Glossary

Firmware verses Gateware

• gateware is for configuration of the FPGA. It is the "hardware description".

• firmware is software which runs on a CPU (it can be either SoftCPU or HardCPU).

• The gateware can include a SoftCPU which runs firmware.

• Most HDMI2USB boards have two firmware blobs,

  • firmware which runs on the SoftCPU inside the gateware,
  • firmware which runs on the Cypress FX2 USB interface chip attached to the FPGA.

platform verses target

• platform is the board configuration (IE generally a board + expansion modules).
• target is the FPGA System on Chip configuration

Migen, MiSoC, LiteX & LiteXXX

• Migen is the Python HDL which allows easy creation of gateware to run on an FPGA. It includes all the primitives needed to write things for the FPGA

• MiSoC is a SoC (System on Chip) which uses Migen. It includes;

  • Multiple SoftCPU implementations,
  • a CSR (Config/Control Status Registers) bus
  • Bunch of peripherals

• LiteX is @enjoy-digital 's soft fork of Migen+MiSoC.

  • LiteX combines both Migen+MiSoC into one repo.
  • LiteX includes legacy features removed from Migen+MiSoC which are still in use.
  • LiteX includes more experimental features that have not made it to Migen/MiSoC (and may never make it into Migen/MiSoC).
  • LiteX code should be easily portable to Migen/MiSoC if legacy/experimental features are not used and is done regularly.

• LiteEth, LiteDRAM, liteSATA, litePCIe are all cores which provide functionality.

  • LiteEth is heavily used inside liteX

SoftCPU verses HardCPU

• A SoftCPU is a CPU which is defined by a HDL (like Verilog, VHDL or Migen) and is included in the gateware inside a FPGA. As the definition can be changed when creating the gateware, SoftCPUs are highly customisable.

• A HardCPU is a CPU which is predefined piece of hardware. As it physical hardware it can't be changed.

• Most manufactures sell chips which include a FPGA fabric and a HardCPU in one package.

  • These are often called SoC (System on Chip) FPGAs.
  • Generally the HardCPU is an ARM these days. (Although PowerPC was previously fairly common.)
  • Xilinx's range is called the Zynq.
  • Altera have the Cyclone V SoC series.

• A SoftCPU runs firmware.

  • Normally the first firmware is a small program like a "BIOS" which does initilisation (like setting up main ram, running memtest, etc) before loading a more useful firmware into "main ram" and jumping it.

  • The "BIOS" is normally embedded inside the gateware. However as this takes up resources that can't be reused, on smaller boards the BIOS is executed directly from external flash (normal SPI flash).

  • The "BIOS" in MiSoC/LiteX can load the primary firmware from;

    • FPGA ROM
    • Memory mapped SPI flash
    • Serial download (using flterm)
    • TFTP (via liteEth)

• There are a bunch of common 32bit SoftCPU implementations; Proprietary SoftCPUs are;

  • Xilinx's MicroBlaze
  • Altera's Nios2

  FOSS SoftCPUs are;

  • LatticeMico32 - lm32
  • OpenRisc - mor1kx
  • Clifford's Pico Risc-V
  • J-Core - sh4/sh2 implementation
  • ZPU - ???

• MiSoC supports lm32 and mor1kx.

• LiteX supports lm32, mor1kx and has WIP support for pico risc-v and (maybe) soon J-Core.

Flashing verses Loading

• FPGAs (generally) loose their "configuration" when they loose power or are reset. When powered on they will load their configuration from a flash chip (normally SPI flash) on the FPGA board.

• Loading means to temporarily put something (gateware, firmware, etc) onto a device. After a power cycle, the device will return to the flashed configuration.

• Flashing means to permanently put something (gateware, firmware, etc) onto a device. After a power cycle, the device will reload the flashed configuration.

• Flashing is the process of writing a new configuration to the flash chip.

• Flashing is generally slower than loading because it requires you to erase the contents of the flash, write the new contents and then verify the result.

• Flashing is sometimes done by loading a "flash proxy" gateware onto the FPGA, which then allows the computer to communicate with the flash chip.

• Some devices only support flashing and not loading (IE MimasV2)