ZPUino source code in DesignLab

[fun2fpga]

Are there plans to include the ZPUino version 2 VHDL code in the next release of DesignLab?  I can't seem to find it.

 

Thanks.

[Jack Gassett]

Are there plans to include the ZPUino version 2 VHDL code in the next release of DesignLab?  I can't seem to find it.

 

Thanks.

 

There are too many benefits to using a pre-synthesized ngc file for the ZPUino Soft Processor:

• First of all is the speed of synthesis, when using source code instead of a ngc file it was taking me 13 minutes to synthesize a vanilla ZPUino project. When I changed to ngc it cut the time down to 5 minutes, synthesis is so time consuming as it is that a huge time gain like that alone is worth it.
• Secondly, it greatly simplifies the ZPUino 2 library to use a ngc file. It was getting very hard to maintain all of the files required to synthesize the ZPUino Soft Processor from source code - it was very complex and changing to a ngc file turned all of that complexity into a single file.
• Third, it makes pulling in changes from Alvie's repo much easier to use an ngc file. Before I had to make lots of changes to the ZPUino source code to make it work with DesignLab and whenever Alvie made any updates it was a nightmare to merge it in. This way I am generating the ngc file directly from Alvie's repo and there is very little maintenance involved.
• Finally, I think that anyone who is to the point of wanting to modify the ZPUino source code is better off using Alvie's source code structure anyway, then pull your ngc created with Alvie's source code structure into DesignLab.

The ZPUino source is for the DUO is here:

https://github.com/alvieboy/ZPUino-HDL/tree/work-0200/zpu/hdl/zpuino/boards/papilio-duo/S6LX9/variants/designlab

 

Papilio Pro:

https://github.com/alvieboy/ZPUino-HDL/tree/work-0200/zpu/hdl/zpuino/boards/papilio-pro/S6LX9/variants/designlab

 

Papilio One 500K:

https://github.com/alvieboy/ZPUino-HDL/tree/work-0200/zpu/hdl/zpuino/boards/papilio_one/s3e500/variants/designlab

 

Papilio One 250K:

https://github.com/alvieboy/ZPUino-HDL/tree/work-0200/zpu/hdl/zpuino/boards/papilio_one/s3e250/variants/designlab

 

You can just make changes to the source code there, run Make, and then include the ngc file in DesignLab in the ZPUino 2 library or a new library you create.

 

Jack.