Genesys 2 Kintex-7 FPGA Development Board

[Mahdi Moradmand]

Hello All,

I am Mahdi and a new comer to this forum.

I am going to order a Genesys 2 Kintex-7 FPGA Development Board and before that I have couple of questions.

1) The board coming with the Node-Lock/floating License or Voucher? if so for how many person and for how long?

2) With purchasing the board, Can I simulate/synthesis and implement my design via Vivado on the Gensys 2 Board? If not what I should do? Purchase new product or download and install something will be good?

3) What does it mean when the support expires?

Thanks in advance for help

Best,

[zygot]

Certain FPGA devices are not supported by free versions of vendor tools. Such is the case for the KC325T on the Genesys2. Yes, the board comes with a voucher for obtaining a node-locked license to create a bitstream file for this device. These licenses are perpetual and are tied to either a HD ID or MAC ID so you can use them on the PC that is tied to your computer for as long as the PC is operable. Xilinx provides documentation on how licensing works. I have a license for the KC325T that came with my Genesys2 board and dual-boot to Win10 or Ubuntu 20 and can develop projects for that device on either OS host ( same machine and MAC ID ). I was able to transfer my node-locked ZU7EV license from a WIN7 box to the this box; but the current version of the tools now support that device anyway so even though the Xilinx License Manager says that my license has expired for Vivado/Vitis 2021.2 I can still develop project for the ZCU106. Don't expect the KC325T to ever be supported on free tools. Xilinx is more generous for ZYNQ devices.

A device locked license is just like the full, paid for tool license except that it includes, along with all of the devices that the free tools support, the ability to create bitstreams for a particular device. You can develop projects for any board having a KC325T, including other packages. I use my node-locked license to develop projects on the Genesys2, KC705 and the NetFPGA-1G-CML; each has the KC325T but not all have the same pin count or package.

Simulation using Vivado ISIM is always free.

Node-locked licenses are perpetual but you can only use them on one host for your current version of Vivado and up to 1 year of tool version releases. This means that you might have to install multiple tool versions on the same host over time and use an older version for a specific platform.

While not perfect Xilinx is a whole lot better than any other FPGA vendor with regards to providing support for devices not normally included with the free tool versions. I have some Lattice and MicroSemi FPGA boards that are useless because the tools expire after a year unless you start paying for tools.

Edited January 29, 2022 by zygot

[Mahdi Moradmand]

Thank you so much for your answer and clarification.

I've just received the Genesys2 board with voucher.

I have a question regarding how to select my Genesys2 board via the Part/Boards in Vivado list.

As there is no Board match with Genesys2, I went through the Part number, the my FPGA is Xilinx Kintex-7™ FPGA (XC7K325T-2FFG900C) while the part numbers available which are close to this one are in following.

 

So is there any difference to select ant of those?

Edited February 8, 2022 by Mahdi Moradmand

[zygot]

Board support is provided my Digilent. Visit their GitHub repository for a number of useful things supporting your board. For Vivado 2021.2 you can use the xHub feature to add support for Digilent's boards. For earlier versions you can download or clone the vivado-boards repository and install it manually according to their documentation. Do visit Digilent's GitHub for the master constraints files and vivado-library repository at least. Do avail yourself of all of Digilent's documentation and support. You might find a number of useful things to speed up a project.

If you just want to specify a part for your Vivado project rather than a board just highlight the exact part listed on the Digilent documentation. If you are using an HDL design flow ( I hope that you are ) then that and the master constraints file with pin location constraints as a guide is all you need.

Always trust the schematic. Always verify the master constraints.

The speed grade for the Genesys2 boards is the -2. You want the tools to know this.

Edited February 10, 2022 by zygot

[Takemasa Tamanuki]

> Yes, the board comes with a voucher for obtaining a node-locked license to create a bitstream file for this device.

> These licenses are perpetual and are tied to either a HD ID or MAC ID so you can use them on the PC that is tied to your computer for as long as the PC is operable.

 

Is one Kintex-7, XC7K325T (Genesys2) license also applicable for my business-colleague by “add user” on [Product Licensing] as a “full administrate”?

I mean,

I purchased Genesys2, Digillent (Kintex-7, XC7K325T) on Oct, 2021, and I registered a license with the voucher for a node-locked device license in the box.

Recently, I added user for my business-colleague as a “full administrate” by entering his e-mail-address.

Then, my business-colleague obtained some node-locked-licenses and loaded them to his Vivado-2020.2.

However, his Vivado does not work for “Generate bitstream” with error-message of [Common 17-345: A valid license was not found for feature 'Synthesis' and/or device 'xc7k325t'....].

Actually, “OEM Kintex-7 FPGA XC7K325T Vivado Design Edition Voucher” is listed on the [Manage Licenses] in my [Product Licensing], however that is not listed in the colleague’s [Product Licensing].

Also, License name of “7K325T” is listed on the [License Manager (View License Status)] in my VIVADO, however, that is not listed in the colleague’s VIVADO.

Please let me know how to solve this issue (for normal working without any errors of bitstream-generating on the colleague’s VIVADO.).

I would appreciate if you could give me your kind advice.

[zygot]

All FPGA vendors have reference material available regarding their licensing rules and procedures. You need to work with AMD/Xilinx to get answers to a particular licensing issue.

Xilinx, now AMD, is unique in offering their node-locked device license. It is, I believe, intended to be tied to only 1 host PC for one Xilinx user account, and while it will work perpetually on that one host forever will not survive though more than 1 tools upgrade or so. All vendors sell network licenses for their tools, as well as node-locked licenses, for a considerable sum of money. I doubt that "sharing" a license with a colleague is within the bounds of any software license unless that colleague is using your host PC to do their work.

Ever so briefly, Altera ( now Intel ) offered let you buy a USB dongle that served as a license key. This allowed for using the paid for tools license on more than 1 host PC, but only one at a time. That didn't last long. I suspect that tools licenses are a significant source of income that programmable logic device vendors don't want to give up.

It's kind of remarkable that Xilinx tool licensing has been as generous as it is given the economic pressures of current world markets. We'll have to see if this changes now that AMD owns Xilinx, but I doubt that it will. Anyway, I have no personal complaints considering my experience with the licensing policy of their competitors. Edited May 17, 2022 by zygot

[JColvin]

Hi @Takemasa Tamanuki,

@zygot is correct in that you will need to work with AMD/Xilinx on the particulars for the licensing; Digilent does have any control on license vouchers that we offer for some of our boards operate within the Xilinx environment.

My understanding is that the vouchers are tied to a single system; you might be able to transfer this license to FLEX dongles, but I don't know the details on this.

Thanks,
JColvin

[Takemasa Tamanuki]

Zygot-san and JColvin-san,

Many thanks for your clear answers and comments about the XC7K325T-license "sharing" matter.

I will take your advice and will contact with AMD/Xilinx to get additional information about this matter.

Again, thank you for your continued support.

Takemasa Tamanuki