Nexys Video HDMI Demo boot from QSPI Flash

[Ben_Cook]

Hello,

I have a Nexys Video board and I have successfully loaded the “Nexys Video HDMI Demo”. I followed the tutorial "Using Digilent Github Demo Projects" to install and run the project through Vivado and SDK.  I would like to learn how to get this demo to boot from QSPI flash following initial application of power to the board. I tried to follow this tutorial “How To Store Your SDK Project in SPI Flash". However, I get stuck creating the bootloader at step 1.2 as I do not have the option to use the ‘SREC SPI Bootloader’ template. When I try to select SREC SPI Bootloader, the SDK throws the following error: “This application requires a AXI Quad SPI in the hardware.” At this point, the ‘Next’ and ‘Finish’ buttons are greyed out, so I hit a dead-end.

Could you please advise how I would go about storing this demo in SPI Flash?

Many thanks in advance,

Ben Cook

[jpeyron]

Hi @Ben_Cook,

In the Vivado block design for the Nexys video hdmi you would need to add the QSPIFLASH and the system clock from the board tab to the design. Then in the clock wizard add an output clock of 50 MHz and connect that to the ext_spi_clk on the QSPIFLASH IP core.Then click on connection automation and validate the design. Next I typically delete the wrapper and re-create the wrapper so it insures that the wrapper includes the new additions. I then generate a bitstream. Then you will be able to use the srec spi bootloader in sdk.

cheers,

Jon

[sosso]

hi jpeyron, it's me again, 

        Why did you choose 50 mhz for the QSPIFLASH, is there some calculation you did ?

        My second and last question would be : why do we integrate AXI Timer and AXI Uartlite after running block automation, why shouldn't we intergrate all IPs we need and run block and connection automation?

                     thank you 

[jpeyron]

Hi @sosso,

I believe the 50 MHz came from calculations from page 9 of the Using SPI Flash with 7 Series FPGAs pdf. There is an order to when you connect the different components to ensure that vivado connects then correctly. This issue may have been resolved in newer versions but has historically been an issue in vivado.

thank you,

Jon

[sosso]

Thank you, 

          If i want to program the OLED of the nexys video, where do I have to search for the functions to write on the OLED, any forum, any link would be welcome.

                          thank you 

[JColvin]

Hi @sosso,

If you are using the Pmod OLED IP which will work for the onboard OLED on the Nexys Video, you can find the main function that does some display demonstrations here as well as a list of the available functions in the OledDriver.c and the OledChar.c files as well.

Let us know if you have any other questions about this.

Thanks,
JColvin

[sosso]

 hi thank you , 

          I'm looking for a block design controlling the OLED, i tried one but i found problem and errors, for the demo I don't understand how to use it, Could you please send me a screenshot of the block designs for using the OLED?

 Whilst creating block designs in vivado, there is some instants when you should not run connection automation, why? and how to know when to run it?

                              thank you 

[jpeyron]

Hi @sosso,

I have attached a block design of a verified project Vivado 2017.4 Nexys Video using the on board OLED here. I have the board files installed and the vivado library attached to the IP repository. The reason we delayed running connection automation in past tutorials was to ensure that Vivado connected the components correctly. This issue may have not be a problem in newer versions of Vivado.

thank you,

Jon