Does anybody know where JBits verson 1.0 or 1.1 can be downloaded.
Thanks
Reply by John Williams●October 14, 20042004-10-14
rickman wrote:
> John Williams wrote:
>
>>Adam Megacz wrote:
>>
>>>Question for Xilinx: with JBits now DOA, how are customers supposed to
>>>use the ICAPs? Are they now strictly intended for "swapping" a set of
>>>prebuilt configurations? Without something like JBits you can't
>>>really do runtime template assembly AFAICT...
>>
>>Your question has a false premise - customers *aren't* supposed to use
>>ICAP. :-S ... OK so I'm joking, but only just...
>>
>>ICAP is there because it helps Xilinx test chips. They make it visible
>>in the tools etc because it has some interesting research opportunities.
>>
>>It's a bit of a chicken and egg problem - if someone can demonstrate a
>>killer-app for ICAP and partial-reconfig, then support will follow. But
>>without support, developing the killer-app is very difficult...
>
> Xilinx had a lot of new tool features they were supporting such as
> modular configuration. I was told that they were commited to supporting
> the Spartan 3 devices. But that support never materialized and I dont'
> see where the new V4 chips are supported yet. Maybe they just don't see
> much need and are dropping some of these advanced tools on the newer
> chips.
I think the problem is probably in the underlying wire database (NCD)
that the current-gen tools use. Using constraints for modular/partial
flow is not ideal. Better would be to have a database that has the
equivalent of the SQL "view" construct - create a virtual device that is
some spatial subset of the full device, with full P&R capability over
that subset. Of course I'm not saying it's easy!
> Or maybe it is the lack of tri-state buffers. I know the
> Spartan 3 chips have none, do the Virtex 4 chips have any internal
> tri-states?
I'm speculating again, but I think the whole tri-state/bus macro thing
is a bit of a red-herring - it's just the easiest, guaranteed safe way
to do it with the existing tools and tech.
Think about it, on-chip bidirectional buses are all done with wired-OR
these days, yet functionally it acts like a tri-stated bus. Perhaps the
same could be done with partial reconfiguration, it's just too hard to
force the tools to obey such a construct. The bus-macros are so
inefficient - one of my students looked into making a 32-bit bus macro,
it would take more than the height of a V2-1000 device! To do real work
with dynamic modules etc you need wide buses - bus macros just aren't
gonna cut it.
Anyway that's enough speculation for tonight :)
John
Reply by rickman●October 14, 20042004-10-14
John Williams wrote:
>
> Adam Megacz wrote:
> >
> > Sadly Xilinx has abandoned JBits.
>
> Is this true? JBits support for V2 was announced just a few months ago.
>
> > Question for Xilinx: with JBits now DOA, how are customers supposed to
> > use the ICAPs? Are they now strictly intended for "swapping" a set of
> > prebuilt configurations? Without something like JBits you can't
> > really do runtime template assembly AFAICT...
>
> Your question has a false premise - customers *aren't* supposed to use
> ICAP. :-S ... OK so I'm joking, but only just...
>
> ICAP is there because it helps Xilinx test chips. They make it visible
> in the tools etc because it has some interesting research opportunities.
>
> It's a bit of a chicken and egg problem - if someone can demonstrate a
> killer-app for ICAP and partial-reconfig, then support will follow. But
> without support, developing the killer-app is very difficult...
Xilinx had a lot of new tool features they were supporting such as
modular configuration. I was told that they were commited to supporting
the Spartan 3 devices. But that support never materialized and I dont'
see where the new V4 chips are supported yet. Maybe they just don't see
much need and are dropping some of these advanced tools on the newer
chips. Or maybe it is the lack of tri-state buffers. I know the
Spartan 3 chips have none, do the Virtex 4 chips have any internal
tri-states?
--
Rick "rickman" Collins
rick.collins@XYarius.com
Ignore the reply address. To email me use the above address with the XY
removed.
Arius - A Signal Processing Solutions Company
Specializing in DSP and FPGA design URL http://www.arius.com
4 King Ave 301-682-7772 Voice
Frederick, MD 21701-3110 301-682-7666 FAX
Reply by John Williams●October 14, 20042004-10-14
Adam Megacz wrote:
>
> Sadly Xilinx has abandoned JBits.
Is this true? JBits support for V2 was announced just a few months ago.
> Question for Xilinx: with JBits now DOA, how are customers supposed to
> use the ICAPs? Are they now strictly intended for "swapping" a set of
> prebuilt configurations? Without something like JBits you can't
> really do runtime template assembly AFAICT...
Your question has a false premise - customers *aren't* supposed to use
ICAP. :-S ... OK so I'm joking, but only just...
ICAP is there because it helps Xilinx test chips. They make it visible
in the tools etc because it has some interesting research opportunities.
It's a bit of a chicken and egg problem - if someone can demonstrate a
killer-app for ICAP and partial-reconfig, then support will follow. But
without support, developing the killer-app is very difficult...
Regards,
John
Reply by Adam Megacz●October 14, 20042004-10-14
Sadly Xilinx has abandoned JBits.
Question for Xilinx: with JBits now DOA, how are customers supposed to
use the ICAPs? Are they now strictly intended for "swapping" a set of
prebuilt configurations? Without something like JBits you can't
really do runtime template assembly AFAICT...
- a
"alonzo" <rha_x@yahoo.com> writes:
> Hello,
> Does somebody know if the last version of JBits (3.0) will work with
> spartans family? I know JBits 3.0 supports Virtex II, and an older version
> supported Virtex... but .. Spartan is kind of a Virtex.. so .. have anyone
> try this before?
>
> Thanks,
> Alonzo.
>
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If you send me a message and it bounces, please forward the
bounce message to megacz@gmail.com. Thanks!
Reply by alonzo●October 6, 20042004-10-06
Hello,
Does somebody know if the last version of JBits (3.0) will work with
spartans family? I know JBits 3.0 supports Virtex II, and an older version
supported Virtex... but .. Spartan is kind of a Virtex.. so .. have anyone
try this before?
Thanks,
Alonzo.