Analog Essentials
Getting Started Guide
4
Getting Started
Introduction
With small Microblaze FPGA designs, it is typical for the binary executable program to fit entirely within the internal
block RAM of the FPGA. In these cases, the FPGA can be programmed by simply downloading a single bit-stream file,
which contains both the FPGA logic and the binary executable for the running software on the processor. However, the
size of the sample programs for the Analog Essentials collection exceeds the capacity of the internal block RAM memory.
Therefore, external memory (outside the FPGA) must be utilized for both program and data storage. Because of this,
loading the program is a multistep process. The first step loads, then executes a boot loader. The boot loader then loads
the .elf (executable software file for the Microblaze). While this is not as simple as downloading a single file, it
represents the situation encountered with many real-world applications.
The first section of this guide leads the user through the process of loading the project into the FPGA board for
execution. The section following that outlines the basic steps in modifying the project.
Overview: Downloading the Example/Demonstration Application
Below is a high-level overview of the steps required to download and run the FPGA project. Detailed instructions for
each step are provided in the following pages.
1. From Maxim’s website, download the latest version of the Maxim Analog Essentials project that corresponds to
your FPGA board. The code will be delivered as a .zip file. Visit
www.maxim-ic.com/fpga-modules, then click on
the link to MAXPMBAE which takes you to the Quick-View page for Analog Essentials. From there, click on the
“Technical Documents” to access the software downloads.
2. Extract the .zip file to a directory on your machine (direction location is arbitrary, but for the purposes of this
document, it will be c:\designs\maxim\v1_4). See Appendix B in this document for a complete description of
the included files.
3. Open the Xilinx SDK (Windows Start Menu > Xilinx ISE 13.4 > EDK > Xilinx Software Development Kit).
4. Download the bitstream (.bit) file to the board. This bitstream contains the FPGA hardware design and software
bootloader.
5. Open Hyperterminal or a similar communications program to communicate with FPGA board.
6. Use Xilinx SDK/XMD debugger console to download and run executable file (.elf) on the Microblaze.
