Getting F4PGA¶

This section describes how to install F4PGA and set up a fully working environment to later build example designs.

Prerequisites¶

To be able to follow through this tutorial, install the following software:

apt update -y
apt install -y git wget xz-utils

apt update -y
apt install -y git wget xz-utils

yum update -y
yum install -y git wget which xz

dnf install -y findutils git wget which xz

Next, clone the F4PGA examples repository and enter it:

git clone https://github.com/chipsalliance/f4pga-examples
cd f4pga-examples

Toolchain installation¶

Now we are able to install the F4PGA toolchain. This procedure is divided into three steps:

installing the Conda package manager,
choosing an installation directory,
downloading the architecture definitions and installing the toolchain.

Conda¶

Download Conda installer script into the f4pga-examples directory:

wget https://repo.continuum.io/miniconda/Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh -O conda_installer.sh

Choose the install directory¶

The install directory can either be in your home directory such as ~/opt/f4pga or in a system directory such as /opt/f4pga. If you choose a system directory, you will need root permission to perform the installation, and so you will need to add some sudo commands to the instructions below.

export F4PGA_INSTALL_DIR=~/opt/f4pga

Setup and download assets¶

Select your target FPGA family:

export FPGA_FAM=xc7

export FPGA_FAM=eos-s3

Next, setup Conda and your system’s environment, and download architecture definitions:

Note

The *-install-* package is required regardless of the target device, but you can avoid installing the *-xc7*_test-* or ql-* packages for architectures that you don’t need.

bash conda_installer.sh -u -b -p $F4PGA_INSTALL_DIR/$FPGA_FAM/conda;
source "$F4PGA_INSTALL_DIR/$FPGA_FAM/conda/etc/profile.d/conda.sh";
conda env create -f $FPGA_FAM/environment.yml

export F4PGA_PACKAGES='install-xc7 xc7a50t_test xc7a100t_test xc7a200t_test xc7z010_test'

export F4PGA_PACKAGES='install-ql ql-eos-s3_wlcsp'

mkdir -p $F4PGA_INSTALL_DIR/$FPGA_FAM

F4PGA_TIMESTAMP='20220920-124259'
F4PGA_HASH='007d1c1'

for PKG in $F4PGA_PACKAGES; do
  wget -qO- https://storage.googleapis.com/symbiflow-arch-defs/artifacts/prod/foss-fpga-tools/symbiflow-arch-defs/continuous/install/${F4PGA_TIMESTAMP}/symbiflow-arch-defs-${PKG}-${F4PGA_HASH}.tar.xz | tar -xJC $F4PGA_INSTALL_DIR/${FPGA_FAM}
done

If the above commands exited without errors, you have successfully installed and configured your working environment.

Important

With the toolchain installed, you are ready to build the example designs! Examples are provided in separated directories:

Subdir xc7 for the Artix-7 devices
Subdir eos-s3 for the EOS S3 devices

Hint

Sometimes it may be preferable to get the latest versions of the tools before the pinned versions in this repository are updated. Latest versions are not guaranteered to be bug free, but they enable users to take advantage of fixes. See Bumping/overriding specific tools.