LX9 Avnet MicroBoard, do I need a license to use Microblaze? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: legacy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2016, 06:36:33 pm
content: I'd like to experiment with the "Microblaze" soft processor on Avnet spartan6 LX9 MicroBoard, as far as understand it appears that one requires a "node locked license" for the Xilinx SDK which normally comes with the kit. I think a "Chipscope" license is also supplied by Avnet with the kit. The latter (Chipscope) I am not interested in, however I was hoping to program the soft processor.Found a few of these boards for chip in ebay, I also have an old Avnet Spartan 3 based kit, I think the kit originally came with a piece of paper with a printed license code related to the serial no. of the Spartan 6 on the board. The older Avnet Spartan 3 kit I have used this method for the WebPack ISE license.Not sure if I would be able to use the soft processor part without the license code.Any ideas?Thanks

author: hamster_nz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2016, 09:17:21 pm
content: You will still need a no-cost ISE Webpack license.All the info you should need about Microblaze is here:http://www.xilinx.com/products/design-tools/mb-mcs.html

author: whollender
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2016, 10:24:18 pm
content: To expand a bit on the first reply, since I've gone through this recently:With just a webpack license, you can add the Microblaze MCS (MicroController System) IP block to your system. The Microblaze MCS IP block only provides a very basic set of functionality that includes the Microblaze core, serial I/O, some counters, a simple IO bus, and not much else. If you want I2C, SPI, etc, you need to write it yourself. This is the link from hamster_nz.The biggest thing you get with the Avnet s6 lx9 microboard is (since about a year ago) a node-locked and device locked license to the EDK (Embedded Dev Kit). This allows you to create a custom microblaze system that includes Xilinx SPI, I2C, etc IP.http://community.em.avnet.com/t5/Spartan-6-LX9-MicroBoard/EDK-included-XPS-now-available-for-LX9-MicroBoard-Users/td-p/10275Avnet also has a bunch of really good guides for getting up and running with their board and Microblaze systems that I would recommend. The only problem is that they recently changed their website and it's really difficult to find the document you want anymore.I'd also be a bit wary of getting one of the boards from ebay, as the seller will likely have used the license voucher already.

author: legacy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2016, 10:39:53 pm
content: Quote from: whollender on May 17, 2016, 10:24:18 pmwell, I don't know if I need EDK, in this case I won't buy from ebaythe seller has no license, but it offers the hardware with an interesting discountI have to consider the EDK question: do I need it? don't I? mumble

author: 6thimage
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2016, 12:14:42 pm
content: Without the EDK you can use the microblaze as it comes - as whollender said, it is very basic. It does have an I/O bus, so you can connect it to your own peripherals, but you would have to write all the bus converters if you wanted to use any of Xilinx's free IP. All the options are in the attached images (mcs0-6)With the EDK you get a system that has a slightly steeper learning curve, but it adds a lot of flexibility. xps0 shows the default project for Xilinx's SP605 development board - the tree view on the left is fairly long list of peripherals that you can add (such as SPI, I2C, UART, ethernet, DMA). xps1 is the wizard interface for the EDK's microblaze, where you can go with a default configuration and xps2 is one of the screens of the advanced configuration.So the question is, what do you want to do with the microblaze? If it is something really simple - such as controlling simple logic on the FPGA or toggling outputs - then the non-EDK option will likely be okay, if you want to do more, or think that you might want to, then you'll want access to the EDK.If you are willing to go without a nice gui and just want to see what a soft-core processor can do, I'd suggest either the PicoRV32 (https://github.com/cliffordwolf/picorv32) - it's a RISC-V processor that is really quite small, however the performance isn't fantastic and you'll probably end up searching for IP core's to use with it - or trying to get hold of the ARM cortex m0 design start processor (http://www.arm.com/products/designstart/index.php- ignore the $40k part and skip down to the processor IP registration) - it can be programmed like any other cortex m microcontroller and comes with quite a few peripherals (timers, UART, GPIO). The advantage of both of these is that you can use any FPGA for them, so you could use your spartan 3 board.On the other end of the spectrum, there is the LEON3 processor (http://www.gaisler.com/index.php/products/processors/leon3) - it's a SPARC-V8 processor and it is quite ridiculous in what it can do (also have a look at Gaisler's IP cores, a lot of them are GPL), but you really need to have one of the supported boards, because it is not easy to move it to a new board.

author: legacy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 19, 2016, 09:35:18 am
content: thank you for your answers, they explain detailedthanks guys