11/02/2024 - 17/02/2024

14/02/2024 01:09

PuTTY does work rather simply. Here's the steps I got to open a serial terminal:

  1. Download PuTTY (https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html)
  2. After installation is done, launch PuTTY
  3. Under connection type, click the 'Serial' radio button
  4. We now need to find what serial line the cable is using. Open Device Manager on Windows, expand the 'Ports (COM & LPT)' section. If this section doesn't exist, there is no "connection" through the cable.
  5. If the 'Ports (COM & LPT)' section does exist, check for what COM lines are availible. I saw 'COM3' as my only option.
  6. In PuTTY, type the correct COM line under 'Serial Line' (ex. 'COM3').
  7. Click open. An empty terminal window shoudl appear if all went well.

14/02/2024 01:45

To get past the other error complaining about the microblazer not being found, I found a few forum posts:

https://forum.digilent.com/topic/22903-executables-selected-for-download-on-to-the-following-processors-doesnt-exist-or-incorrectly-specified-do-you-wish-to-ignore-and-proceed-1-microblaze_0/

https://support.xilinx.com/s/question/0D52E00006hpLB0SAM/vitis-warning-executable-selected-for-download-on-the-following-processor-doesnt-exist-1-ps7cortexa90?language=en_US

Both suggested increasing the instruction memory.

I tried following these steps from a comment in the second thread.:

Here's the solution: Increase the bram_if_ctrl memory size for BOTH Data and Instruction

In the Vivado Flow Navigator, select Open Block Design
Select the Address Editor tab
Select the pulldown menu for /microblaze_0_local_memory/dlmb_bram_if_cntlr
Select 512k (or greater)
Do this for BOTH microblaze_0/Data and microblaze_0/Instruction
Save your design
Generate the Block Design (select the Global option if you have inouts in your design)
Generate the Bitstream
Export Hardware (include bitstream)
Select Tools -> Launch VITIS
Create your design in VITIS
Good Luck!

Hope this helps.

However, I had to no luck. I might try even more than 512k (I don't know how high I can go). I also don't generate

14/02/2024 02:01

Okay, I was able to get it to work. I noticed some of the forum pages said there must be a .elf file in your Debug folder. I didn't even have a Debug folder, so I looked up how to generate a .elf file and found this guide:
https://docs.xilinx.com/r/en-US/pg322-v-scenechange-detect/Create-the-ELF-in-the-Vitis-Tools
That basically just told me I need to actually build the project.

Here are the updated steps:

I "mixed and matched" these guides:

To try to program the board with vitis.

First, I followed the numato guide linked above. I additionally changed the "microblaze_0_local_memory" under bother /microblaze_0/Data and /microblaze_0/Instruction to 512K in the address editor before saving my diagram and creating the HDL wrapper (following the steps above).
After generating a bitstream, I am able to program the board in Vitis with the following steps:

  1. In Vivado In the tools dropdown in the top left, Select Launch Vitis IDE
  2. Choose any folder for a workspace, click Launch
  3. Click 'Create Application Project'
  4. Hit Next
  5. In the top bar, click Create a new platform from hardware (XSA), click browse and select the .xsa file we made earlier (mine is in C:\Users\custo\nereid_microblazer\nereid_design_wrapper.xsa). click 'Next'.
  6. For application Project name, type "hello_world", click 'Next' twice.
  7. Select "Hello World" from the emebdded software developtment templates. Click 'Finish'
  8. Power on the board with 12V power supply. Have only the 12pin JTAG connected otherwise (not the microUSB). From the XIlinx dropdown in the top left sleect program device.
  9. Select the bitstream generated earlier. Mine is at C:\Users\custo\nereid_microblazer\nereid_microblazer.runs\impl_1\nereid_design_wrapper.bit. Do similar for hte bmm/mmi file, mine is at C:\Users\custo\nereid_microblazer\nereid_microblazer.runs\impl_1\nereid_design_wrapper.mmi. Leave everything else default. Click 'Program' (note: I had to autoconnect in the hardware manager in Vivado beforehand or else it complains it can't find the board)
  10. Now plug in the micro usb. Open PuTTY and create a serial window using the correct COM port (see steps above)
  11. Right click "hello_world_system" in the explorer tab on the left. Click 'Build Project'
  12. Check that there a Debug Folder now and that you see a hello_world.elf.
  13. Right click "hello_world_system" again, click "Run As"/"Launch Hardware". After some time, you should see the hello world output in the PuTTY serial window.