On Thursday 05 May 2005 18:45, Eric Smith wrote:
> Daniel wrote:
> > As I understand it, only the "net list loader" (is that what they
> > call it?) that loads the synthesized logic into the FPGA is not
> > available as a free tool.
>
> No.  The free tools include an unrestricted "Impact", which is the
> FPGA loader.  It can load the 3S4000 without any difficulty. 
> However, I suspect that end users of the card would never use Impact.

Why?  Because we will provide our own logic-loading path, e.g., over 
PCI?

> And in any case, there already exist free alternatives to Impact for
> the XC3S series parts.

OK, so that answers that.

> What Webpack 7.1i cannot do is synthesize, place, and route a design
> for a 3S4000.  So anyone doing RTL development would either need to
> buy the full ISE package, or use Webpack 6.3i with the service pack,
> since that has full 3S4000 support.

Right, so our job should be to convince Xilinx to let the webpack handle 
the 3S4000.

> Since the RTL is not initially going to be publicly available, it
> sounds like only a few people would need to do that.  When the RTL is
> GPL'd or LGPL'd at a later date, then a lot more people will want to
> have no-charge tools for development.

We need a commitment from Xilinx _before_ we go ahead.

Regards,

Daniel
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