FPGA Workshop

Basic FPGA development for absolute beginners

Sections

• 01 Hello
• 02 Module
• 03 Blink
• 03a Blink
• 04 Parameters
• 05 Variables and Registers
• 06 Dimming
• 07 Tasks
• 08 Functions
• 09 Case statement
• 10 I/O pins in verilog
• 11 Simulation
• 12 Detect
• 13 DS18B20 Sensor
• 13 Smooth fading

Pre-requisites

When joining the workshop as a participant make sure to have these things done.

Compiling the tool chain takes 35 to 55 minutes, during which you cannot take part in the exorcizes in the workshop.

• Installed Icestorm toolchain, that supports the Lattice ICE40UP5K FPGA.
  • Install manually
  • Install by script
  • Install by packagemanager: apt-get install arachne-pnr arachne-pnr-chipdb iverilog gtkwave (on Ubuntu 19.04 or a recent Debian)
  • For those that forget there will be a Virtual machine, that will suffice during the workshop.
• A micro USB cable
• A working laptop that can run the Icestorm toolchain (Linux or OSX should be fine, for Windows I don't know#)
• 3 to 4 hours of your time, an Saturday the 13th (There will be some breaks)
• Some basic knowledge about programming and digital circuits
• A laptop that is capable of running the Icestorm toolchain.

Checking the tool chain

A simple check to see if the toolchain supports the 'ICE40UP5K', do:

$ arachne-pnr -h

<...>
    -d <device>, --device <device>
        Target device <device>.  Supported devices:
          384 - Lattice Semiconductor iCE40LP384
           1k - Lattice Semiconductor iCE40LP/HX1K
           5k - Lattice Semiconductor iCE40UP5K
         lm4k - Lattice Semiconductor iCE40LM4K
           8k - Lattice Semiconductor iCE40LP/HX8K
        Default: 1k
<...>

When it shows the line '5k - Lattice Semiconductor iCE40UP5K' the tool chain supports the UPDuino V2.

Requisites

Materials

The hardware for one workshop kit

• 1x UPDuino V2.0
• 2x 12kΩ resistors
• 1x 4.7kΩ resistor
• 1x 400 pin breadboard
• 6x breadboard wire (one lot has enough wires for 6 kits)
• 1x DS18B20 temperature sensor

Software

dimdm IceTools Github

Requisites for people wanting to do it hardcore

sudo apt install libeigen3-dev libftdi-dev libboost-all-dev

IceStorm

git clone https://github.com/cliffordwolf/icestorm.git icestorm
cd icestorm
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

Archane-PNR

git clone https://github.com/cseed/arachne-pnr.git arachne-pnr
cd arachne-pnr
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

NextPNR

git clone https://github.com/YosysHQ/nextpnr nextpnr
cd nextpnr
cmake -DARCH=ice40 -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local .
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

Yosys

git clone https://github.com/cliffordwolf/yosys.git yosys
cd yosys
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

Simulation

For example 11 you'll need to install Icarus Verilog and GTKWave

Icarus Verilog

git clone git://github.com/steveicarus/iverilog.git iverilog
cd iverilog
sh autoconf.sh
./configure
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

GTKWave

svn checkout svn://svn.code.sf.net/p/gtkwave/code/ gtkwave-code
cd gtkwave-code/gtkwave3-gtk3
./configure
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

Further reading

• UPDuino v.2.0 schematic
• Lattice iCE40 UltraPlus datasheet
• SocKit 1-wire master