litex/README

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                         Migen inside

                Build your hardware, easily!
              Copyright 2012-2019 / EnjoyDigital

[> Intro
--------
LiteX is a FPGA design/SoC builder that can be used to build cores, create
SoCs and full FPGA designs.

LiteX is based on Migen and provides specific building/debugging tools for
a higher level of abstraction and compatibily with the LiteX core ecosystem.

Think of Migen as a toolbox to create FPGA designs in Python and LiteX as a
toolbox to create/develop/debug FPGA SoCs in Python.


Typical LiteX design flow:
--------------------------

                        +---------------+
                        |FPGA toolchains|
                        +----^-----+----+
                             |     |
                          +--+-----v--+
         +-------+        |           |
         | Migen +-------->           |
         +-------+        |           |        Your design
                          |   LiteX   +---> ready to be used!
                          |           |
+----------------------+  |           |
|LiteX Cores Ecosystem +-->           |
+----------------------+  +-^-------^-+
 (Eth, SATA, DRAM, USB,     |       |
  PCIe, Video, etc...)      +       +
                           board   target
                           file    file


LiteX already supports various softcores CPUs: LM32, Mor1kx, PicoRV32, VexRiscv
and is compatible with the LiteX's Cores Ecosystem:

- LiteDRAM: https://github.com/enjoy-digital/litedram
- LiteEth: https://github.com/enjoy-digital/liteeth
- LitePCIe: https://github.com/enjoy-digital/litepcie
- LiteSATA: https://github.com/enjoy-digital/litesata
- LiteUSB: https://github.com/enjoy-digital/liteusb
- LiteSDCard: https://github.com/enjoy-digital/litesdcard
- LiteICLink: https://github.com/enjoy-digital/liteiclink
- LiteJESD204B: https://github.com/enjoy-digital/litejesd204b
- LiteVideo: https://github.com/enjoy-digital/litevideo
- LiteScope: https://github.com/enjoy-digital/litescope


[> Sub-packages
---------------
gen:
  Provides specific or experimental modules to generate HDL that are not integrated
  in Migen.

build:
  Provides tools to build FPGA bitstreams (interface to vendor toolchains) and to
  simulate HDL code or full SoCs.

soc:
  Provides definitions/modules to build cores (bus, bank, flow), cores and tools
  to build a SoC from such cores.

boards:
  Provides platforms and targets for the supported boards. All Migen's platforms
  can also be used in LiteX.

[> Very Quick start guide (for newcomers)
-----------------------------------------
TimVideos.us has done an awesome job for setting up a LiteX environment easily in
the litex-buildenv repo: https://github.com/timvideos/litex-buildenv

It's recommended for newcomers to go this way. Various FPGA boards are supported
and multiple examples provided! You can even run Linux on your FPGA using LiteX
very easily!

Migen documentation can be found here: https://m-labs.hk/migen/manual

FPGA lessons/tutorials can be found at: https://github.com/enjoy-digital/fpga_101


[> Quick start guide (for advanced users)
-----------------------------------------
0. Install Python 3.5+ and FPGA vendor's development tools.

1. Get litex_setup.py script and execute:
   ./litex_setup.py init install
   This will clone and install Migen, LiteX and LiteX's cores.
   To update all repositories execute:
   ./litex_setup.py update

2. Compile and install binutils. Take the latest version from GNU.
  mkdir build && cd build
  ../configure --target=lm32-elf
  make
  make install

3. (Optional, only if you want to use a lm32 CPU in you SoC)
  Compile and install GCC. Take gcc-core and gcc-g++ from GNU
  (version 4.5 or >=4.9).
  rm -rf libstdc++-v3
  mkdir build && cd build
  ../configure --target=lm32-elf --enable-languages="c,c++" --disable-libgcc \
    --disable-libssp
  make
  make install

4. Build the target of your board...:
  Go to boards/targets and execute the target you want to build

5. ... and/or install Verilator and test LiteX on your computer:
  Download and install Verilator: http://www.veripool.org/
  On Fedora:
      sudo dnf install libevent-devel json-c-devel
  On Ubuntu:
      sudo apt install libevent-dev libjson-c-dev
  run: litex_sim

6. Run a terminal program on the board's serial port at 115200 8-N-1.
  You should get the BIOS prompt.

[> Contact
----------
E-mail: florent [AT] enjoy-digital.fr