Quick Start
Get Microwatt running on FPGA in under 30 minutes using prebuilt resources.
💬 Need Help? Stuck or have questions? Join #powercommons:matrix.org for real-time support from the community!
Prerequisites
- FPGA board - we’ve only tested Xilinx VCU-118 or Arty A7 100T
- Linux environment (native or WSL)
- USB cable for programming
Steps
1. Download Prebuilt Bitstream
For Xilinx VCU 118, download the following bitstream:
wget https://powercommons.org/downloads/microwatt-vcu118-no-dram-latest.bit
For Arty A7 100T, download the following bitstream:
wget https://powercommons.org/downloads/microwatt-artya7100t-no-dram-latest.bit
See Downloads for other images.
2. Program FPGA
Via Vivado:
vivado -mode batch -source program.tcl
Via OpenOCD:
openocd -f board/vcu118.cfg -c "init; pld load 0 microwatt-vcu118-latest.bit; exit"
3. Connect Serial Console
Determine the console your FPGA board’s output is connected to. Use the following commands to list all the USB devices:
ls /dev/ttyUSB*
Next, use a terminal software like screen or litex_term to connect to the terminal for output:
screen /dev/ttyUSB4 115200
Expected output:
Microwatt v0.1
Linux booting...
Next Steps
No FPGA Hardware?
Use University of Oregon remote systems - free access for developers