AR# 2599: Foundation: How to use both XACT6-based and M1-based flows with Foundation
AR# 2599
Foundation: How to use both XACT6-based and M1-based flows with Foundation
Description
Keywords: XACT6, M1
Urgency: Standard
General Description:
It is not possible to install 2 different versions of Foundation on the same O/S, due to the fact that the INI file (SUSIE.INI or ALDEC.INI) is located in the Windows directory. Therefore, how is it possible to continue working on designs which target families only supported in the XACT6 flow, as well as those families supported in the M1 flow?
解决方案
The Foundation F1.x tools support both M1-based flows, as well as XACT6-based flows. As long as the XACTStep6 Implementation Tools, and the M1/F1 Implementation Tools both reside on the system, and the environment variables are appropriately set, both flows will be available. The XACTStep6 tools are by default installed to the C:\XACT directory, and the M1 tools are by default installed to the C:\XILINX directory. These 2 sets of tools must be kept in separate directories. Be aware that the XACTStep6 Implementation tools were never officially tested under Win95 or WinNT. For more details on issues associated with these O/S's please see (Xilinx Solution 910).
The Foundation F1.3 Project Manager has the ability to modify its menus and flows depending on the Project Type. If the Project Type is "XACTStep6", then the menus will revert back to the XACT6 flow (ie, the XACT6 Design Manager will be invoked upon hitting the XACTStep button, and the netlist created will be in XNF format.) If the Project Type is "XACTStep M1", then the Project Manager will invoke the M1 Design Manager, the new features such as State Editor and Logiblox will be available, and the netlist created will be in EDIF format.
When you open an existing Foundation project which was created with the Foundation 6.x tools, Foundation F1.3 will ask if you wish to enable the XACTStep6 flow or Convert the design to M1. If the design is targetted to a family which is not supported in the M1-based tools, click "Enable XACTStep6", and the XACT6 flow will be enabled. If the design is targetted to a family which is supported in the M1-based tools, you should click "Convert," and the Project Manager will reflect the M1-based flow and the libraries will be replaced with the new M1 libraries.
If the older libraries are no longer present in the install directory, they can either be copied over from the Foundation 6.0.1 CDROM, or they may be downloaded from the Xilinx FTP site. See (Xilinx Solution 2600) for details on doing this.
If the XACTStep6 flow is not listed as an available project type (File -> Project Type in Project Manager), and you wish to create a new project using the XACTStep6 project type, add the following lines to the bottom of the SUSIE.INI file (F1.3, F1.4) or ALDEC.INI (F1.5). The INI file is located in the Windows directory, but it may also be accessed through the Foundation Project Manager by selecting File -> Configuration -> View INI File (F1.3, F1.4) or File -> Preferences -> Configuration -> View INI File (F1.5).
[Flow_26] XILINX6=ON
The Project Type can always be switched between the XACTStep6 and XACTStepM1 flows by selecting File -> Project Type from the Project Manager.