[yocto] any success with spartan6-lx9mb?

[Trevor Woerner]

Hi Elvis,

Thanks so much for taking a look at my email! I've read through lots
of this mailing list's history and noticed all your meta-xilinx work
in the past and was hoping I could pique your interest :-)

On Thu, Sep 6, 2012 at 11:19 AM, Elvis Dowson <elvis.dowson at gmail.com> wrote:
> Can you please list which version of the Xilinx ISE tools you are using? e.g. 12.4, 14.1, 14.2 ?

I have 14.2 installed on my Linux machine at home.

> Could you also please list the Xilinx development board that you are using? e.g. SP601 (Spartan6) ?

I have been (slowly) teaching myself VHDL and working with a Papilio
board from Gadget Factory. Are you familiar with them? They have a
Spartan 3E on them.

    http://papilio.cc/

> Let me know what you ISE development tool configuration and development
> board is, and I'll see if I can divert a bit from target platform, and try to
> explore getting the toolchain to build for the Microblaze processor.

It is my understanding that Microblaze won't fit or work with the
Spartan 3E (?). However, the guy who makes the Papilio board, Jack
Gassett, is currently working on his latest board called the "Papilio
Plus". The Plus is not yet out, although prototypes are available:

    http://forum.gadgetfactory.net/index.php?/topic/1280-papilio-plus-prototypes-available-for-8499-in-the-store/

The Plus will feature a Spartan 6 LX9, which, I believe, can support
the Microblaze.

In a comment on the All Programmable Planet blog about a month ago,
Jack bemoans how easy it used to be to get Linux up and running on a
Spartan 3E devel board using what has now become PetaLinux. The
problem is that PetaLinux is now a commercial product and not readily
available to the DIY market:

    http://www.programmableplanet.com/messages.asp?piddl_msgthreadid=252509&piddl_msgid=717514#msg_717514

When I noticed the meta-xilinx layer had support for the Spartan 6 LX9
I was really hoping to surprise Jack by testing it out and providing
instructions for creating a filesystem he could use as part of his
work on the Plus. Unfortunately my attempts fell flat. I even tried
using denzil-7.0.1 but encountered the same problems.

Seeing how soft processors within programmable logic seems to be
gaining in popularity, I thought it would be a great niche to get
into. If the Yocto Project could be used to create images for the
Microblaze or even the Picoblaze processors I think it would help fill
a void which is quickly expanding. Also, if support could be added to
meta-xilinx to support Jack's Papilio boards it would help introduce
the DIY community to the Yocto Project.

> I've got the following boards with me:
> - Xilinx ML507 (Virtex 5 FX70T with PowerPC 440)
> - Xilinx SP601 (Spartan 6)
> - Xilinx Zynq (ARM Cortex A-9)

Once I get more into the VHDL I'll probably end up getting a Zynq
myself too; talk about combining the best of both worlds :-)

Best regards,
    Trevor