Introducing an FPGA-ARM Dev Kit for Embedded Linux Starters- Avent MiniZED Board
Hi All , Welcome to another tech byte....
Embedded Linux is a very powerful area in the current age of IoT and Edge Computing.
But as an FPGA RTL person throughout the career , i had numerous situations where had to work side by side with embedded software engineers who were linux gurus. I have seen their struggle starting from setting up environment for development, building code , solving hardware dependencies , integrating software pieces for limited resources , cross compiling , optimising for performance so and so... Rather than few sneek peaks into their works, i have never dared myself to do a hands on into these linux stuffs.. I was pretty happy with few diagnositc linux commands which told me , yes data to and from my FPGA side is pretty solid and running..
And we had run into situations where we play "ball in your court" game when a bug pops up from nowhere.. We blame it on software and they shout it back on RTL :)
But last project at workplace with a Intel Cyclone V FPGA-SoC gave a confidence to take up something in linux. As the project got over i thought of having a hardware of my own to continue the exposure.
So after a brief search i have settled down to Avnet's MINIZED Board , which is the cheapest in the 'Zed Series' of Boards from Avnet. Costs around 9000 inr in India.
CPU wise its a humble configuration with Single Core ARM A9 Cortex and smallest Artix-7 FPGA in a single die 225 pin package. Together it is named as Xilinx Zynq 7000 series SoC.
For expansion it has Arduino style header , and 2 Digilent PMOD connector
Connectivity is good with a integrated Bluetooth and Wifi IC. No ethernet on board.
USB Host port for peripherals.
So some upcoming projects are planned based on this board .. Lets get our hands dirty Stay tuned.
Embedded Linux is a very powerful area in the current age of IoT and Edge Computing.
But as an FPGA RTL person throughout the career , i had numerous situations where had to work side by side with embedded software engineers who were linux gurus. I have seen their struggle starting from setting up environment for development, building code , solving hardware dependencies , integrating software pieces for limited resources , cross compiling , optimising for performance so and so... Rather than few sneek peaks into their works, i have never dared myself to do a hands on into these linux stuffs.. I was pretty happy with few diagnositc linux commands which told me , yes data to and from my FPGA side is pretty solid and running..
And we had run into situations where we play "ball in your court" game when a bug pops up from nowhere.. We blame it on software and they shout it back on RTL :)
But last project at workplace with a Intel Cyclone V FPGA-SoC gave a confidence to take up something in linux. As the project got over i thought of having a hardware of my own to continue the exposure.
So after a brief search i have settled down to Avnet's MINIZED Board , which is the cheapest in the 'Zed Series' of Boards from Avnet. Costs around 9000 inr in India.
CPU wise its a humble configuration with Single Core ARM A9 Cortex and smallest Artix-7 FPGA in a single die 225 pin package. Together it is named as Xilinx Zynq 7000 series SoC.
For expansion it has Arduino style header , and 2 Digilent PMOD connector
Connectivity is good with a integrated Bluetooth and Wifi IC. No ethernet on board.
USB Host port for peripherals.
So some upcoming projects are planned based on this board .. Lets get our hands dirty Stay tuned.
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