Linux on a Xilinx FPGA without EDK

Question

I appologise if this seems like a dumb question, but is it possible to get a Xilinx FPGA (specifically, the Artix-7 35T) to run Linux without the use of Xilinx's EDK? I have found some tutorials like this one but they seem to require the EDK (of which there is no free version I believe).

I am currently using Vivado and the Xilinx SDK and I can get a simple C "Hello World" program to run, but I am having problems with trying to get it to run Linux. Can I implement Linux using those two tools? Is there a good guide anywhere on how to do it?

Look at the Yocto system and the "meta-xilinx" layer. – pericynthion Sep 14 '16 at 06:38 — pericynthion, Sep 14 '16 at 06:38

zdun8 · Answer 1 · 2016-10-14T07:15:49.150

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@Blair Fonville is right, you can only run Linux on a Sofprocessor in FPGA. Microblaze can run Linux, http://www.wiki.xilinx.com/MicroBlaze. But I think it will need a significant number of logic resources for that, I am not sure whether this Artix can do that.

Have a look on Zynq chip from Xilinx. There are relatively inexpensive SBCs with Zynq which has dual Cortex A9 inside which can run Linux just fine.

edited Oct 14 '16 at 07:15

answered Oct 14 '16 at 07:08

zdun8

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These two statements are contradicting themselves: "you can only run Linux on a Sofprocessor in FPGA" & "has dual Cortex A9 inside which can run Linux just fine".. – m.Alin Feb 17 '17 at 09:52
Nope, they are not. – zdun8 Feb 17 '17 at 13:09
AFAIK, Zynq is an FPGA with hard CPUs inside, right? – m.Alin Feb 17 '17 at 13:13
Yes, it's exactly as you said. – zdun8 Feb 19 '17 at 00:18

Blair Fonville · Answer 2 · 2016-09-14T04:14:20.760

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I don't know the chip details, but if the Artix supports microblaze soft cores then it will work fine. In Vivado, build the system as a block design (IP Integrator) and use SDK to build the kernel.

edited Sep 14 '16 at 04:14

answered Sep 09 '16 at 08:15

Blair Fonville

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Linux on a Xilinx FPGA without EDK

2 Answers2