ColorCNC Colorlight 5A-75E/5A-75B as FPGA controller board

jmelson
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27 Feb 2022 16:23 #235928 by jmelson

Replied by jmelson on topic ColorCNC Colorlight 5A-75E/5A-75B as FPGA controller board

tommylight wrote:

tuxcnc wrote:

First of all running as root is a really bad idea.

Why ?
Many peoples tell me "it is bad idea", but nobody can tell why ...

Linux is not windows, it has it's own way of doing things ... not important.
Running as a normal user in case of /infection/attack/mess up/exploit/ there is no easy way of installing additional code and make it run in Linux or have access to system /files/memory/hardware/, while running as Root the doors are already opened.
I am not good at explaining stuff, but in general, it is not a good idea to run as root although chances are very low that something will actually happen if you do not click and run unknown stuff/links/software/

I had a "root kit" installed on one of my systems decades ago. It added malicious code to a number of executables on my system. Once, when I logged in remotely and needed to do some system task, then that executable took advantage of the higher priviledge and wrecked the whole system. It was a big security wake-up call. and, of course, a simple typo can have disasterous effects when you are in su mode all the time.
Jon

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tuxcnc
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27 Feb 2022 17:31 #235931 by tuxcnc

Replied by tuxcnc on topic ColorCNC Colorlight 5A-75E/5A-75B as FPGA controller board

Inga wrote:
Litex supports at least V8.0 of the 5A-75B board.

The colorlight_5a_75b.py from romanetz (THANK YOU!) can also be used on a 5A-75B V8.0 board when you change near line 348

platform = colorlight_5a_75b.Platform()
to
platform = colorlight_5a_75b.Platform(revision="8.0")

This will change the pinout for ethernet etc. to V8.0

Colorcnc not yet working but I can connect to the board.

Thanks.
Now I'm fighting with nextpnr-ecp5 installation.
The colorlight_5a_75b.py already works.

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Visitor

27 Feb 2022 17:36 - 27 Feb 2022 17:38 #235932 by

Replied by on topic ColorCNC Colorlight 5A-75E/5A-75B as FPGA controller board

Installation of litex and oss-cad-suite

First remove your current installation, the way you do it is up to you

Litex

mkdir ~/LiteX
cd ~/Litex
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/master/litex_setup.py
chomd +x litex_setup.py
./litex_setup --init --install --user

OSS-CAD-SUITE

mkdir ~/Downloads/oss-cad-suite
cd ~/Downloads/oss-cad-suite
wget https://github.com/YosysHQ/oss-cad-suite-build/releases/download/2022-02-27/oss-cad-suite-linux-x64-20220227.tgz
sudo tar -xvf oss-cad-suite-linux-x64-20220123.tgz -C /usr/local/

Add the following to ~/.profile

# set PATH so it includes oss-cad-suite
if [ -d "/usr/local/oss-cad-suite/bin" ] ; then
PATH="/usr/local/oss-cad-suite/bin:$PATH"
fi

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Last edit: 27 Feb 2022 17:38 by .

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Visitor

27 Feb 2022 17:41 #235933 by

Replied by on topic ColorCNC Colorlight 5A-75E/5A-75B as FPGA controller board

The above post install everything required to build with litex.

As for root, as it is a valid discussion.
www.vultr.com/docs/why-use-sudo-instead-of-logging-in-as-root/

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tuxcnc
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27 Feb 2022 19:51 #235944 by tuxcnc

Replied by tuxcnc on topic ColorCNC Colorlight 5A-75E/5A-75B as FPGA controller board

[b]OSS-CAD-SUITE

[code]mkdir ~/Downloads/oss-cad-suite
cd ~/Downloads/oss-cad-suite
wget https://github.com/YosysHQ/oss-cad-suite-build/releases/download/2022-02-27/oss-cad-suite-linux-x64-20220227.tgz
sudo tar -xvf oss-cad-suite-linux-x64-20220123.tgz -C /usr/local/


[b]Add the following to ~/.profile


[code]# set PATH so it includes oss-cad-suite
if [ -d "/usr/local/oss-cad-suite/bin" ] ; then
PATH="/usr/local/oss-cad-suite/bin:$PATH"
fi


Logout and log back in.

[/code][/b][/code][/b]

Thanks.
Well, install 433 MB is overkill, but works.
The Litex not works for me. Has all files, but python can't find.
I tried run script and collect missing files to work directory.
I wonder, the script need only four directories from Litex installation : litedram liteeth liteiclink litex litex_boards
I tried on fresh Xubuntu 20.10.
You must first :

wget https://github.com/YosysHQ/oss-cad-suite-build/releases/download/2022-02-27/oss-cad-suite-linux-x64-20220227.tgz
tar -xvf oss-cad-suite-linux-x64-20220227.tgz -C /usr/local/
apt update
apt install python3-pip
pip3 install migen
cd colorlight-directory
./colorlight_5a_75b.py
cd build/colorlight_5a_75b/gateware
PATH="/usr/local/oss-cad-suite/bin:$PATH"
sh build_colorlight_5a_75b.sh.

<apt install python3-pip> installs all dependences including python3,

I don't know is my file working, because I haven't programmer.
Chinaman sent to me Altera not Lattice...
But you can test it.
github.com/tuxcnc/tuxcnc/blob/master/colorcnc-directory.tar.bz2

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Visitor

27 Feb 2022 21:00 #235947 by

Replied by on topic ColorCNC Colorlight 5A-75E/5A-75B as FPGA controller board

If you follow my instructions, you don’t need to install migen as a seperate item.

What is the vendor and product id of your programmer ?

openfpgaloader may be able to use it, which is included in the oss-cad-suite. Yes the download is big but it is far easier than having to build all the parts to have a full suite of programs to build the bit file.
I have done it both ways, after finding out the Debian yosys packages were too old.

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Visitor

27 Feb 2022 21:06 #235948 by

Replied by on topic ColorCNC Colorlight 5A-75E/5A-75B as FPGA controller board

Btw adding —build to the colourlight_5a_75b.py command will run the build script as well. If it fails it is usually because stepgen.v isn’t in build/gateware directory.

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tuxcnc
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27 Feb 2022 22:23 #235949 by tuxcnc

Replied by tuxcnc on topic ColorCNC Colorlight 5A-75E/5A-75B as FPGA controller board

If you follow my instructions, you don’t need to install migen as a seperate item.

What is the vendor and product id of your programmer ?

I ran colorlight_5a_75b.py before set path, probably this is explanation.

The programmer is still in bag, because I have dispute with seller.
I don't know vendor and id, but have photo :

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Visitor

27 Feb 2022 23:02 #235954 by

Replied by on topic ColorCNC Colorlight 5A-75E/5A-75B as FPGA controller board

I have a feeling that might work, I use an Altera USB Blaster clone works fine with openfpgaloader, which is included with oss-cad-suite

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TOLP2
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28 Feb 2022 22:11 #236039 by TOLP2

Replied by TOLP2 on topic ColorCNC Colorlight 5A-75E/5A-75B as FPGA controller board

At this moment I'm trying to make the idea of ColorCNC more flexible and expandable to more ColorLight cards. Therefore I started LiteX-CNC based on the contributions.

Trying to:
- configure the card by a JSON file (click-and-program);
- firmware split over multiple files for better readability and expansion with new functions;
- supports all ethernet FPGA cards which are supported by LiteX.

It is still work in progress (only GPIO out is finished at this moment) and not tested as my card is not yet in.

The repository can be found here: github.com/Peter-van-Tol/LiteX-CNC

The following user(s) said Thank You: kwarup, , svb

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ColorCNC Colorlight 5A-75E/5A-75B as FPGA controller board

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