Development Environment
This page lists the minimum requirements for setting up the development toolchain as well as various tooling that’s required to build PowerCommons projects.
Minimum requirements and supported configurations
Currently, PowerCommons is only supported on X86/64 bit systems as 32 bit systems are limited to 4 GB in memory. There are workarounds available, but they are not officially supported or tested by the PowerCommons project.
Vivado is supported on the following operating systems on x86-64 processor architectures:
- Microsoft Windows Professional/Enterprise 10.0 22H2 Update
- Microsoft Windows 11.0 23H2 and 24H2 Update
- Red Hat Enterprise Workstation/Server 8.10, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6, and 10.0 (64-bit), English
- SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP4,15 SP6, and 15 SP7 (64-bit), English
- Amazon Linux 2 AL2023 LTS (64-bit)
- AlmaLinux 8.10, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6, and 10.0 (64-bit)
- Ubuntu Linux 22.04.3, 22.04.4, 22.04.5, 24.04, 24.04.1, and 24.04.2 (64-bit), English
- Rocky Linux 8.10, 9.6, and 10.0
Minimum Recommended Memory
We recommend a minimum of 32 GB of RAM for all PowerCommons related work. Technically, its possible to get the builds working for smaller FPGAs i.e. Arty A7 with 16 GB memory, but the builds will be painfully slow. Instead of wasting your time on slower systems, you can request access to our University of Oregon systems with powerful workstations and fully configured environment.
If you are building for any of the larger FPGA’s such as Xilinx VCU 118, we recommend at least 128 GB of RAM. Memory requirements for building for various boards are listed here
Common tooling - Required for all projects
You need to setup the following tools for all PowerCommon projects including Microwatt enhancements, A2O Revival and for A2O ISA Upgrade project. Installation and setup instructions for each of these components are also linked below. If you find an issue with the documentatinon, please open a ticket in our repository.
| Tool | Purpose | Install Time | Installation Instructions |
|---|---|---|---|
| WSL/Linux | Base environment | 10 min | WSL Installation |
| Vivado 2025.x | FPGA synthesis | 60 min | Vivado Installation |
| Git, tio, OpenFPGALoader, OpenOCD | Code versioning | 1 minute | Utilities |
Microwatt
If you are planning to work with the Microwatt codebase, you additionally need the following tools:
| Tool | Purpose | Install Time |
|---|---|---|
| FuseSoc | Microwatt’s native build system | 10 min |
| OpenFPGALoader | Used for flashing bitstreams and Linux kernel | 10 min |
A2O - Revival and Upgrade
| Tool | Purpose | Install Time |
|---|
No special tooling needed just yet.
Support
Issues? See Troubleshooting