Is there a Digilent Cable Driver for Win11 on ARM

[Peter0201]

I am looking for a Digilent Cable Driver that will install and work on Windows for ARM to enable Xilinx SoC and FPGA development.

We do hardware and software development that requires software running on MacOS, Windows and Linux.

For the last 10 years we had no problems developing on Apple hardwaring using Parallels to smoothly also run on Windows and Linux.

Apple's ARM platform is changing this and we need to adapt.

One of our development branches is hardware using Xilinx SoC and FPGAs. Their toolchain runs without issue on Windows for ARM but the Digilent drivers needed for JTAG connection does not install (also see this post: 

).

Is there a Digilent Cable Driver for Windows on ARM that could be used?

 

EDIT:

It seems the problem may not caused by Windows for ARM but rather Windows 11. The exact error message that I get when trying to install the driver is:  "Adding the driver package failed : A certificate chain processed, but terminated in a root certificate which is not trusted by the trust provider."

Searching for that on the web seems to be an issue with the driver signing that was changed in Windows 11.

Edited February 9, 2022 by Peter0201
Extra info

[attila]

Hi @Peter0201

The general driver should be good. This driver is new, it wasn't there when I've last checked.

The Xilinx software for Windows is available for 32/64bit Intel architecture. The kernel mode driver should run on OS architecture.
You are running on Mac Arm -> Parallels -> Windows Arm and this performs virtualization to Intel application, ARM driver and Intel software.
Is it possible or have you tried using 32/64bit Intel Windows? This should be more backward compatible since it would require Intel drivers.

Probably @malexander could tell you more about the plans on software support.

[attila]

Hi @Peter0201

You could try to install the driver from online updates (Windows Device Manager Update Driver) or manually from:
C:\Program Files(?)\Digilent\Runtime\UsbDriver\
or the following:
https://ftdichip.com/drivers/d2xx-drivers/ https://ftdichip.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/CDM212364_Setup.zip

[Peter0201]

Thanks for getting back to me and apologies for only replying now. I did not get an e-mail notification and saw it was not set-up correctly.

I downloaded the latest ARM drivers from FTDI but this installed the device as a Serial Port device. It is not picked-up by Xilinx and does not work.

Should I have installed it differently, or any other suggestions?

[attila]

Hi @Peter0201

There are not FTDI drivers available for Windows (11) ARM yet.

@malexander Do you have any information on this?

[Peter0201]

Hi @attila

Do I need a specific driver for theJTAG-HS3 device, or can one of the general FTDI drivers work?

According to the FTDI drivers site the do have drivers for Windows 11 ARM for the D2XX and they have a special mention that it has been tested in Parallels on Mac M1.

[malexander]

@Peter0201

@attila

I found some Microsoft FAQ's about running software on ARM platform. Support for applications in Windows 10 requires that they be compiled for 64-bit (ARM64), 32-bit (ARM32), or 32-bit (x86). The Windows 11 FAQ does not explicitly mention processor architectures which suggests that it can run both 32-bit and 64-bit applications regardless of if they are compiled for Intel or ARM. Both Windows 10 and 11 require ARM drivers for any hardware that an application communicates with.

The FAQ can be found here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-arm-based-pcs-faq-477f51df-2e3b-f68f-31b0-06f5e4f8ebb5#ID0EFD=Windows_11

I sent an email to FTDI to get a complete list of the operating systems / architectures supported by driver 2.12.36.4U and to ask for reseller rights so that we can include that driver in our installer.

Support for ARM devices running Windows isn't on our roadmap so I don't have an ETA for when Analog Discovery Pro or other upcoming devices will be supported. There's also no ETA for an ARM version of the Adept Runtime for Windows. I will also marketing to do some research on the demand for this platform.

Thanks,
Michael

[Peter0201]

I found that installing the latest driver from FTDI (see this post) resolved my issue. I did have to uninstall all other drivers using their uninstaller tool.

I can confirm that I was able to use the Xilinx tools (SDK 2019.1 and Vitis 2022) to connect to our hardware using the JTAG-HS3 cable. This was running Windows 11 ARM in Parallels Desktop 17 on Mac Book Pro with M1 Max CPU. I can also confirm that this is running everything faster and smoother than ever before.

[attila]

Hi @Peter0201

I'm glad to hear that.

Thank you for the update.