I just installed ISE 8.1 on Linux and these are my first impressions: * Project Navigator finally feels like a native Linux program. Previous versions often felt unresponsive and slow. With this version I no longer feel an immediate urge to build everything with Makefiles. This is great! * Impact does not work out of the box with kernel version 2.6.15.1. I had to download linuxdrivers2.6.tar.gz and compile it. Furthermore, I had to edit the configure script in windrvr and make sure that UDEV was not used. (The udev interface seems to have changed in later 2.6.x series. The relevant symbols are also GPL-only now, so I don't think a binary only module can be distributed using UDEV in later 2.6.x kernels.) I also had to install fxload to download the firmware to the programming cable and make sure /proc/bus/usb was mounted. All in all, I got it to work, but I really wish that Xilinx could remove the dependence on windriver. It is a real nuisance if you have to upgrade your kernel for whatever reason since you will need to recompile the kernel module in that case. If you happen to use parallel cable III or IV you can use XC3Sprog instead. You have to modify the program somewhat if you want to use it with Virtex-II FPGA:s. (You have to make sure that it recognizes the FPGA.) I haven't tested V2P or V4 FPGA:s with it though. * Test benches seem to be handled much more sanely in Project Navigator. You can now for each source file decide if it should be used for simulation, synthesis or both. /Andreas
ISE8.1 on Linux, first impressions
Started by ●January 18, 2006
Reply by ●January 18, 20062006-01-18
In article <slrndssicn.8hn.ehliar-nospam@sabor.isy.liu.se>, Andreas Ehliar <ehliar-nospam@isy.liu.se> wrote:>I just installed ISE 8.1 on Linux and these are my first >impressions: > >* Project Navigator finally feels like a native Linux > program. Previous versions often felt unresponsive and > slow. With this version I no longer feel an immediate > urge to build everything with Makefiles. This is great! > >* Impact does not work out of the box with kernel > version 2.6.15.1. I had to download linuxdrivers2.6.tar.gz > and compile it. Furthermore, I had to edit the configure > script in windrvr and make sure that UDEV was not used. > (The udev interface seems to have changed in later 2.6.x > series. The relevant symbols are also GPL-only now, so I don't > think a binary only module can be distributed using UDEV in later > 2.6.x kernels.) > I also had to install fxload to download the firmware to the > programming cable and make sure /proc/bus/usb was mounted. > > All in all, I got it to work, but I really wish that Xilinx > could remove the dependence on windriver. It is a real nuisance > if you have to upgrade your kernel for whatever reason since you > will need to recompile the kernel module in that case. If you > happen to use parallel cable III or IV you can use XC3Sprog instead. > You have to modify the program somewhat if you want to use it with > Virtex-II FPGA:s. (You have to make sure that it recognizes the FPGA.) > I haven't tested V2P or V4 FPGA:s with it though. > > >* Test benches seem to be handled much more sanely in Project > Navigator. You can now for each source file decide if it should > be used for simulation, synthesis or both. >Thanks for the info. what Linux distro are you running? The drivers you referred to: linuxdrivers2.6.tar.gz was that something you had to download from Xilinx's site? Phil
Reply by ●January 18, 20062006-01-18
> * Impact does not work out of the box with kernel > version 2.6.15.1. I had to download linuxdrivers2.6.tar.gz > and compile it. Furthermore, I had to edit the configure > script in windrvr and make sure that UDEV was not used. > (The udev interface seems to have changed in later 2.6.x > series. The relevant symbols are also GPL-only now, so I don't > think a binary only module can be distributed using UDEV in later > 2.6.x kernels.)I wrestled similarly with windrvr. It apparently uses some class_simple functions removed Jun. 20 2005. I subscribe to the LKML and was easily able to reverse patch it. Project manager and some other window were converted to QT I think. All other windows use the hideous WindU lib, so you can start the ise executable without fooling with DISPLAY but you still need it set to ":0" for all those secondary programs. Other than the subpar hotkey junk, the interface is much more natural. Everything much more usable now. (Gentoo, 2.6.14-gentoo-r4 w/ class_simple unpatch, WebPack 8.1, Spartan-3 starter kit w/ parallel cable III).
Reply by ●January 18, 20062006-01-18
See http://www.xilinx.com/xlnx/xil_ans_display.jsp?getPagePath=22648 for tar.gz link and instructions.
Reply by ●January 19, 20062006-01-19
On 2006-01-18, Phil Tomson <ptkwt@aracnet.com> wrote:> Thanks for the info. what Linux distro are you running? > > The drivers you referred to: linuxdrivers2.6.tar.gz was that something you had > to download from Xilinx's site?I'm using Suse 9.3. The linuxdriver2.6.tar.gz information is found in answer record 22648. /Andreas
Reply by ●January 19, 20062006-01-19
Hi, i tried to install it on a Debian Sarge with a 2.6.12 kernel but without success. It complained about a missing libqt_qt.so (or similar). Which packages are missing? Thanks in advance. Thomas "Dan" <mekmon@gmail.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:1137628581.049694.49240@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...>> * Impact does not work out of the box with kernel >> version 2.6.15.1. I had to download linuxdrivers2.6.tar.gz >> and compile it. Furthermore, I had to edit the configure >> script in windrvr and make sure that UDEV was not used. >> (The udev interface seems to have changed in later 2.6.x >> series. The relevant symbols are also GPL-only now, so I don't >> think a binary only module can be distributed using UDEV in later >> 2.6.x kernels.) > I wrestled similarly with windrvr. It apparently uses some class_simple > functions removed Jun. 20 2005. I subscribe to the LKML and was easily > able to reverse patch it. > > Project manager and some other window were converted to QT I think. All > other windows use the hideous WindU lib, so you can start the ise > executable without fooling with DISPLAY but you still need it set to > ":0" for all those secondary programs. Other than the subpar hotkey > junk, the interface is much more natural. > > Everything much more usable now. (Gentoo, 2.6.14-gentoo-r4 w/ > class_simple unpatch, WebPack 8.1, Spartan-3 starter kit w/ parallel > cable III). >
Reply by ●January 19, 20062006-01-19
Hi, nice info... can someone tell me if the USB cable works on Linux? Ivan Andreas Ehliar wrote:> I just installed ISE 8.1 on Linux and these are my first > impressions: > > * Project Navigator finally feels like a native Linux > program. Previous versions often felt unresponsive and > slow. With this version I no longer feel an immediate > urge to build everything with Makefiles. This is great! > > * Impact does not work out of the box with kernel > version 2.6.15.1. I had to download linuxdrivers2.6.tar.gz > and compile it. Furthermore, I had to edit the configure > script in windrvr and make sure that UDEV was not used. > (The udev interface seems to have changed in later 2.6.x > series. The relevant symbols are also GPL-only now, so I don't > think a binary only module can be distributed using UDEV in later > 2.6.x kernels.) > I also had to install fxload to download the firmware to the > programming cable and make sure /proc/bus/usb was mounted. > > All in all, I got it to work, but I really wish that Xilinx > could remove the dependence on windriver. It is a real nuisance > if you have to upgrade your kernel for whatever reason since you > will need to recompile the kernel module in that case. If you > happen to use parallel cable III or IV you can use XC3Sprog instead. > You have to modify the program somewhat if you want to use it with > Virtex-II FPGA:s. (You have to make sure that it recognizes the FPGA.) > I haven't tested V2P or V4 FPGA:s with it though. > > > * Test benches seem to be handled much more sanely in Project > Navigator. You can now for each source file decide if it should > be used for simulation, synthesis or both. > > > /Andreas
Reply by ●January 20, 20062006-01-20
On 2006-01-19, Ivan <gmivan@terra.es> wrote:> Hi, > > nice info... > can someone tell me if the USB cable works on Linux?Perhaps my posting wasn't clear on the issue, but I used the USB programming cable in Linux. (At least insofar as I got impact up and running with the USB cable, I haven't tested it much so I can't say that it is rock solid as yet.) /Andreas
Reply by ●January 20, 20062006-01-20
Thomas Gebauer <th.gebauer@gmx.de> wrote:> i tried to install it on a Debian Sarge with a 2.6.12 kernel but without > success. It complained about a missing libqt_qt.so (or similar). Which > packages are missing?I haven't tried it, yet, but I think such a package does not exist. It is either provided by ISE itself (set the environment variables correctly) or is an aliased version of something else (i.e. symlink libqt-mt.so to libqt_qt.so and run ldconfig or set LD_LIBRARY_PATH). I think I'll find some time to try it today, but don't rely on this ;) -- mail: adi@thur.de http://adi.thur.de PGP: v2-key via keyserver Darf ich bitten - oder tanzen wir zuerst?
Reply by ●January 23, 20062006-01-23
For me, the problem with the extremely slow GUI is still there. Funny enough, the version 7 of ISE was running fine on RedHat Linux 2.4.21. Now that we upgraded to 8.1, it takes ISE 3 Minutes (!) to start beyond the splash screen. All interaction is extremely slow but the commandline tools are very fast. Is there anything I am missing? Do I need a newer version of Java / Qt / whatever? I would be thankful for any suggestions. Cheers, Joachim