[meta-xilinx] Best layer for use with a ZC702 board?

[Mike Looijmans]

On 04/11/2013 06:36 PM, Elvis Dowson wrote:
> HI Moritz,
>
> On Apr 11, 2013, at 5:56 PM, Moritz Fischer <moritz.fischer at ettus.com> wrote:
>
>> I'll start hacking on a ZC702 board soon-ish and was just wondering
>> whether the meta-xilinx
>> layer will give me what I need to get a basic linux system up and running.
>>
>> According to [1] there seem to be multiple layers around for Zynq, any
>> recommendations which one would work best for my setup?
>
> Philip Balister's repo is probably the best one to get started with.
>
> git://github.com/balister/meta-zynq.git
>
> It includes HDMI output support. The only thing that you need to keep in mind when
> it comes to HDMI support is that you have two options for the IP core to drive the
> HDMI display output
>
> a. the Xylon Framebuffer driver as supported by the zynq-base-trd-14.4
>
> http://www.wiki.xilinx.com/Zynq+Base+TRD+14.4
>
> The only disadvantage that I see is that this is a licensed IP core and
> you need to obtain an evaluation license for this, and there is a
> yearly license to use it in a commercial context.
>
> b. the Analog Devices reference design
>
> http://wiki.analog.com/resources/fpga/xilinx/kc705/adv7511
>
> The HDMI output IP core is free to use, and gives you basic
> linux framebuffer support

To use the ADI core, you will need a different kernel because the driver 
is not in the kernel from Xilinx.

For both framebuffers, you will need to build FPGA logic and an FSBL.

If you use "my" repository, you can chose at runtime whether you want to 
use the framebuffer, because it can load the programmable logic from the 
root filesystem (which is much faster than doing it from the bootloader, 
uses less disk space because it can be compressed, and allows you to 
store it on for example on NAND flash or even network).

I still hope one day we can merge these zynq overlays together and that 
the licensing of the FSBL becomes clear. I can send you a FSBL and FPGA 
binary for personal use, but I don't dare put them in the repo.

Mike.