Virtex II Pro/405GP

Virtex II Pro/405GP

[James Campbell]

Hello,

Does anyone have any experiance with the new Xilinx Virtex II Pro chip?
It is a million+ gate FPGA device with embedded 405GP cores on the die.

We've recently consolidated our MPC8260 and Virtex II fpgas into this
single chip, and I'm curious about getting linux up on it.

I know the dev kit comes with GNU software, but I was just curious if
anyone had any comments on it (good or otherwise).

Cheers,

James Campbell

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James Campbell          -|-   Embedded Systems Engineer
jcampbell@omnigon.com   -|-     Omnigon International
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         -Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc. 1989


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Re: Virtex II Pro/405GP

[Peter Ryser]

James,

I do have some experience with this chip :-)

As you said the Virtex-II Pro FPGA from Xilinx is a chip consisting of
programmable logic, embedded PPC405 core(s) and integrated multi-gigabit
transceivers. The smallest chip (2VP2) has zero CPUs and four 3.125 Gbit IOs.
The biggest chip (2VP50) has four CPUs and sixteen 3.125 Gbit IOs. The CPU is a
PPC405 core, it is not a 405GP. The user selects the peripherals he wants to
have and synthesizes them into the FPGA fabric. This results in a very flexible
solution that allows for a wide range of system design.

The developer's kit comes - besides HW IP and HW/SW design examples - with GNU
tools. These are cross-development tools for Windows and Solaris and consist of
GCC, binutils, GDB and newlib (with backend to the Parallel-3/Parallel-4 cable
attached to the BDM port/JTAG port for non-intrusive software debugging). The
kit also has simple device drivers and stand-alone/demo applications. The kit
does currently not have any direct support for any OS.

Internally, we tested the latest Linux development kernel and found that it
works just fine on our FPGA (2VP7FF672, one CPU, eight 3.125 Gbit IOs).

Regards,
- Peter


PS: For more information about the
- Virtex-II Pro FPGA:  http://www.xilinx.com/virtex2pro/
- developer's kit:  http://www.xilinx.com/ise/vii_pro/kit.htm


James Campbell wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Does anyone have any experiance with the new Xilinx Virtex II Pro chip?
> It is a million+ gate FPGA device with embedded 405GP cores on the die.
>
> We've recently consolidated our MPC8260 and Virtex II fpgas into this
> single chip, and I'm curious about getting linux up on it.
>
> I know the dev kit comes with GNU software, but I was just curious if
> anyone had any comments on it (good or otherwise).
>
> Cheers,
>
> James Campbell
>
> --
> James Campbell          -|-   Embedded Systems Engineer
> jcampbell@omnigon.com   -|-     Omnigon International
> pgp:  DA57 E174 4769 1B9D D0DF 73E6 D639 D867 A576 A5AE
> work: +1.760.804.8884 x 332       cell: +1.760.803.8476
> --
> "Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man
> affected us as kids, we'd all be running around darkened
> rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive
> electronic music."
>          -Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc. 1989
>


** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/

Re: Virtex II Pro/405GP

[James Campbell]

On Tue, 2002-04-16 at 12:44, Peter Ryser wrote:
> James,
>
> I do have some experience with this chip :-)

Ah, good.  At least I'm not stumbling in the dark here.

> Internally, we tested the latest Linux development kernel and found that it
> works just fine on our FPGA (2VP7FF672, one CPU, eight 3.125 Gbit IOs).

Great.  We are using the 2VP7's as well, with two National DP83865 GigE
phys on the gbit IOs.  We have just recieved our kit with the Xilinx ISE
software to start playing with it, and are hoping to get our boards back
from the manufacturer next week.

I was just curious if you had to use any esoteric patches on the (v2.5
I'm assuming) kernel?  Also, did you have to worry about using a full
featured boot loader like ppcboot?  Any pointers would be helpful.

Cheers,

James Campbell

--
James Campbell          -|-   Embedded Systems Engineer
jcampbell@omnigon.com   -|-     Omnigon International
pgp:  DA57 E174 4769 1B9D D0DF 73E6 D639 D867 A576 A5AE
work: +1.760.804.8884 x 332       cell: +1.760.803.8476
--
I bestride this world like a Colossus.  A very small
Colussus.  Without a torch.  Made of meat.


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Re: Virtex II Pro/405GP

[Peter Ryser]

> I was just curious if you had to use any esoteric patches on the (v2.5
> I'm assuming) kernel?

There are some patches. They are not esoteric and not publicly available at this
time :-(

>  Also, did you have to worry about using a full
> featured boot loader like ppcboot?

No, just use an external debugger to load the kernel into memory or use external
ROM or use the internal BRAM or System ACE (my favorite).
We are working on PPCBoot if you really need a full-blown boot loader.

- Peter


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Re: Virtex II Pro/405GP

[James Campbell]

On Tue, 2002-04-16 at 15:03, Peter Ryser wrote:
>
> > I was just curious if you had to use any esoteric patches on the (v2.5
> > I'm assuming) kernel?
>
> There are some patches. They are not esoteric and not publicly available at this
> time :-(

Ah, we have a very good relationship with our FAE here through
Insight/Xilinx, any chance we would be able to get the patches even if
they were not public (yet)?

> >  Also, did you have to worry about using a full
> > featured boot loader like ppcboot?
>
> No, just use an external debugger to load the kernel into memory or use external
> ROM or use the internal BRAM or System ACE (my favorite).
> We are working on PPCBoot if you really need a full-blown boot loader.
>
> - Peter

Erm, we have alot of experiance porting PPCBoot to the MPC8260, and with
the BDI-2000, so I'll have to see what I can make of it.

Thanks for all the info.

Cheers,

James Campbell

--
James Campbell          -|-   Embedded Systems Engineer
jcampbell@omnigon.com   -|-     Omnigon International
pgp:  DA57 E174 4769 1B9D D0DF 73E6 D639 D867 A576 A5AE
work: +1.760.804.8884 x 332       cell: +1.760.803.8476
--
I bestride this world like a Colossus.  A very small
Colussus.  Without a torch.  Made of meat.


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Re: Virtex II Pro/405GP

[Peter Ryser]

Bob,


> 1) What sort of boot-loader did you use?

So far we did not use a boot-loader. We boot the system in one of the following
ways:
- for development by using an external debugger. In our case this is GDB. We
know that other external debuggers that support the PPC405 work, too (see
below).
- for production
    - we include a minimal boot stub in the FPGA bitstream. This initial boot
stub then boots the rest of the system
    - we load the program into flash
    - we use System ACE. System ACE is a companion chip that reads both
bitstream and program from a CompactFlash or MicroDrive, configures the FPGA,
loads the program into memory and boots the system. System ACE acts then as an
interface to the file system on the CompactFlash/MicroDrive.
    - we are working on PPCBoot


> 2) Will the GDB debugger work with the Multilinx cable or 3rd party
> emulators like the Abatron BDI-2000.

GDB currently works with the Parallel-3 and Parallel-4 cable. Multilinx is not
supported and will never be (performance). Additional external debuggers may be
added as backends for GDB.

3rd party debuggers that we know to be working are (not an exclusive list)
- VisionProbe-II from Wind River
- VisionICE from Wind River
- Abatron BDI-2000



> 3) Is Xilinx going to make the work of porting Linux to the platform
> available to the general community?

Yes.

>  Maybe you could put the source on
> your web site or sell a Linux version of the developer's kit.

Watch out for announcements.

> 4) Will Xilinx be making a reference platform or evaluation board
> available?

Yes, this work is in progress but is not yet publicly announced. You can expect
an evaluation board to be available in Q3.

> As you can see I am eager to get as much info as possible on this.  I
> have a project that I am currently working on that this would be perfect
> for.  Any info you can point me to would be helpfull.

We are willing to give as much info as we can. But, since some of this has not
been announced yet I cannot go into all the details. Please also consider
getting into contact with your closest Xilinx representative or FAE to get more
information and to tell them about your projects.

- Peter


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RE: Virtex II Pro/405GP

[James Campbell]

Hello,

The file you are looking for is "dp83865avh.pdf", which I can send to
you directly if you wish.

We chose the 83865 over the 83861 because they removed about sixty
superfluous pins, and really cleaned the interface up as well.  It turns
out that the 83861 had some serious problems at 10mbit as well, which
they have now decided to respin all the silicon in that series.

We went to the "Programmable World 2002" telecast here yesterday, and
those new Virtex II Pro chips look hot.  I guess MonteVista is doing
some sort of board support package for the 405 cores inside the fpgas,
but they did not go into any detail about what will be provided in the
ISE dev kits for linux, and what you will have to buy from MonteVista.


Cheers,

James Campbell

On Wed, 2002-04-17 at 22:50, Peter.Davey@csiro.au wrote:
> James,
> 	We currently have a board with an XC2V3000, MPC8260 and a serial
> backplane using S2064.  We are intending to move to the Virtex Pro to use
> the built in serial.  Your use of the DP83865 sounds interesting.  I
> couldn't find the data on National's website.  Do you have the chips yet?
> Also if you have the datasheet I would be grateful if you could email me a
> copy.
>
> Regards,
>
> Peter Davey
> CSIRO CMST
> Preston VIC
>
> Phone  +613 9662 7824
> Fax    +613 9662 7853

--
James Campbell          -|-   Embedded Systems Engineer
jcampbell@omnigon.com   -|-     Omnigon International
pgp:  DA57 E174 4769 1B9D D0DF 73E6 D639 D867 A576 A5AE
work: +1.760.804.8884 x 332       cell: +1.760.803.8476
--
I bestride this world like a Colossus.  A very small
Colussus.  Without a torch.  Made of meat.


** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/