Installing the Spartan 3A evaluation kit mini-port

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This is a tutorial about how to install Milkymist on the Spartan 3A evaluation kit.

You can find information about this board here. You can still buy it, it's pretty cheap ($49).

The avnet-sp3aevl port of Milkymist is now maintained by Yann Sionneau (aka Fallenou on Freenode #milkymist).

You can contact him if you have any question about this port or how to install it at File:yann-addr.png

The git repository is available here : http://github.com/fallen/milkymist-avnet


Contents

[edit] Checkout the git repository

  • Be sure to have the git tool installed in your computer
  • Git can be installed this way under debian (and ubuntu) : 
 # apt-get update && apt-get install git-core
  • clone the git repository of the avnet-sp3aevl port of Milkymist : 
 $ git clone git://github.com/fallen/milkymist-avnet.git


[edit] Install the LatticeMico32 GCC toolchain

You can :

  • or install pre-compiled binary from Milkymist repository, which is faster and simpler, but is only available as debian (.deb) packages

To install the pre-compiled binary you can :

  • Add this line to your /etc/apt/sources.list : 
 deb http://www.milkymist.org/debian/ ./
  • Type these commands as super-user to install : 
 # apt-get update
 # apt-get install gcc-lm32
  • You can also install gtkterm which is a serial console terminal software, useful to interact with Milkymist on the Spartan 3A evaluation kit board : 
 # apt-get install gtkterm


[edit] Install Xilinx Synthesis Tools (XST)

  • Click on the "Download ISE WebPACK software for Windows and Linux" link
  • Register yourself and signin
  • Download the "SW, ISE WebPACK 11.1 Single File Download Image" or newer (~ 2,67 GB)
  • Get a license (Xilinx e-mails it to you)
  • Install ISE WebPACK in your computer


[edit] Install ASTriAEKiPro

  • This software is used to send the bitstream (FPGA design file) to the FPGA, and to send the bios into the parallel flash memory chip which is on-board.
  • At the moment the latest version is 1.2.1
  • Download the debian package and install it like this : 
 # dpkg -i astriaekipro_1.2.1-2_i386.deb


[edit] Get the BPI server bitstream

  • Click on the "Support Files & Downloads" link at the bottom of the page
  • Register yourself and signin
  • Download the "Avnet Programming Utility 3.41i"
  • At this point you have several choices :
    • Install it on a Microsoft Windows and get the file bpi_server_v036.bit from the Program Files\Avnet\AvProg directory
    • Install it on Linux using WINE and get the file bpi_server_v036.bit from the ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Avnet/AvProg directory
    • Install the unshield tool to extract the desired data from the data1.cab : 
 # apt-get install unshield
 $ unzip AvProg_v341i_setup.zip 
 $ unshield -g "App Executables" x data1.cab
  • Now you have the bpi_server_v036.bit file, you can delete the other unneeded files


[edit] Build Milkymist

  • Go to your Milkymist source code top directory
  • Tell your system about the Xilinx Synthesis Tools (XST) : 
 $ source path/to/your/Xilinx/ISEWebPACK/Installation/Xilinx/11.1/settings32.sh
  • Build Milkymist's FPGA design bitstream (system.bit) : 
 $ ./build_bitstream.sh
  • Build Milkymist's bios : 
 $ ./build_bios.sh


[edit] Load Milkymist's design into FPGA

  • Go to the build dir (which contains the system.bit) : 
 $ cd boards/avnet-sp3aevl/synthesis/build
    • You may want to just load the design into the FPGA via Slave Serial (if you power cycle the board, Milkymist will be wiped out from the board) : 
 ~/milkymist-avnet/boards/avnet-sp3aevl/synthesis/build$ astriaekipro -s -p /dev/ttyACM0 -b system.bit
    • Or load the design into the SPI Flash (the design will stay even if you power cycle the board) : 
 ~/milkymist-avnet/boards/avnet-sp3aevl/synthesis/build$ astriaekipro -w -p /dev/ttyACM0 -b system.bit


[edit] Load Milkymist's bios into parallel flash memory chip

  • Load the BSP server into the FPGA via Slave Serial : 
 ~$ astriaekipro -s -p /dev/ttyACM0 -b bpi_server_v036.bit
  • Go to the bios directory : 
 ~$ cd ~/milkymist-avnet/software/bios
  • Erase the parallel flash memory chip on-board : 
 ~/milkymist-avnet/software/bios$ astriaekipro -p /dev/ttyACM0 -E
  • Load the bios into the parallel flash memory chip on-board : 
 ~/milkymist-avnet/software/bios$ astriaekipro -b bios.bin -W --bpi-mode=direct -p /dev/ttyACM0


[edit] Power cycle the board

  • Just power cycle the board and you are good to go !
  • You can now access Milkymist's bios launching gtkterm, just configure the port to be /dev/ttyACM0 and speed 115200 8,N,1
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