I'm looking for POSITIVE feedback on Xilinx ISE. Yes i realize it has it problems, but It's free. So, I've been looking round the WWW to find some tips on what type of system (Windows, Linux, Intel x86 or EM86_64, AMD, etc) that might result in better software preformace.
Also, considering the effects of the Java RTE.
I would like to post these suggestions to a page on my site, but if this turns in to a flaming war, i will cease and go elsewhere.
So, here is what I have, and my problems:
I have a Windows XP based system with Xilinx 8.2.03 and Chip Scope Pro. AMD Athlon 64 3000+
1GB DDR RAMHere are my issues:
During the hardware validation process, i tend to make many small changes to several projects (i have 4 FPGAs in my system on seperate cards all being developed in parallel), esp to CSP which requires many rebuilds and downloads. Since I'm working with Spartan 2 I cannot take advantage of Partitioned designs. After about 10 or so builds and downloads my physical ram usage is 1.5GB and my system is swappping consistanly. Reviewing the windows resource usage, it shows only about
150MB for _PN.exe, however, closing the ISE will free up nearly 1GB of ram.So, is this a Java issue, should I upgrade my JRE, or does ISE use it's own JRE?
Is it a System issue, should I switch to a Linux based environment? or Drop back to an older version of Windows such as w2k.
Could it be a design flaw in my Design. I use a TLD with only IO Logic and Global Clock buffers, all modules/sub modules contain related functional logic. TLD only provides wired interconnect between modules, no tri-state buses. Modules register inputs and outputs on clock edges.
I haved contacted Xilinx on this matter, and will leave it at that to stay imparital.
Thanks for any feedback.
Brian