Am using the free ISE Webpack, and wanted to know if it's possible just to use the command line and code/config files...that counts for things like package assignments and simulator stuff...can it be done at all, or easily? Thanks for your insights...
Is there a totally command-line driven way to use Xilinx Webpack?
Started by ●July 31, 2008
Reply by ●July 31, 20082008-07-31
On Jul 31, 8:31 am, andersod2 <thechrisander...@gmail.com> wrote:> Am using the free ISE Webpack, and wanted to know if it's possible > just to use the command line and code/config files...that counts for > things like package assignments and simulator stuff...can it be done > at all, or easily? > > Thanks for your insights...Hi, There is a nice command line flow, to get the bit file from your source files and config files. You could also get the command log file of your project, from the ISE interface itself. In design utilities, you have the option of view Command line log file. Also you could set up a simple Make environment for the same. I have build a simple Make environment and for me that works the best. It is much simpler and easy to use. But I have not used command line much for simulation or for assigning pins, floor planner and so on. I guess for that you need GUI. Hope this helps. -- Goli
Reply by ●July 31, 20082008-07-31
Although not the focus of the tutorial, the MultiBoot tutorial for the Avnet Spartan-3A Evaluation board uses command-line batch files to build the example designs. Go to www.em.avnet.com/spartan3a-evl then click on Support Files & Downloads, then underneath the App Notes/Ref Designs, download the tutorial called "MultiBoot in Serial and Parallel Flash." Besides the batch file and source HDL and UCF, there are two other files used in the example, both related to calling XST on the command- line. The .ifn file contains the synthesis options and references the .prj file which has the list of HDL sources. Like Goli, I have not used command-line to do simulations. Bryan
Reply by ●July 31, 20082008-07-31
Goli wrote:> On Jul 31, 8:31 am, andersod2 <thechrisander...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Am using the free ISE Webpack, and wanted to know if it's possible >> just to use the command line and code/config files...that counts for >> things like package assignments and simulator stuff...can it be done >> at all, or easily? >> >> Thanks for your insights... > > Hi, > > There is a nice command line flow, to get the bit file from your > source files and config files. You could also get the command log file > of your project, from the ISE interface itself. In design utilities, > you have the option of view Command line log file. > > Also you could set up a simple Make environment for the same. I have > build a simple Make environment and for me that works the best. It is > much simpler and easy to use. > > But I have not used command line much for simulation or for assigning > pins, floor planner and so on. I guess for that you need GUI. > > Hope this helps. > > -- > GoliI second the use of Make. I switched over after finally becoming far too pissed off that Project Navigator a) hides all of my project settings in non-version controllable, non-documented binary files that keep getting changed with every revision of ISE and b) crashed all the time. Now I just type "make" at the command line and everything does what I want it to. Manual pin assignment via UCF files works quite well in my experience, especially if you've got a Perl script that rips your signal connections directly from your board schematic file and writes them in UCF format. The only problem is, you go to some trouble to sort them nicely, group and comment them, and then if you ever run the Constraints Editor or PACE programs against it, it re-alphabetizes them. Schematic entry, Floorplanning, and FPGA Editor are still GUI tasks. Schematic entry, infuriatingly, has to be done from inside of Project Navigator, there's no stand-alone executable for it. Also, in my experience, when you're hunting for timing problems, the graphical Timing Analyzer is much easier to work with than the command line one. -- Rob -- Rob Gaddi, Highland Technology Email address is currently out of order
Reply by ●July 31, 20082008-07-31
Thank you everybody for your help. Man that eval board looks like a great deal, huh? Either that or I just got ripped off for the Atmega16 uC eval board I just ordered for almost the same price! And none of the peripherals....and they say ebay is a great deal....bah....
Reply by ●July 31, 20082008-07-31
On Jul 31, 1:47=A0pm, andersod2 <thechrisander...@gmail.com> wrote:> Thank you everybody for your help. =A0Man that eval board looks like a > great deal, huh? =A0Either that or I just got ripped off for the > Atmega16 uC eval board I just ordered for almost the same price! =A0And > none of the peripherals....and they say ebay is a great deal....bah....Yeah, I bought the S3A board and it's a great deal, even though it lacks fun peripherals like D/A. It also comes with a PSoC programmer.
Reply by ●July 31, 20082008-07-31
Although the board lacks a lot of peripherals, it does have two Digilent-compatible 6-pin peripheral module headers. http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Catalog.cfm?Nav1=Products&Nav2=Peripheral&Cat=Peripheral Xilinx created a bundle of 8 of these for their CR2 kit, but that bundle is also compatible with the Avnet Spartan-3A Eval Kit. http://www.xilinx.com/products/devkits/HW-CRII-PM-ACC-G.htm Bryan
Reply by ●August 1, 20082008-08-01
It seems odd that the oscillator for that board is only 16Mhz...isn't the internal oscillator for the 3A even faster than that?
Reply by ●August 2, 20082008-08-02
On 31 =D7=99=D7=95=D7=9C=D7=99, 06:31, andersod2 <thechrisander...@gmail.co= m> wrote:> Am using the free ISE Webpack, and wanted to know if it's possible > just to use the command line and code/config files...that counts for > things like package assignments and simulator stuff...can it be done > at all, or easily? > > Thanks for your insights...http://bknpk.no-ip.biz/leon_i2c_syn/leon_i2c_syn.html
Reply by ●August 2, 20082008-08-02
andersod2 wrote:> Am using the free ISE Webpack, and wanted to know if it's possible just > to use the command line and code/config files...that counts for things > like package assignments and simulator stuff...can it be done at all, or > easily?Yes. The simplest is to take the .cmd_log file and use it as a script file. Under windows, rename this file to bat, and type that name at a command prompt to build the design. This is simple to set up, but fairly hard to modify. There are several other files that have been set up by ISE to control synthesis. These other files have the XST settings (not simple to modify) and the list of files used (the order the files are listed might be critical). The script might not work on Linux if produced on windows, and vice versa. You could also use a makefile. This is more complex to setup, but has the advantage of running only what is needed, and can be made OS independent. Starting with the script file and XST files generated above, convert the script to a makefile. Install the Cygwin package including gnu make. Then to run your make file at a command prompt type "make". Or you could use Tcl. Tcl is a built in scripting language. To get started, ISE under the project menu has "generate Tcl script". Edit the script as needed, or call it from another Tcl script. Tcl is a language used for scripting by both ISE many other CAD tools, such as Synplicity, ModelSim and PlanAhead. I've talked about this before: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.arch.fpga/msg/a6b1e400dd24d509?hl=en -- Phil Hays
