Zynq devices, boards and suppliers

Tom Gardner · 2013-10-16T11:28:44+00:00

I'd like to pick people's brains about aspects of different *suppliers* of Zynq boards. Avnet and Digilent are front-runners, but any info/opinions about other suppliers would be helpful too. - ease of using their embedded linux. My needs are simple, requiring a shell and TCP/IP protocols over ethernet. GUI not required, but might be used if it didn't complicate the development. - quality of online support. How easy is it likely to be to find the information so that I can (a) duplicate any supplied demo environment and (b) mutate it so that my code accesses my programmable logic - board production longevity. I'm not concerned about decades, but I would be concerned if a board was unobtainable within months - ISE or Vivado environment Background and context... I'm intending to develop something based around a small Xylinx Zynq device. Cost is an issue, but not to the extent that I will be developing a board containing the FPGA itself. I will, however, be developing a small simple add-on board containing my analogue circuits. Now I can read a datasheet and schematic and outline to determine the extent to which a board is suitable. However, as we are all aware, those documents /don't/ cover all the important points when choosing a board! I've created many stand-alone hardware and software embedded systems, but *not* based on linux *nor* on ARM *nor* in the Xilinx ecosystem. Since Zynq devices represent a complex environment, I'll have a learning curve (good, I like challenges), and I'm interested in the quality of the resources and support that I'll need to overcome my misapprehensions.

Oct 16, 2013 23 Replies

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Paul Rubin 12 years ago

That big wire on the back of the board in your photo is interesting. Although red in color, it looks like what's traditionally called a "blue wire", i.e. maybe they're out of stock right now because the board is in the process of being revved.

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Tom Gardner 12 years ago

I'd like to make a couple of comments based on my experience, in the hope they might be helpful to other netizens.

In the end I purchased an Avnet MicroZed and JTAG cable in January. The ordering process was smooth but the delivery wasn't. An email confirmed the stated 3 week delay for the MicroZed, and that the JTAG cable /was/ in stock. However, the next day the website showed an 18(!) delay until May. I quickly cancelled the now out of stock JTAG cable, and the MicroZed turned up in March, after maybe 8 weeks.

That is unacceptable and makes me unlikely to choose to use Avnet as a distributor.

More positively, the MicroZed documentation and support have been exemplary; the potential concerns I raised in the note below haven't been bourne out. Indeed Avnet have expanded their range and appear to be making concerted efforts to make a business in this area.

So far I have /no/ concerns about having chosen to use a MicroZed, although nowadays I would probably choose to use the MicroZed SBC board variant.

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