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[ARCHIVE][October 08, 2012] Building a Linux distribution for the UNISIM Virtex 5 FXT Simulator

WARNING!

This is a deprecated content.
An up-to-date version of it is here

The UNISIM Virtex 5 FXT Simulator can easily run a minimalist Linux distribution for a Xilinx Virtex-5 FXT development board. We propose you to build a mini Linux distribution based on Busybox and including the MiBench version 1 benchmark suite.

1. What you get after the build ?

You get a mini Linux Distribution adapted for the UNISIM Virtex 5 FXT Simulator. The distribution is based on Busybox and the MiBench version 1 benchmark suite. At least four files are needed to boot Linux in the simulator:
  • A boot program (PPC440 startup):
    boot.elf
  • A Linux kernel:
    vmlinux
  • A device tree (a machine description for Linux):
    device-tree-16m.dtb
    device-tree-32m.dtb
    device-tree-64m.dtb
  • An initial RAM disk image (a root file system):
    initrd.img
    initrd_automotive_basicmath.img
    initrd_automotive_bitcount.img
    initrd_automotive_qsort.img
    initrd_automotive_susan.img
    initrd_consumer_jpeg.img
    initrd_consumer_lame.img
    initrd_consumer_typeset.img
    initrd_network_dijkstra.img
    initrd_network_patricia.img
    initrd_office_ghostscript.img
    initrd_office_ispell.img
    initrd_office_rsynth.img
    initrd_office_stringsearch.img
    initrd_security_blowfish.img
    initrd_security_pgp.img
    initrd_security_rijndael.img
    initrd_security_sha.img
    initrd_telecomm_adpcm.img
    initrd_telecomm_crc32.img
    initrd_telecomm_fft.img
    initrd_telecomm_gsm.img

2. Requirements

  • A Linux host machine with the sudo rights
  • A GNU cross tool-chain: follow the instructions here
  • Binaries and data sets of the MiBench version 1 benchmark suite: download

3. Get the material

Download that tarball. It contains all the necessary material (scripts and source codes) to get a mini Linux distro for the UNISIM Virtex 5 FXT Simulator.

4. Uncompress the tarball

$ tar zxvf unisim-virtex5fxt-linux-distro-source-v1.tar.gz

5. Build the Linux distribution

Run the building script:
$ cd unisim-virtex5fxt-linux-distro-source-v1
$ ./build.sh all ${HOME}/mibench-v1-bin-powerpc-7450-linux-gnu-v1 ${HOME}/crosstool-source-powerpc-440fp-linux-gnu-v1/powerpc-440fp-linux-gnu
Adjust the arguments of the building script to your cross tool-chain and MiBench installations. Be patient...the process of building the Linux distribution is quite long.

What's new ?

The web site has been migrated to a new server. Please note that contact mails have changed too. More to come…stay tuned!

Virtual Platforms

Highlights

Acknowledgments

Digiteo
We would like to thank Digiteo that supported us in making the UNISIM virtual platforms available to the community.

Exhibition

HiPEAC
We presented a poster at the poster sessions of the HiPEAC'12 conference, January 23-25, 2012, Paris, France. The HiPEAC conference provides a forum for experts in computer architecture, programming models, compilers, and operating systems for embedded and general-purpose systems. The conference aims at the dissemination of advanced scientific knowledge and the promotion of international contacts among scientists from academia and industry.

On-going evaluation

OPEES
A UNISIM virtual platform of a Xilinx Virtex-5 FXT is being evaluated by project partners in the context of OPEES (Open Platform for the Engineering of Embedded Systems), a European project that aims to ensure long-term availability of critical / embedded systems engineering technologies to secure industry competitiveness and development.