SW Development for Xilinx

[Miti]

What software do I need to download in order to start writing Verilog for Xilinx, is it Vivado? Why do I need to register and give them all my information? I downloaded Quartus from Intel without all this STASI interrogatoire.

Cheers,
Miti

[BrianHG]

Don't know about Xilinx, but now that Lattice's LFE5U-xxx-xx series is finally in stock at Digikey / Future / Mouser / Arrow ... you just need to download their latest Lattice Diamond and do the register BS to get a license key file.

They now use Modelsim as their simulation tool like Intel up until last year.

Xilinx is probably similar sign up procedure to activate.

[asmi]

Xilinx is probably similar sign up procedure to activate.

No, their form is required to be completed due to ITAR.

[dobsonr741]

What Xilinx part are you going to use? Some older parts only supported by WebPack. Some only by the paid version.

[asmi]

What Xilinx part are you going to use? Some older parts only supported by WebPack. Some only by the paid version.

That's not correct - all parts supported by WebPack are also supported by the paid version.
But that is beside the point, because they require to fill out that ITAR form in order to download just about anything.

[CaptDon]

Xilinx is often a royal P.I.T.A. trying to get license keys. Broken links etc. Years ago you could request a DVD instead of the long download times or firewalls at your company that wouldn't allow the downloads. So we never got the requested DVD's from Xilinx although when DVD's were obtained and after hours of installing 9gb of data we got to the licensing part and the links were broken. Then there is that old issue of using the older ISE 10.1 or whatever and you upgrade to Windows 8 or higher and the platform cable is no longer able to be found by the older ISE programs, but you get double screwed because the newer 14.1 and Vivado doesn't support the older smaller parts. Now you find you have to have two computer systems in your development lab, A Windows 7 or XP system and a Windows 8 / 10 or newer. Xilinx may be the leading cause of gray hair!!!

[asmi]

Xilinx is often a royal P.I.T.A. trying to get license keys. Broken links etc. Years ago you could request a DVD instead of the long download times or firewalls at your company that wouldn't allow the downloads. So we never got the requested DVD's from Xilinx although when DVD's were obtained and after hours of installing 9gb of data we got to the licensing part and the links were broken. Then there is that old issue of using the older ISE 10.1 or whatever and you upgrade to Windows 8 or higher and the platform cable is no longer able to be found by the older ISE programs, but you get double screwed because the newer 14.1 and Vivado doesn't support the older smaller parts. Now you find you have to have two computer systems in your development lab, A Windows 7 or XP system and a Windows 8 / 10 or newer. Xilinx may be the leading cause of gray hair!!!

Those are tales from the years long gone by. For the last decade (at least) you generate licenses through their self-service webpage by yourself, no need to ask anyone. Also if you really need that old crap ISE, you are much better off running it on Linux. Vivado/Vitis BTW also run better on Linux as far as I can tell, and some things (Petalinux for example) actually require Linux and will only work there.

[Miti]

Don't know about Xilinx, but now that Lattice's LFE5U-xxx-xx series is finally in stock at Digikey / Future / Mouser / Arrow ... you just need to download their latest Lattice Diamond and do the register BS to get a license key file.

They now use Modelsim as their simulation tool like Intel up until last year.

Xilinx is probably similar sign up procedure to activate.

Can they do everything that we did with the Altera Cyclone? Digital PLL using DDRIO, LVDS 2bit ADC, internal memory buffer, etc. How easy would be to transfer the code from Altera to Lattice?

[BrianHG]

Don't know about Xilinx, but now that Lattice's LFE5U-xxx-xx series is finally in stock at Digikey / Future / Mouser / Arrow ... you just need to download their latest Lattice Diamond and do the register BS to get a license key file.

They now use Modelsim as their simulation tool like Intel up until last year.

Xilinx is probably similar sign up procedure to activate.

Can they do everything that we did with the Altera Cyclone? Digital PLL using DDRIO, LVDS 2bit ADC, internal memory buffer, etc. How easy would be to transfer the code from Altera to Lattice?

There shouldn't be a problem.
It should be easier to adapt your design from Altera to Xilinx than it would be going to Lattice as Lattice's DDR IO and PLL is a little less capable.  (Make sure you can set Lattice's PLL dividers to what you need.  Lattice likes even integers for some of the factors.)  However, the entry level level Lattice LEF5U-25  beginning at  ~7$ for 15.  Yes, the 25k LE is available for less than the 12k LE version.    The little extra effort configuring the PLL and IO for the Lattice will save you $$$ if that is important.  All other code will be identical.  Also, you get a 1mb of blockram.  Enough room for filtered pixel scaling.

Even LCSC has it in stock meaning that PCB WAY will mount the part for you on your PCB.
https://www.lcsc.com/product-detail/Programmable-Logic-Device-CPLDs-FPGAs_Lattice-LFE5U-25F-6BG256I_C5272996.html
Sorry, BGA only.

Over 37k in stock, 7$ each for 15 pieces:
https://www.win-source.net/products/detail/lattice-semiconductor-corporation/lfe5u-25f-6bg256c.html

[Miti]

Do you know a reasonable development board with an equivalent to Cyclone 4 or 5 and rich in peripherals, not just a bunch of IOs? I bought something like this
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mM7XVUA
Sometime ago from Ali with programmer and cables for $54 shipped.
I can’t find anything similar with Xilinx that doesn’t want one or two of my limbs.

[SiliconWizard]

QMTECH have a number of dev boards with Xilinx FPGAs from the 6 and 7 series. While the boards equipped with the more powerful FPGAs tend to be underpowered (and without enough decoupling) - for instance, they have one with a XC7A200T, and it's most likely not adequate in terms of power supplies,- but for the more modest variants they are fine. You can find QMTECH productr on Aliexpress as well.

[Miti]

QMTECH have a number of dev boards with Xilinx FPGAs from the 6 and 7 series. While the boards equipped with the more powerful FPGAs tend to be underpowered (and without enough decoupling) - for instance, they have one with a XC7A200T, and it's most likely not adequate in terms of power supplies,- but for the more modest variants they are fine. You can find QMTECH productr on Aliexpress as well.

Thanks SiliconWizard! Man, I wish I could justify paying for a Spartan 6 more than three times what I paid for a Cyclone 4 board and without the programmer, but I don’t think I can.

[BrianHG]

Numerous ECP5 Lattice boards also exist:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003573062894.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.25.22793d7frtsqkO&algo_pvid=567ecd14-8f85-47b2-bab1-39e083f536e4&algo_exp_id=567ecd14-8f85-47b2-bab1-39e083f536e4-12&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22sku_id%22%3A%2212000026335604145%22%7D&pdp_npi=2%40dis%21CAD%2132.85%2131.21%21%21%21%21%21%4021021aa216734022842716137d0701%2112000026335604145%21sea&curPageLogUid=EUag8xgSoomL

( *** Careful when ordering, you probably want type #3, the board plus development carrier. )

However, it is Aliexpress.
Others exist with just the edge board, but with USB-C and regulated supply for around 30$.
The most simple ones are around 11$.