Running on the FPGA

In this final step, we want to test the debug functionality on an FPGA board. The debug system will use the UART connection at 12 MBaud to communicate with the debug system.

Run the pre-built FPGA demo with a trace debugger

The files you may need:

Download and write the bitstream

curl -L https://github.com/lowRISC/lowrisc-chip/releases/download/v0.3/nexys4ddr_fpga_debug.bit > nexys4ddr_fpga_debug.bit
curl -L https://github.com/lowRISC/lowrisc-chip/releases/download/v0.3/boot.bin > boot.bin
curl -L https://github.com/lowRISC/lowrisc-chip/releases/download/v0.3/nexys4ddr_bram_boot.riscv > nexys4ddr_bram_boot.riscv
vivado -mode batch -source $TOP/fpga/common/script/program.tcl -tclargs "xc7a100t_0" nexys4ddr_fpga_debug.bit

There are two ways to boot a RISC-V Linux. For both cases, we need to open the debug daemon to load programs and connect to the UART console.

opensocdebugd uart device=/dev/ttyUSB0 speed=12000000

Directly load Linux to DDR RAM

The pre-built FPGA bitstream has a jump program as the 1st stage bootloader (in an on-chip BRAM) which just jumps to DDR RAM. We need to load the Linux image to the DDR RAM.

osd-cli
osd> reset -halt
osd> terminal 2
osd> mem loadelf boot.bin 3
osd> start

The terminal should again boot Linux. To update the image simply perform the same action again.

You can get a pre-built image of jump.

Load Linux from SD card

Other than manually loading a Linux to the DDR RAM using the debugger, we can use the pre-built nexys4ddr_bram_boot.riscv to load Linux from SD. Note: make sure the Linux image boot.bin is copied to SD beforehand.

osd-cli
osd> reset -halt
osd> terminal 2
osd> mem loadelf nexys4ddr_bram_boot.riscv 3
osd> start

You should be able to see the boot program copy the boot.bin from SD to DDR RAM and then boot it.

Run a standalone FPGA demo (no debugger support)

We still keep the option to build a fully standalone implementation that does not rely on a debugger.

You need to download two files:

Download and write the bitstream:

curl -L https://github.com/lowRISC/lowrisc-chip/releases/download/v0.3/nexys4ddr_fpga_standalone.bit > fpga.bit
curl -L https://github.com/lowRISC/lowrisc-chip/releases/download/v0.3/boot.bin > boot.bin

Now copy both binary files to the SD card and configure the Nexys4-DDR boot option to SD card (JP1 to USB/SD). Power up the FPGA board and open a terminal:

microcom -p /dev/ttyUSB0 -s 115200

You should be able to see that Linux boots from SD card.

A script is provided to load your SD card without manually downloading the binary files:

$TOP/fpga/board/nexys4_ddr/preload_image.sh /PATH/TO/SD/

You can also write the bitstream to FPGA by JTAG (JP1 to JTAG)

vivado -mode batch -source $TOP/fpga/common/script/program.tcl -tclargs "xc7a100t_0" fpga.bit

Mount an SD card inside RISC-V Linux

To discover whether an SD is recognized by the kernel:

cat /proc/partitions

If an SD card is formated in FAT32 and inserted, it should look like:

 179        0    7707648 mmcblk0
 179        1    7706624 mmcblk0p1

To mount this card:

mknod /dev/mmcblk0p1 b 179 1
mkdir /mnt
mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt

After you finished with the SD card, remember to unmount it.

umount /mnt

Build your own bitstream and images

Generate the bitstream

FPGA demo with a trace debugger

cd $TOP/fpga/board/nexys4_ddr
make cleanall
CONFIG=Nexys4DebugConfig make jump

The generated bitstream is located at lowrisc-chip-imp/lowrisc-chip-imp.runs/impl_1/chip_top.new.bit. This will take some time (20-60 minutes depending on your computer).

standalone FPGA demo without a trace debugger

cd $TOP/fpga/board/nexys4_ddr
make cleanall
CONFIG=Nexys4Config make boot

The generated bitstream is located at lowrisc-chip-imp/lowrisc-chip-imp.runs/impl_1/chip_top.new.bit. This will take some time (20-60 minutes depending on your computer).

Program the FPGA

Next, turn on the FPGA board and connect the USB cable. Now you download the bitstream to the FPGA:

make program

Build Linux

cd $TOP/riscv-tools
curl https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/linux-4.6.2.tar.xz | tar -xJ
curl -L http://busybox.net/downloads/busybox-1.21.1.tar.bz2 | tar -xj
cd linux-4.6.2
git init
git remote add origin https://github.com/lowrisc/riscv-linux.git
git fetch
git checkout -f -t origin/debug-v0.3
# lowRISC-specific hack for enabling power pin for SD card
patch -p1 < spi_sd_power_hack.patch
cd $TOP/fpga/board/nexys4_ddr
$TOP/riscv-tools/make_root.sh

If everything runs OK, you should have a boot.bin file.

Please note that the Berkeley bootloader used by the Linux kernel relies on a header file (dev_map.h) generated by the Rocket chip (automatically generated by the Chisel compilation process). Normally FPGA bitstream should be generated before building a kernel image. If you like to generate a kernel image without a bitstream, run the following to produce the header file:

cd $TOP/fpga/board/nexys4_ddr
CONFIG=Nexys4Config make verilog

Useful Makefile targets

make project

Generate a Vivado project.

make verilog

Run Chisel compiler and generate the Verilog files for Rocket chip.

make vivado

Open the Vivado GUI using the current project.

make bitstream

Generate the default bitstream according to the CONFIG in Makefile and the program loaded in src/boot.mem. The default bitstream is generated at lowrisc-chip-imp/lowrisc-chip-imp.runs/impl_1/chip_top.bit

make <hello|dram|sdcard|boot|jump|trace|flash>

Generate bitstreams for bare-metal tests:

For each bare-metal test <test>, the executable is generated to examples/<test>.riscv. It is also converted into a hex file and copied to src/boot.mem, which then changes the default program for make bitstream and make simulation. The updated bitstream is generated at lowrisc-chip-imp/lowrisc-chip-imp.runs/impl_1/chip_top.new.bit

make <program|program-updated>

Download a bitstream to FPGA. Use program for lowrisc-chip-imp/lowrisc-chip-imp.runs/impl_1/chip_top.bit and program-updated for lowrisc-chip-imp/lowrisc-chip-imp.runs/impl_1/chip_top.new.bit

make <clean|cleanall>

make clean will remove all generated code without removing the Vivado project files. To remove all files including the Vivado project, use make cleanall.