It can be challenging to test your FPGA or ASIC graphics designs. You can perform low-level behavioural simulations and examine waveforms, but you also need to verify how the video output will appear on the screen. By combining Verilator and SDL, you can build Verilog simulations that let you see your design on your computer. The thought of creating a graphical simulation can be intimidating, but it’s surprisingly simple: you can get a simulation running in under an hour. Read more

Hardware design can be unforgiving, so it pays to use any advantage you can get. Verilator is a Verilog simulator and C++ compiler that also supports linting: statically analysing your designs for issues. Not only can Verilator spot problems your synthesis tool might overlook, but it also runs quickly. Updated 2021-04-01. Feedback to @WillFlux is most welcome. Installing Verilator Verilator is available in most Linux distribution repos and will run on Windows Subsystem for Linux. Read more

Since I tested FPGA development tools on Ubuntu 20.04, there have been requests for more posts on FPGA tooling. In this post, I provide a quick guide to building an open-source FPGA toolchain for iCE40 boards, such as iCEBreaker. I plan to cover ECP5 FPGAs in a future version. This guide is designed for Ubuntu or Pop!_OS 20.04, but should be straightforward to adjust to your own distro. These instructions will work on Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), but there’s no USB support in WSL, so you can’t program boards under WSL. Read more

In this post, I test common FPGA tools for compatibility with Ubuntu 20.04 (AKA Focal Fossa), and my regular desktop OS: Pop!_OS 20.04. These tests are in no way exhaustive: I have tried using the applications as I usually do to exercise the main functionality. I have also included instructions for building the tools from source when available. This is my final planned update for this post (July 2020). Tested: IceStorm Tools, nextpnr, nMigen, Verilator, Vivado, Yosys Incomplete: Quartus Updated 2020-07-30. Read more