ECE 545 CAD Tools at School and Home

 

CAD tools at school

In this course you have the option of using either of two design environments: the Aldec Active-HDL Environment or the Xilinx ISE Environment. The recommended environment is the Aldec environment. This is what we will focus on in the class and hands-on sessions. However you are free to use either the Aldec or Xilinx environments as you prefer.

There are two synthesis tools available on the machines at school: Synplicity Synplify Pro or Xilinx XST. Both of these tools can be invoked by the Aldec Environment or Xilinx Environment. All tools run on the Windows XP operating system; they have not been tested on Microsoft Vista.

The following is a list of these two environments available at school in ST2 rooms 203 and 265. Note that the machines in these rooms have both Aldec Active-HDL 7.3 and Aldec Active-HDL 7.2 installed on them. We will use version 7.2 in this class:

Option 1: Aldec Environment (School)

GUI/Environment: Aldec Active-HDL (7.2 SP2)
VHDL Simulator: Aldec Active-HDL (7.2 SP2)
Synthesis: Synplicity Synplify Pro (8.6.2) or Xilinx ISE Foundation XST (ISE 9.1 SP3)
Implementation: Xilinx ISE Foundation (ISE 9.1 SP3)

How to set up Aldec Environment (School)

  1. When you open Aldec Active-HDL for the first time in the lab, intialize the environment to point to the correct tools (these settings may have been set already by default).
    1. Go to: Tools...Preferences. In the window that appears, go to Environment...Flows...Integrated Tools.
    2. For HDL Synthesis, push "Select" and choose Synplicity Synplify Pro 8.6 or Xilinx ISE/Webpack XST 9.1.
    3. For Implementation, push "Select" and choose Xilinx ISE/Webpack 9.1.
    4. For Family, choose "Xilinx 9x Spartan3." This sets the default family as Spartan3.
    5. Push "Okay" to save changes.
Option 2: Xilinx Environment (School)

GUI/Environment: Xilinx ISE Foundation (9.1 SP3)
VHDL Simulator: Modelsim Special Edition (SE 6.3a)
Synthesis: Synplicity Synplify Pro (8.6.2) or Xilinx ISE Foundation XST (ISE 9.1 SP3)
Implementation: Xilinx ISE Foundation (ISE 9.1 SP3)

How to set up Xilinx Environment (School)
  1. When you open a new project in Xilinx ISE Foundation for the first time, intialize the environment to point to the correct tools.
    1. Go to File...New Project. Create a project name and push "Next."
    2. For Product Category, choose "All."
    3. For Family, choose "Spartan3."
    4. For Synthesis tool, choose "Synplify Pro (VHDL/Verilog)" or "XST (VHDL/Verilog)."
    5. For Simulator, choose "Modelsim-SE VHDL."
    6. For Preferred Language, choose "VHDL."
    7. Push "Next" and choose the rest of your options (by default, continue to push "Next" without making changes) until you push "Finish."

CAD tools at home

Some students like the flexibility of working from home. Aldec and Xilinx provide free tools to students as described below. However be forewarned: these tools often carry feature limitations and simulations run much slower than the full versions installed at school. Please investigate the vendor websites to understand the limitations in further detail.

Note: since the tools are not exactly the same at school and at home, you may run into some discrepancies or incompatibilities. If you are working from home and from school, be sure to save a copy of your project before trying to transfer from the home environment to the school environment or vice-versa. In the past CAD tools which are not the exact same edition have had tendencies to corrupt data and projects. I do not anticipate any problems, but it is better to be safe than sorry--save before trying to transfer. It is best and safest to transfer source code (.vhd files) only.

If you work from home, for compatability reasons, here are the configurations I would like you to use. Details on how to download and install software to attain these configurations are given below. Again, as with the school computers, you can choose either the Aldec Environment or Xilinx Environment. If you have problems with the software running on your personal computers, the best solution is to use the computers in the lab at school.

Option 1: Aldec Environment (Home)

GUI Environment: Aldec Active-HDL (Student Edition)
VHDL Simulator: Aldec Active-HDL (Student Edition)
Synthesis: Xilinx ISE Webpack XST (Webpack 9.1 SP3)
Implementation: Xilinx ISE Webpack (Webpack 9.1 SP3)

How to set up Aldec Environment (Home)
This may take a few hours depending on your internet connection speed.

  1. Download and install Aldec Student Edition
    1. Go to the Aldec Student Webpage and click "Download." The student edition is a feature-limited edition of Aldec Active-HDL.
    2. Register and follow the instructions to download and install Aldec Student Edition. This should give you a 365-day trial.
  2. Install patches and updates for Aldec Student Edition
    1. Download and install Xilinx VHDL Libraries ISE 9.1 SP3 with IP Update 2 for Active-HDL 7.2 Student Edition
    2. Download and install Xilinx Schematic Libraries ISE 8.2 SP3 for Active-HDL 7.2 Student Edition
  3. Download and install Xilinx Webpack 9.1 SP3
    Note: For compatability with the school tools, do not install Xilinx Webpack 9.2. Instead install a "classic" version, Xilinx Webpack 9.1, per the instructions below.
    1. Go to the Xilinx ISE Classics and click "Register ISE Classics" on the right.
    2. Create an account with Xilinx.
    3. Once you have created an account you can return to Xilinx ISE Classics and click "Download ISE Classics" on the right.
    4. Click on the "ISE WebPACK v. 3.3 - v. 9.2" icon on the bottom right of the page to get to the "Free ISE WebPACK-Earlier Software Releases" download page.
    5. On the "Free ISE WebPACK-Earlier Software Releases" page, download and install "WebPACK_9.1i_SFD." ISE Webpack is a feature-limited version of ISE Foundation (i.e. the largest FPGA device in a family is not supported).
    6. On the "Free ISE WebPACK-Earlier Software Releases" page, download and install "Service Pack 3."
  4. When you open Aldec Active-HDL Student Edition for the first time, intialize the environment to point to the correct tools.
    1. Go to: Tools...Preferences. In the window that appears, go to Environment...Flows...Integrated Tools.
    2. For HDL Synthesis, push "Select" and choose Xilinx Webpack XST 9.1.
    3. For Implementation, push "Select" and choose Xilinx Webpack 9.1.
    4. For Family, choose "Xilinx 9x Spartan3." This sets the default family as Spartan3.
    5. Push "Okay" to save changes.
Option 2: Xilinx Environment (Home)

GUI Environment: Xilinx ISE Webpack (Webpack 9.1 SP3)
VHDL Simulator: Modelsim Xilinx Edition (MXE 6.2c)
Synthesis: Xilinx ISE Webpack XST (Webpack 9.1 SP3)
Implementation: Xilinx ISE Webpack (Webpack 9.1 SP3)

How to set up Xilinx Environment (Home)
This may take a few hours depending on your internet connection speed.

  1. Download and install Xilinx Webpack 9.1 SP3
    Note: For compatability with the school tools, do not install Xilinx Webpack 9.2. Instead install a "classic" version, Xilinx Webpack 9.1, per the instructions below.
    1. Go to the Xilinx ISE Classics and click "Register ISE Classics" on the right.
    2. Create an account with Xilinx.
    3. Once you have created an account you can return to Xilinx ISE Classics and click "Download ISE Classics" on the right.
    4. Click on the "ISE WebPACK v. 3.3 - v. 9.2" icon to get to the "Free ISE WebPACK-Earlier Software Releases" download page.
    5. On the "Free ISE WebPACK-Earlier Software Releases" page, download and install "WebPACK_9.1i_SFD." ISE Webpack is a feature-limited version of ISE Foundation (i.e. the largest FPGA device in a family is not supported).
    6. On the "Free ISE WebPACK-Earlier Software Releases" page, download and install "Service Pack 3."
  2. Download and install Modelsim Xilinx Edition 6.2c
    1. On the "Free ISE WebPACK-Earlier Software Releases" page, download and install "MXE 6.2c Full Installer." Modelsim Xilinx Edition Starter is a Xilinx-specific version of Modelsim that is slower than the Modelsim Special Edition installed on the lab computers.
    2. You will also have to register for a license for MXE 6.2c.
  3. When you open a new project in Xilinx ISE Webpack for the first time, intialize the environment to point to the correct tools.
    1. Go to File...New Project. Create a project name and push "Next."
    2. For Product Category, choose "All."
    3. For Family, choose "Spartan3."
    4. For Synthesis tool, choose "XST (VHDL/Verilog)."
    5. For Simulator, choose "Modelsim-XE VHDL."
    6. For Preferred Language, choose "VHDL."
    7. Push "Next" and choose the rest of your options (by default, continue to push "Next" without making changes) until you push "Finish."