Cmod S6 software question

[Jgraygoza]

Good day.

I just got two Cmod S6 boards and I want to start working with them.

However, I don't know which software to download and install to communicate, program and test the chip.

Do I have to download from the xilinx website or from here?

 

Any pointers or basic guidelines will be greatly appreciated!

 

Thank you much!

[jpeyron]

Hi @Jgraygoza,

Here is a forum thread where @D@n  covers your questions about the Cmod S6 in depth. Here is the reference manual for the Cmod S6. It describes the options you have for configuring the Cmod S6 under the configurations section. Here is the resource page for the Cmod S6 where you can find the master UFC.

cheers,

Jon

[D@n]

@Jgraygoza,

Welcome to the CMod S6!  It's an amazing platform, and I have yet to cease to be amazed at what it does and can do.  You'd think because the FPGA is so limited that there's not much you can do with it.  Don't let that thought stifle your creativity.  I am, myself, working on my CMod-S6 this week.

I use the Digilent Adept2 software, specifically the program djtgcfg, to load configurations into the CMod.  I'm also using the DEPP interface from the Adept SDK, together with libraries provided by the Adept runtime, to communicate with the device.

Dan

P.S.  This weeks goal is to get a hand-made "O/S" running on my S6.  I had it running before, but I've made some changes, so ... it's a fun project and a fun platform.  You can find the project I'm working on here, but ... parts of it are (currently) in various stages of working.

[Jgraygoza]

D@n,

So if I understand this correctly, if I want to start loading programs and work with this, adept2 will be a good start.

Do I still need to download the ISE from xilinx?

It's been a while since I have worked with a FPGA.  I once had a nexys board and worked with that and I remember I used the ISE to make the program, used FTDI to talk to the board and that was about it.

This was 8 years ago and never touched a FPGA again.  That's why my memory is so blurry on this subject.

 

So, just to make sure I am getting this right.

1.- Adept software is to talk to the FPGA and load/unload programs.

2.- ISE is for making the programs and testing / troubleshooting.

3.- Am I missing somehting?

 

To begin with, I will interact with the ports that the DIP configuration has and work around those for different peripheral handling.

 

[Jgraygoza]

 

One more thing....

 

Do I get the entire ISE design suite or just the webpack?

[D@n]

@Jgraygoza,

1. Yes, you need Xilinx's ISE.  While you can load programs with adept, you cannot build them with Adept.  You will build your configurations (as FPGA programs tend to be called, sometimes designs) using Xilinx's ISE, and then load them onto the part using Adept.

2. Adept software also allows you to communicate with your FPGA design as well, so, yes there too.

3. What version of ISE you get is up to you.  I have been successful with the webpack.

4. I think you may find the CMod S6 a touch more challenging than the Nexys board you once had, but that's part of the fun (for me at least).

It actually sounds like you have a good understanding of what's going on, and you're probably getting close to being able to try your first design!

Dan

[Jgraygoza]

D@n,

Thank you for the excellent piece of info.

Working on getting the ISE now.

Nexys was very friendly when you have no idea of what FPGAs and VHDL is.

Once you get the hang of it, you can move around to other things.

I get the impression that you've been around long enough to know that working with limited things pushes creativity further.  That's why sometimes you have to take higher challenges like the CMod S6.  But that's how you get battle tested.  Looking forward to staying up until 3 am with a gallon of coffee!

Great input from you.  As I work with this chip, if I have more questions, is it ok if I keep asking?

 

Thank you very much!

[D@n]

@Jgraygoza,

Is it okay to keep asking?  That's sort of what the forum is for.  You can also often find me on the freenode IRC channel #digilent-fpga, in case you wish to actually "chat" about something.

As for pushing creativity further, you've caught my point.  I've been working on a soft-CPU that's supposed to be FPGA resource friendly.  So my thought was, if I can't run on the smallest of FPGA's, how can I claim to be resource friendly?  So ... yeah, that was my purpose with the CModS6.  Getting multiple tasks running on an FPGA that small, has been ... the challenge I was looking for. 

Dan

[Jgraygoza]

IRC channels are still going on?

Wow!

The last time I used an IRC channel was in the same days as ICQ when I was in college.

Have you done any work with Raspberry PI?

[D@n]

@Jgraygoza,

RPi?  Just a touch.  I'd like to fire up my CPU on an icoBoard, but ... aside from having the hardware and running a couple blinky programs on it ... I'm not there yet.

Dan

[Jgraygoza]

I see.... Just curious.... since it's been buzzing around for almost 5 years now...

It's probably not as good as a FPGA but it gets things done to a certain point....