The first few labs in the SW Module are mostly a more in depth look at the SDK product provided with the Vivado Suite.
Lab 0 covers installing all the required tools. All of these steps were completed as part of the first set of labs, so there really wasn't anything to do.
They discuss the fact that the Editor is based on Eclipse IDE.
In Lab 1 they go into depth regarding the file we exported at the end of Lab 9 in the HW module. Z_system_wrapper.hdf. They explain that this file is the hardware definition file, it is a zip archive, and that it includes the following:
and a description of each file and its purpose:
So that was pretty much Lab 1.
Lab 2
We explore setting up an SDK Workspace,
The SDK uses the concept of workspaces to hold your software development work. A workspace is a
directory in your file system that SDK uses to hold meta-information about the projects with which
you are working. The workspace also contains your SDK settings, software project files, and logs.
We import the Hardware definition file described in Lab 1.
After that we are able to browse the Hardware platform, which includes:
• Peripheral set
• Address map
• Datasheets to peripherals
• System block diagram
Remember, this is the file that we exported at the end of the Hardware Labs, for
hardware and software engineers working together, this file is the only required item to be
transferred from the hardware team to the software team. For software engineers working
exclusively in SDK, they do not need anything else from the rest of the Vivado project.
At this point we are instructed to look at the peripherals displayed in the HDF.
That's a shot of the SDK view. From this point we are instructed to pick out one of the peripherals in the SDK, and where to find datasheets and programming information on the various peripherals and IP.
And again we are given a view of the Hardware System Block Diagram:
So that concludes Lab 2.
Lab 3 is a continuation, where they start to cover the bsp, or Board Support Package.
The first exercise is to use the SDK to generate the bsp.
This is the BSP report that is available after you complete the BSP generation. All those things that look like hyperlinks, actually are. They are links to documentation on the Processor, peripherals, and sample code exercising the peripheral.
They guide you through the process of finding where all these files are on the filesystem, and how it realtes to the system Workspace.
So Lab 3 is a continuation of getting familiar with the SDK, which will lead us to Lab 4, which will be to develop an application using sample code.
Now we had used the SDK in the HW labs, but this is a much greater in depth look at the files that are passed around, how to find the documentation you need to access the peripherals, and where to find important information regarding the memory ma of the processor, and what prebuilt libraries are available at your fingertips when using the SDK.
See you after Lab 4.
