[Lattice Diamond] Which available simulator? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: greenstrike
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2023, 06:23:54 pm
content: Hi to all!I am using Lattice Diamond to write and program MachXo2 and I downloaded IceCube2 as simulator.Now I doscovered MachXo2 isn't supported by IceCube2 and I suppose available simulators for Diamond aren't for free.I don't remember which one I tried to download (using university account) but my mail isn't recognized as "university" account.Are there available simulators I can use with Diamond (or stand-alone) you suggest?Thanks.

author: AK6DN
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2023, 06:50:31 pm
content: How about icarus verilog ...https://github.com/steveicarus/iverilogPretty well known free verilog simulator. I use it for all my Altera/Intel Quartus simulation work.You did not say what language you are using to design with ... verilog, vhdl, or ?

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2023, 07:11:59 pm
content: Quote from: greenstrike on April 14, 2023, 06:23:54 pmWhy would you do that.Quote from: greenstrike on April 14, 2023, 06:23:54 pmYou didn't need to go through all that pain to "discover" that.Quote from: greenstrike on April 14, 2023, 06:23:54 pmWhy would you suppose that?Diamond comes with ModelSim (it used to come with ActiveHDL, but they switched to ModelSim in later versions of Diamond.)It's free to use for any device that Diamond itself supports for free, and the MachXO2 certainly is.

author: greenstrike
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2023, 04:24:43 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on April 14, 2023, 07:11:59 pmBecause searching on the net for simulator for MachXo I've found IceCube as suggested simulator tool but I discovered too late my FPGA isn't supported.Quote from: SiliconWizard on April 14, 2023, 07:11:59 pmBecause on Friday afternoon my brain usually melts down, I couldn't find ModelSim installed on my PC and searching for MachXo simulators I found only licensed simulators...Now I finally found ModelSim 2020 after re-installing.Thanks,

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2023, 08:37:24 pm
content: No problem. ModelSim is pretty much industry-standard, so learning how to use it will be reusable outside of the Lattice world.On a side note, Lattice Diamond is looking like it's going to end up as Xilinx ISE. They haven't updated it in over 2 years (IIRC) and all new chips are supported in Lattice Radiant, which seems to be the focus of their efforts now.So it's likely that for those sticking to the ECP5 and MachXO/2/3 series, the situation is going to be the same as with Xilinx for the 6-series. You'll be stuck with software that is probably not going to be maintained anymore, just like Xilinx ISE.That's a bit of speculation though and Lattice may prove me wrong, but I'd say it looks rather likely.

author: Forty-Bot
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2023, 06:03:53 am
content: The only downside is that the version of modelsim shipped doesn't support FLI/VPI/VHPI.

author: gnuarm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 15, 2023, 05:20:14 pm
content: Quote from: greenstrike on May 30, 2023, 04:24:43 pmSimulation does not require knowledge of the device. Simulation is at the code level, not the compiled bit stream. I would simulate Gowin designs using the Lattice software before they had their own simulator.