You know why you have to strip the constraints file for arachne-pnr to work? Also, in my case I had to use 'sudo' in iceprog in order to work (just throwing it out there, if someone has the same problem).
Hi, can you recommend a GUI utility that will reduce the amount of command typing for programming the FPGA? Perhaps something with presets, in order to avoid repetitive typing every-time you want to re-program the FPGA.
Lattice puts out IceCUBE2 (www.latticesemi.com/iCEcube2), which works on Windows and Linux. That has a GUI. Alternatively you could set up scripts to automate these tasks. I have a video that walks through the basics of IceCUBE and how to use it: ua-cam.com/video/nfB8-8JfVFE/v-deo.html
With Ubuntu 16.04 LTS there are now packages available for this. Already on my 16.04 system: arachne-pnr, arachne-pnr-chipdb, yosys, and fpga-icestorm. fpga-icestorm-chipdb was not on, so I did a 'sudo apt-get install fpga-icestorm-chipdb' and it went right on. (Package icestorm is, btw, ice35-services, and not Clifford Wolf's icestorm.) Originally I started to do the manual install. I did the "Installing prerequisites..." from the video (ultimately not required, but didn't hurt); I tried installing from github, as described in the video, but one of the "makes" failed. I didn't do any "make install's". Then I found the packages already installed. Yahoo. I did add then remove the udev rule as there is already one in place as part of the fpga-icestorm package (do 'sudo dpkg-query -L fpga-icestorm' and see the /lib/udev/rules.d/40-fpga-icestorm.rules file in that package.) That udev rule has a group (GROUP="plugdev") that you must add to your account if it is not there already. (mine had it: tommy@thinkPad:~$ groups tommy adm cdrom sudo dip plugdev lpadmin sambashare vboxusers wheel) Lastly, there seem to be more .v files available (tests and examples) in the github sources. It may be useful to 'git clone' them but not do the "make" or "make install". I haven't gotten that far yet. As always, YMMV.
Hello Nand Land you are doing a great jon! i have a question,is there any difference between quartus in linux and quartus in Windows,for example if i write a code in linux could i run in windows too?thanks in advance :)
Hi, I have an older iMac and have had no luck in installing either the iCEcube2 tools or the IceStorm tools. I have tried a Linux live USB setup as well as VirtualBox Linux. I have tried a number of distributions, and am never able to download all package dependencies that the tools require. Maybe these "temporary" Linux setups are not meant for installing tools? Any suggestions?
Linux and Mac currently. The Go Board can be programmed with non-open source tools made by Lattice Semiconductor. These work on Windows. www.latticesemi.com/iCEcube2
hi, first of all thank you for sharing all this information. I would like to ask though if there are FPGA that are programmable with these tools big enough to hold a full TCP/IP stack and still have some stuff left over for other processing?
Hi Dacian. I do not know enough about what would be required to hold a full TCP/IP stack. If it's just a few kilobytes of ROM and a processor, then it's possible to do that.
Got my goboard, and two minutes later it's running my code, using this method. Thanks!!
Nice!
Just ordered a Go Board!
Thanks!
Does this tool support system verilog?
Will you do more Icestorm based tutorials?
You know why you have to strip the constraints file for arachne-pnr to work? Also, in my case I had to use 'sudo' in iceprog in order to work (just throwing it out there, if someone has the same problem).
See this: github.com/cseed/arachne-pnr/issues/14
+1 go board & lots of love!
Is it still free opensource?
Hi,
can you recommend a GUI utility that will reduce the amount of command typing for programming the FPGA? Perhaps something with presets, in order to avoid repetitive typing every-time you want to re-program the FPGA.
Lattice puts out IceCUBE2 (www.latticesemi.com/iCEcube2), which works on Windows and Linux. That has a GUI. Alternatively you could set up scripts to automate these tasks. I have a video that walks through the basics of IceCUBE and how to use it: ua-cam.com/video/nfB8-8JfVFE/v-deo.html
With Ubuntu 16.04 LTS there are now packages available for this.
Already on my 16.04 system: arachne-pnr, arachne-pnr-chipdb, yosys, and fpga-icestorm. fpga-icestorm-chipdb was not on, so I did a 'sudo apt-get install fpga-icestorm-chipdb' and it went right on.
(Package icestorm is, btw, ice35-services, and not Clifford Wolf's icestorm.)
Originally I started to do the manual install. I did the "Installing prerequisites..." from the video (ultimately not required, but didn't hurt); I tried installing from github, as described in the video, but one of the "makes" failed. I didn't do any "make install's". Then I found the packages already installed. Yahoo.
I did add then remove the udev rule as there is already one in place as part of the fpga-icestorm package (do 'sudo dpkg-query -L fpga-icestorm' and see the /lib/udev/rules.d/40-fpga-icestorm.rules file in that package.) That udev rule has a group (GROUP="plugdev") that you must add to your account if it is not there already. (mine had it:
tommy@thinkPad:~$ groups
tommy adm cdrom sudo dip plugdev lpadmin sambashare vboxusers wheel)
Lastly, there seem to be more .v files available (tests and examples) in the github sources. It may be useful to 'git clone' them but not do the "make" or "make install". I haven't gotten that far yet. As always, YMMV.
Is there something like an open source simulator too?
Check out edaplayground.com
Hello Nand Land you are doing a great jon!
i have a question,is there any difference between quartus in linux and quartus in Windows,for example if i write a code in linux could i run in windows too?thanks in advance :)
Hi,
I have an older iMac and have had no luck in installing either the iCEcube2 tools or the IceStorm tools. I have tried a Linux live USB setup as well as VirtualBox Linux. I have tried a number of distributions, and am never able to download all package dependencies that the tools require. Maybe these "temporary" Linux setups are not meant for installing tools? Any suggestions?
Now this is great! Maybe Go Board will be Arduino of FPGAs!
Linux users : forget about any bad feelings about using IceCube, thanks to icestorm the goboard is linux-friendly Thx a lot Russel ;-)
You're welcome! But thank Clifford Wolf and others who have contributed to the IceStorm project. They're the real heroes.
Does the Go board support the PSHDL programming environment? Seems like a great way to start learning, combining both.
+SuperSuperGenius As PSHDL translates to VHDL, you can use it with tools from all vendors that support VHDL, which are basically all.
Are the programming tools for this all Linux based, or are there any Windows based tools?
Linux and Mac currently. The Go Board can be programmed with non-open source tools made by Lattice Semiconductor. These work on Windows. www.latticesemi.com/iCEcube2
hi, first of all thank you for sharing all this information.
I would like to ask though if there are FPGA that are programmable with these tools big enough to hold a full TCP/IP stack and still have some stuff left over for other processing?
Hi Dacian. I do not know enough about what would be required to hold a full TCP/IP stack. If it's just a few kilobytes of ROM and a processor, then it's possible to do that.