IDE for VHDL - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: NivagSwerdna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2019, 12:26:42 pm
content: It's been a while since I have done any VHDL and I am re-visiting it now so I need...an IDE (preferably one that understands syntax and maybe can help me out with templates)something that will compile VHDLsomething that will simulate my small VHDLI don't need to synthesize anything so I don't need to be vendor specific but maybe a lite version of a vendor tool would be bestSuggestions? My default would be to reinstall an old Quartus II I have somewhere

author: EEEnthusiast
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2019, 01:07:54 pm
content: I too recommend to use Quartus Lite. It can do everything you said and can program CPLD/FPGA for you. And it is free to use as well for most of the FPGA devices out there.

author: fourtytwo42
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2019, 01:28:07 pm
content: You could use Modelsim on it's own also.The only problems with all these things are they are insanely sensitive to platform eg XP/WIN/LINUX/32/64I am presently running Quartus/Msim V12.0 on XP/32 having failed to get anything to run on Linux/64!For those of us forced to run older versions there are also built in traps such as file format incompatibilities, so beware!

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2019, 01:52:25 pm
content: Choose the device/family you are going to useUse the manufacturer's toolsetUse VHDL or Verilog or another option supported by the toolsetUse linux if there's an optionYouwilluse the manufacturer's toolset, unless you limit yourself to that ICE thingy.

author: NivagSwerdna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2019, 02:49:10 pm
content: Quote from: tggzzz on December 13, 2019, 01:52:25 pmThis is not targeted at SPECIFIC hardware... it's an online MOOC I signed up to

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2019, 03:47:33 pm
content: Notepad++ is an excellent syntax aware editor for VHDL but I only use it when I'm working with something like ModelSim and ICEcube2 for a ICEstick.I just finished a lengthy tutorial where the toolchain was: Microsoft Visual Code -> ModelSim -> ICEcube2 -> Lattice Diamond Programmer. What a horrific PITA. Xilinx Vivado is a far better toolchain but it seemed important to follow the yellow brick road for the tutorials.Microsoft Visual Code is a nice editor and there is a VHDL plug-in that will lay down snippets of code to start VHDL files, processes, procedures and functions. It lays down just the essential bits. Very nice! What Code won't do is print - anything.The student edition of ModelSim is quite good - for a simulator. It compiles FAST and runs pretty well. It doesn't matter which editor you use ahead of it and t's free! So is ICEcube2 and the Lattice Diamond Programmer - but, again, these two aredevicemanufacturer specific and oriented toward synthesis.When it comes time to synthesize, a vendor toolchain is just about the only way to work. In my view, you should start there in the first place. I tried some of the ModelSim oriented VHDL simulation files on Vivado and they worked fine. Vivado isn't quite as fast as ModelSim but it includes the editor.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2019, 04:34:11 pm
content: Quote from: NivagSwerdna on December 13, 2019, 02:49:10 pmI would be interested to hear how the deal with vitally important practical topic such as:constraining the design, especially with multiple clock domains and i/o timingusing pre-designed blocks that map onto device's hardware, e.g. a clocks/PLLs/DLLs, buffers, SERDES etcUnsurprisingly those tend to be manufacturer and/or family and/or device specific.Throwing together a bit of HDL that passes a test bench's unit tests is relatively trivial. Doing it in a way that enables reliable implementation is much more involved.

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2019, 05:12:00 pm
content: If the goal is simulation,only, then ModelSim is as good as any other simulator.But, as noted above, once you start talking synthesis, only vendor specific tools will provide an opportunity to utilize vendor specific features.But, given that Vivado will simulate as well as anything else, why not use it? In fact, just running synthesis and viewing the schematic is a worthwhile exercise. It's interesting how many levels of logic get created.

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2019, 05:22:30 pm
content: Then there is the matter of spending time on a dead-end approach.Yes, ModelSim works well and the stand-alone student version is free. But, it won't lead to synthesis and any time spent learning how to use the tool is wasted. Starting with something like Vivado, as gigantic as the installation is, at least leads to a complete project. At some point, synthesis matters and the time spent with the tool is not wasted.Time spent learning to write VHDL testbenches is worthwhile because the testbench should run on any compliant simulator.And then there is Tcl - another topic for another time. Once again, this scripting language will have vendor specific functions.

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2019, 05:41:06 pm
content: Here's an interesting tutorial on the design flow using Vivado. It uses one of two popular Digilent boards (BASYS 3 or Nexys4 DDR) but that's not terribly important if the goal is just simulation.https://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/university/Vivado-Teaching/HDL-Design/2015x/VHDL/docs-pdf/Vivado_Tutorial.pdf

author: ebclr
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2019, 06:26:12 pm
content: Try herehttps://www.edaplayground.com/