why?

Question

I' m a beginner in the FPGA world so i went to Xilinx and Altera site to download the free design software for learning the basics. I have saw that all the software downloadable is for windows. Am i wrong or is really so? If so for me is very strange or wrong. Because for a design kit that is freely distributed what platform is better than a free Operating System? Without entering in the discussion of the better quality of Linux. I hope i'm wrong and that someone tell me that i can download these software for my gentoo Linux distribution.

Thanks to all.

John Williams · Accepted Answer

I don't know about the Altera tools, but my understanding is that Xilinx webpack is not available for linux because they would have to pay per-seat licensing to the developer of the cross-platform GUI that they use. For giveaway software this clearly does not make sense.

I'm pretty sure people have got the free Xilinx tools (webpack) going under wine - google will tell you. The only hitch there is the iMPACT programming tool - I doubt it will work.

Cheers,

John

Adam Megacz · Answer

Hey Xilinx, if you're listening, there are a *lot* of us who wouldrejoice if you released the command line tools for Linux for free.ESPECIALLY bitgen.  We can do without the gui.  - a

Symon · Answer

Hey Xilinx,There're are a *lot* of us who don't give a flying f which operating systemthe tools run on. We'd rather you concentrated on improving the quality,speed, accuracy and ease of use of the tools, rather than provide freebiesto students. ;-)Cheers, Syms.p.s. Anyone tried FPGA tools on XP SP2 yet?

Jim Wang · Answer

I agree 100% -- while the GUI may *look* user-friendly, it hides what isreally happening while it "helps" you.  With command-line, you are incontrol.Just give us the Linux command lines and a few sample Makefiles, forget theGUI. Jimjimwang atcal dot berkeley dot edu--------------Adam Megacz  writes:

Hal Murray · Answer

That's not enough. You also need documentation on the format of the files that you will need to edit by hand.

-- The suespammers.org mail server is located in California. So are all my other mailboxes. Please do not send unsolicited bulk e-mail or unsolicited commercial e-mail to my suespammers.org address or any of my other addresses. These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam.

Duane Clark · Answer

The command line tools are already well documented, in the "Developement System Reference Guide".

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And the Windows command line tools run quite well under Wine.

Brian Dam Pedersen · Answer

You can (at least) get the Xilinx webpack to run to a large extend. Look at my directions at  for more information.-- Brian

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