[saiwan janian] shared their research on integrating open FPGA tool chain. Specifically, this is the open tool chain of sipeed nano Tang FPGA. The products provided by sipeed from China are relatively cheap. The official tool chain is proprietary and requires you to apply for an annual renewal license. There is a limited educational version that you can use more freely, but of course, it is not enough for comfortable work.
The tool chain relies on the apicula project, which is dedicated to reverse engineering, re implementation and recording of Gowin FPGA bitstream format, and Gowin integration nextpnr (an open tool for FPGA placement and routing). Through the combination of yosys, apicula, nextpnr and openfpgaloader, [sevan] integrates a set of commands that you can use to build a gateway for your nano Tang FPGA without any proprietary restrictions. They showed a basic Blinkie demonstration and a demonstration of successful operation of a parallel LCD connected to the motherboard.
The availability of FPGA open toolchain has always been a pain point. Want to know about the open FPGA tool chain? Tim[mithro]ansell’s 2019 super conference speech will let you know the latest situation!
We thank [feynger (sneezing)] for sharing this with us!