Hi all, I am a novice user of ISE and seeking for help. ISE can generate programming files for FPGA. Formats like .bit .bin and .rbt Application note XAPP502 can help a bit but I still got confusion on above the files types. Which of the file type is finally downloaded to FPGA? Which type can be loaded and processed by microcontroller? Thank you in advance. fhleung
.rbt
the files types.
.bit file
They should all work if you know the file format. You can choose one that works best with your hardware.
HTH, Jim snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com
Which of the file type is finally downloaded to FPGA? .bit is the binary file that contains header information that should not be downloaded to FPGA-- from application notes XAPP502
It all depends on what you want to use for downloading. If you use iMPACT or Chipscope, then you use the .bit. iMPACT and Chipscope can use the header information to make sure you're not downloading a bitstream for a different architecture by mistake and such.
If you want to use a microcontroller to program the FPGA directly via SelectMAP, then you can either strip the header from the bit, or you could use the .RBT... The .RBT contains the bitstream in 1's and 0's in a text file, that should be easy enough to process via software. But of course the RBT is much bigger.
As a third, and probably preferred option for you: in ISE in the "Generate Programming File"-section there's also an option to generate a "Binary configuration file", that does not contain the header. If you call "bitgen" on the command line, you'd use "?g Binary:Yes" as parameters. This gives you a .BIN-file, which you can send to the FPGA directly.
cu, Sean
Some users/tools use SVF files as a base for programming through the JTAG port.
Petter
-- A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in e-mail?
ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.