Using ARV8 VHDL code in Altium Designer


raptorboi

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Hi all.

I was wondering if it is possible to utilise the arv8 softcore in Altium Designer?

I do have some experience in using Altium Designer, but only with verilog - VHDL is new territory for me.

I am guessing I will have to import all of the VHDL code into Altium Designer and drop all the code as Sheet Symbols, and wire everything up.  Is this correct?

I am looking to utilise the arv8 softcore with RepRap to build a 3D printer.

Thanks for any help guys.

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Altium Designer, that is some really nice software. If it was not so expensive I would use it too. :)

Unfortunately its been many years since I last looked at Altium Designer so I don't know for sure what will work. You should be able to import the VHDL somehow, but the only hangup I can think of is with the clocks. The DCM wizard that is used in the Xilinx ISE might not be compatible, so you might need to recreate the clocks in an Altium way.

Let us know how it goes.

Jack.

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Thanks for getting back to me, Jack.

I can just import all of the VHDL as discrete hardware blocks, each with their own inputs and outputs, but I run into a wall when it comes to wiring everything up.  I can only guess where everything goes.

Re-creating the clocks shouldn't be too hard.

I just don't have much experience with creating an entire thing in VHDL, as all of my experience is Verilog.

Any ideas on what to do?

If not, I guess i'll just have to use the Xilinx ISE Webpack for everything.  I have never used it before.

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Well, I would think you can just import the top level vhdl file from the project, it should be pretty self contained.

The other option is to see if you can import the netlist files. I don't remember the details off the top of my head but I know that when a design is synthesized there are some files, ending in edf or ngc or something like that, that can be directly imported into other projects. They are an intermediate form of the files and might be easier to deal with in your case.

Jack.

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