[yocto] any success with spartan6-lx9mb?

[Elvis Dowson]

Hi Trevor,

On Sep 13, 2012, at 10:17 PM, Trevor Woerner wrote:
> 
> ~$300 for the SP601 is certainly not too onerous. If I start to see
> more success with yocto I will definitely consider it.
> 
> Other options include:
> - qemu (maybe getting yocto to run/build a microblaze qemu image would be nice)
> - the spartan-6 version of the papilio board (which is either going to
> be a papilio plus or the papilio pro)
> 
> I do have one question though: if I had the SP601, would I be able to
> download (for free) an synthesize (using the freely available ISE
> tools) a microblaze and/or a PPC soft core? Or would I need to pay for
> those components (and if so, how much)?

There are two parts of the design suite, ISE (for VHDL and Verilog) 
development, and XPS (EDK) for re-using the Xilinx IP cores in
a project. To edit microblaze projects, you would need an EDK
license. The standard webpack only includes a license for the ISE
component, and is usually device locked to a particular set of 
devices, usually the low-end FPGAs.

The SP601 comes only with the WebPack software, so hmm no, not
suitable for what you want to do.

What you really need is the ISE Embedded Edition or System Edition,
in order to be able to configure your IP cores using the Xilinx
Base System Builder, so that you can design your peripherals
around a MicroBlaze (Virtex, Spartan) or ARM (Zynq) processor core.

There are no soft PowerPC IP cores, only hard PowerPC IP cores on
specific Virtex 4 (PPC405) / 5 (PPC440) FPGA variants, with the FXT designation. 

Xilinx stopped using PowerPC hard cores with the Virtex 5 series.

So, series-6 and series-7 FPGAs don't have PowerPC any more, and the only
option was to use a soft core processor like the microblaze. In the specific 
case of the Zynq series, they have a dual ARM Cortex-A9 hard core processor.

I find that the Spartan-6 Embedded Kit (SP605 + ISE Design Suite Embedded
Edition) gives you want you want, and the price listed on the website is USD$695.

http://www.xilinx.com/products/boards-and-kits/DK-S6-EMBD-G.htm

The other option is the Zynq-EPP 7020 platform which includes the base board
with the ARM processor, and ISE Design Suite System Edition for USD$895.

Best regards,

Elvis Dowson