What the Xilinx tools really are

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Most Xilinx tools aren't really Xilinx, they are rebranded and modified NeoCAD tools. NeoCAD was bought out by Xilinx in the 90s: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EKF/is_n2059_v41/ai_16836512/

NeoCAD actually started by reverse engineering bitstream formats and developing an independent toolchain (see http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~sd410/papers/fpga_security.pdf)

Example output from NeoCAD tools (not so different from today's tools!): http://www.slac.stanford.edu/BFROOT/www/Detector/Trigger/ift/Interface/FC/FC_LBL/fc_code/orca/neocad.dir.v.1.1/5_1.par

Interestingly enough, Lattice tools are also based on NeoCAD tools.

[edit] File format extensions

  • NGD = Neocad Generic Database
  • NCD = Neocad Circuit Description
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