FPGA file types

[Gra]

I’m a little bit stuck, can anyone help me with this.

In a project I’m looking at there are 3 file types, mcs bit and fw

 

.bit files (fpga config volatile)

 

.mcs goes on the non volatile device, used to configure the FPGA at startup 

 

.fw file .... I don’t know, if I had to guess I’d say, maybe the software instructions for an embedded processor, but that's just a guess.

 

Can anyone tell me just what the .fw file does?

 

Many Thanks

[jpeyron]

Hi @Gra,

I have reached out to co-works to see if they have any input. Otherwise I will do some research tomorrow on this topic.

cheers,

Jon

[D@n]

@Gra,

Based upon this article, I'd say the .fw file was an ELF (firmware) file containing the instructions for your processor.

Dan

[sbobrowicz]

I think @D@n is correct, that is a program meant to run on microblaze (or maybe picoblaze). I would bet that the .mcs wraps up the bit and fw files so that they are programmed into the correct Flash addresses. This is a common solution for packaging microblaze projects that utilize a bootloader because the processor program cannot fit inside the FPGA's Block RAM.

[Gra]

Thanks guys... and D@n the article was very useful, thanks.

 

Gra