it over ethernet from the zybo.

If you know javascript, websockets is a good option for interaction between the GUI and a small amount of code on the zybo.