MicroZed licensing and IP

Question

Hi,

I'm just starting off with FPGA development and have a few questions I'm hoping someone from the community might be able to answer.

1. I've been doing some reading and there's a constant reference on purchasing IP cores. If I purchase the MicroZed (Z7020) eval kit, in order to use Ethernet or USB, does this mean I would have to pay additional costs (IP) to use the ethernet/usb on top of the kit cost?

2. If the Vivado design suite is node-locked to the Z7020 MicroZed kit, is this effectively the WebPack ediition?

Thank you in advance.

jafoste4 · Accepted Answer

Hello Nocturnalpea,

I'd be happy to clarify these issues for you.

1. That would depend on the requirement of your design. Xilinx provides many free IPs. You can find them all preinstalled in Vivado located at "C:\Xilinx\Vivado\<YOUR VIVADO VERSION>\data\ip" or you can access them by opening a block design in the Vivado GUI and then clicking the Add IP icon which will give you a list of all available free IP. If you are unable to find what you are looking for, you may have to either purchase it from Xilinx or look for an Open Source version of the IP you are looking for. Here is a list of all available IPs Xilinx offers.

https://www.xilinx.com/products/intellectual-property/device-family/nav-zynq-7000.html

2. Node-locked refers to the the specific device it is locked to not kit. So if you had a Z7020 Node-Locked license you could use it on MicroZed 7020/PicoZed7020/......all 7020 devices. Now comparing the Vivado Design HL Design Edition to Vivado Webpack. There isn't a hugh difference, they are almost exactly the same. The one thing to watch out for, is that Vivado Webpack it is device limited so it only works with (XC7Z007S - XC7Z7030) zynq devices. So in your case, using the MicroZed 7020 shouldn't be an issue. Here you can find much more information about both Vivado types.

https://www.xilinx.com/products/design-tools/vivado/vivado-webpack.html

--Josh