FPGA board

Gedare Bloom gedare at rtems.org
Wed Apr 3 14:49:03 UTC 2013


Yes, when working add the bsp to
http://wiki.rtems.org/wiki/index.php/BoardSupportPackageInformation
and submit any patches to rtems-devel mailing list.

-Gedare

On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 10:41 AM, Mathew Benson <mathew.benson at gmail.com> wrote:
> I saw that.  I can't wait to start looking at it.  If I get everything
> working, can I post directions to a wiki?
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 9:26 AM, Gedare Bloom <gedare at rtems.org> wrote:
>>
>> Joel has a public branch with some initial work on microblaze. I'm not
>> sure about its status or when it might get merged, but that would be
>> the place to start I suppose.
>>
>> http://git.rtems.org/joel/rtems.git/log/?h=microblaze
>>
>> -Gedare
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 8:34 AM, Mathew Benson <mathew.benson at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > I have been evaluating inexpensive FPGA based boards to eventually port
>> > RTEMS.  I have the XuLA2 (http://www.xess.com/prods/prod055.php), and
>> > started with the OpenRISC.  XuLA2 has a Spartan 6 LX25 and 32 MB of
>> > SDRAM
>> > and costs $119.  I got the OpenRISC core loaded but switched to
>> > Microblaze
>> > before I tried running code on it.  With the minimum options, OpenRISC
>> > takes
>> > up about 90% of the area and looks like a jumbled mess.  Microblaze
>> > takes up
>> > 25% and looks clean.  I can't get the OpenRISC to pass timing tests over
>> > 50
>> > MHz.  Microblaze goes up to 100 MHz.  But, the Xilinx tools don't
>> > support
>> > the XuLA2 SDRAM.  I will have to eventually find or write my own SDRAM
>> > controller.  The Xilinx software development tools don't support the
>> > XuLA2
>> > loader, so I purchased a Xilinx JTAG.  Now I'm having problems getting
>> > the
>> > XuLA2 to work with JTAG, but I finally got an email from the
>> > manufacturer.
>> >
>> > I just purchased a beta Pipistrello board
>> > (http://pipistrello.saanlima.com/index.php?title=Welcome_to_Pipistrello)
>> > which should arrive Friday.  They will be available in multiple sizes
>> > with
>> > the largest being the Spartan 6 LX45 for $149.  It has 64 MB of DDR
>> > SDRAM,
>> > which is supported by the Xilinx tools.  It also has a USB loader,
>> > though
>> > the beta board does not.  It has more pins but is a larger board than
>> > the
>> > XuLA2.  He expects to make production boards available in the next
>> > couple
>> > weeks.  What I really find interesting is that he already has Linux
>> > running
>> > on a Microblaze core on it and has posted files and instructions on his
>> > website.  He even has Arduino ported with the Arduino SDK and IDE ported
>> > and
>> > available on his site.  The LX45 is almost twice the size of the LX25,
>> > and I
>> > believe the Pipistrello uses the faster -3 grade FPGA.  I've read people
>> > have even fit software based radios into the LX45.  Lastly, I've been
>> > getting better support on Pipistrello.
>> >
>> > I like the XuLA2 because of the smaller physical size, low cost, and the
>> > fact it's breadboardable, but the Pipistrello is better in every other
>> > aspect.  Once I get the Pipistrello, I want to start porting RTEMS to
>> > the
>> > Microblaze.
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > rtems-users mailing list
>> > rtems-users at rtems.org
>> > http://www.rtems.org/mailman/listinfo/rtems-users
>> >
>
>



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