xilinx.md

Installing Xilinx

• Make sure you have at ~60GB free on your computer.
• Create an account on xilinx.com
• You have two choices on the install, you can either run the web installer which downloads the files from Xilinx (takes between 1-2 hours), or USB sticks with the local installer will be passed around in class.

Web Installer

cd /path/to/installer # Replace this with wherever you downloaded the installer to.
chmod +x Xilinx_Unified_2021.1_0610_2318_Lin64.bin # This takes the downloaded file and makes it executable. Only do this with files you trust!
./Xilinx_Unified_2021.1_0610_2318_Lin64.bin # Runs the installer. Prefix with sudo if you want to install into /opt or other protected area.

Local Installer

And for the local installer:

cd /path/to/local/installer
cd Vivado_2021.1
./xsetup # Prefix with sudo if you want to install it into /opt or other protected area. 

Custom copy+paste from drive install

Use this if you get the "not enough space" error.

Xilinx needs its install location to have no spaces!!!

Plug in the external drive, navigate to the xilinx folder, get a terminal open.

cd /path/to/hard/drive/xilinx
rsync -av ./{Vivado,xic}  /path/to/destination --exclude '*zynq*'
cd /path/to/destination/Vivado/2021.1/
nano settings64.sh # replace all paths with path to destination, delete any lines with HLS
nano .settings64-Vivado.sh # ditto
# check that it works
cd bin
./vivado
# after a wait the gui should pop up!

Install Settings

The local install looks different since most of the options are already hard coded.

Hit Next.

Enter your username and password for xilinx.com. Hit Next.

Select Vivado. Hit Next.

Select Vivado ML Standard. Hit Next.

Make sure the settings match, then hit Next. TODO(alternate image for lower disk usage, deselet SoC, vitis model composer, and docnav)

Agree to the licenses. Hit Next.

Pick where you want this installed. Remember this directory for later!

Hit Next, then wait ~30 min (local install) to 1-2 hours (web install).

Once done, you might get this warning:

You can dismiss it, we don't require the update for these labs.

Bash Settings

Edit your ~/.bashrc file and add the following function to the end, make sure to change XILINX_INSTALL_PATH to what you picked earlier.

# Make a variable with the install path.
export XILINX_INSTALL_PATH="/path/to/xilinx/install/"
export XILINX_VERSION="2021.1"
export VIVADO_PATH=${XILINX_INSTALL_PATH}/Vivado/${XILINX_VERSION}
function setup_xilinx(){
    # Calls the Xilinx setup scripts so that you can run the tools.
    source ${VIVADO_PATH}/settings64.sh
}

If you have any open terminals you can run source ~/.bashrc to have this change take effect (any new terminals you open will be all set).

Having this setup as a function is useful because Xilinx's tools have a notorious habit of interfering with important shell parameters, especially when you are running competing/other embedded tools. Now you just need to run setup_xilinx from your command prompt before running any Xilinx commands, and you should be all set!

Cable Drivers

setup_xilinx # Remember to `source ~/.bashrc` or open a new terminal before running this.
cd ${VIVADO_PATH}/data/xicom/cable_drivers/lin64/install_script/install_drivers
sudo ./install_drivers

Make sure you see the message INFO: Driver installation successful. after running the above.

Install Check

setup_xilinx
vivado & # The `&` tells the terminal to not block after the command. Useful for running gui programs from the command line.

The Vivado launch panel should show up if you configured everything correctly!

If you get an error about libtinfo.so.5, run:

sudo ln -s /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libtinfo.so.6 /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libtinfo.so.5

Setting an external text editor

• Launch vivado
• Tools -> Settings -> Text Editor
• Either pick something from the drop down, or pick custom editor and enter the command to edit. For example, I use vscode, so my Editor is set to code -g [file name]:[line number].

Instructor Documentation

Pending Features

• TODO@(avinash): UG973 has instructions for installing linux cable drivers. See if these are required or if we can get away with just the Digilent Adept tools.
• Mark this section as optional if symbiflow is good enough.

Creating "local install" images

• Run the web installer as above, then: