Installing Xilinx 12.X in Ubuntu 10.04

Installing the Xilinx tools

Complete the standard Xilinx procedure for installing their tools under Linux, except that when asked, you must CHOOSE NOT to install the JTAG cable drivers.

Xilinx JTAG cable driver installation

Install the prerequisite packages for Xilinx cable drivers:

# sudo apt-get install libusb-dev libftdi-dev fxload

The following steps assume a Xilinx tool installation directory - ${XILINX} - of /opt/pkg/xilinx/12.1/ISE_DS

First, prepare to automate the USB cable firmware download (replace ${XILINX} with appropriate path)

# sudo source ${XILINX}/ISE/bin/lin/setup_pcusb
# sudo sed ${XILINX}/ISE/bin/lin/xusbdfwu.rules    \
        -e 's:TEMPNODE:tempnode:g' > /etc/udev/rules.d/xusbdfwu.rules
# sudo cp ${XILINX}/ISE/bin/lin/xusb*.hex /usr/share/
# sudo /etc/init.d/udev restart

Now unplug the JTAG cable and re-plug it.  You should see the Xilinx jtag cable has a firmware version of "03fd:0008"

# lsusb
Bus 002 Device 012: ID 03fd:0008 Xilinx, Inc. 

All done!  The Xilinx Impact and XMD utilities should now be able to detect and connect to the USB JTAG cable.

ChipScope Pro tools

To run the ChipScope  "analyzer" and "inserter" tools, you need to configure your default shell from "dash" to "bash"

# sudo apt-get install bash
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure dash

Be sure to select "no" when the reconfiguration window pop up.

Supporting tools

To resolve gmake and pdf reader missing for Xilinx tools in Ubuntu 10.04:

# sudo ln -s /usr/bin/make /usr/bin/gmake
# sudo ln -s /usr/bin/evince /usr/bin/acroread