basic-hdl-template

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This folder contains a template Verilog/VHDL HDL project with a basic build system for using the Xilinx ISE toolchain to target FPGAs.

When using this as a project template, edit this file and then delete this section. See ./contrib/QUICK_START.txt for help setting up a new project. At a minimum you will need to copy ./contrib/Makefile.example to ./Makefile.

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== About =====================================================================

<<<>>>

See COPYING for copyright and licensing information.

This folder contains Verilog/VHDL source code and a build system based on the no-cost Xilinx ISE WebPack toolchain for simulating and synthesizing targeting FPGAs.

== Repository Contents =======================================================

hdl/ Synthesizable Verilog and VHDL source code

tb/ Testbench simulation source code, unit tests, related data and scripts

docs/ Documentation might live here

contrib/ Project-independent build scripts are set here

bitfiles/ A handful of old "known-good" bitfiles might get archived here.

Makefile Project-specific build variables are set here

== Synthesis =================================================================

The Xilinx ISE development must be installed and licensed on the local machine. A set of command-line build scripts are usually used to build the project instead of the ISE IDE, but the later could be configured and used as well.

Python and GNU make must be on the $PATH.

Synthesize a bitfile with:

make

To upload the bitfile over JTAG using the Xilinx Impact utility, run the command below. There may be other upload board-specific upload mechanisms; look elsewhere in this file or for a README in ./contrib/.

The toplevel ucf (constraints mapping netlist objects from the verilog compilation to hardware resources, and place and routing and timing constraints) will either be a .ucf file in this top directory, or, if a board template was used, might live in ./contrib//.ucf.

The toplevel verilog module, which probably does nothing (just sets some pins to zero) lives in:

./hdl/main_<board>.v

To load a synthesized bitfile,

== Simulation ================================================================

To simulate the testbench in ./tb/_tb with the isim GUI:

make isim/<testbench>_tb

A "tb/_tb.wcfg" may be missing for new testbenches, which isim will complain about. After you set up your waveform configuration in isim for the first time, be sure to save and rename the configuration appropriately.

After editing any HDL files (either the testbench itself or files in ./hdl/), instead of restarting isim you can simply run the following command and then hit the "Re-launch" button in the isim GUI:

make resim/<testbench>_tb

Some testbenches may be written in a particular style and can be run as automated tests. To run a particular test, or to run all unit tests:

make test/<testname>_tb
make tests

== Development ===============================================================

This project uses a template HDL build system. You can read more about developing with this system in the HOWTO and README files in the ./contrib/ directory. In particular, there are directions on:

• using Xilinx Coregen to instantiate HDL cores
• creating unittest-style testbenches