Read and write SPI flash from MicroBlaze program

[Jim Brady]

Hello,

I have an Arty S7 board and would like to read and write a small region (say 256 bytes) of SPI flash from my MicroBlaze program.  I assume I would create an AXI quad SPI core, attached to the MicroBlaze design, and connect it to the same pins used for configuration.  I have a some questions :

Is this even possible?

After FPGA startup configuration is done, does the FPGA free up the SPI lines for such use?  (I noticed some mention about the SCK line not being freed up.)

What part of SPI flash does Vitis/Vivado write FPGA configuration into?  (low-end, high-end, some settable region)

Is there any MicroBlaze example code available?

Is this so complex that I would be better off just using a small I2C EEPROM for my needs?

Thanks for the help,

Jim