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Eclypse Z7 Getting Started Guide

Unboxing

Open the box. The Eclypse Z7 can be found placed in an antistatic bag. The power supply can be found in the removable box to the right side of the Eclypse box.

Make sure to raise the center piece of the box's cardboard spacers to find the programming cable and the USB A to Micro B cable.

What Comes in the Box?
  1. Eclypse Z7, contained in anti-static bag
  2. 12V 5A Power Supply with adapters for US and EU
  3. USB A to Micro B programming cable
  4. USB A to Micro A cable (for connector “USB”)

First-time Power On

The following steps will allow you to launch and use the Eclypse Z7's Out-of-Box demo, which is programmed into the board's flash during manufacturing. This demo is a simple way to ensure that the board is functional. It uses the ARM processor and FPGA fabric on the Zynq-7020 chip to control the board's LEDs and report the states of the board's buttons back to a host computer over a UART link.

  1. Set the programming mode jumper (JP5) to the QSPI position.
  2. Plug the provided power supply into the Eclypse's power jack (J11).
  3. Connect the Eclypse's PROG port to a computer using the provided microUSB programming cable.
  4. Turn on the Eclypse by flipping its POWER switch.
  5. Connect a serial terminal application (such as Tera Term or PuTTY) running on the connected computer to the Eclypse's serial port. Configure the application with the following settings: 115200 baud, no parity, 1 stop.
  6. Make sure the LEDs cycle, press the buttons and make sure that the board reports “Button Press Detected!” to the serial terminal application.
  7. Power down the Eclypse.

Install Vivado, Xilinx SDK, and Petalinux

These are the three main tools used in the development of applications for the Eclypse Z7:

  • Xilinx SDK is required to develop software for bare-metal and Linux-based applications.
  • Xilinx Vivado can be used to create custom hardware platforms, for use in standalone, bare-metal, and Linux-based applications.
  • Petalinux can be used to create the Linux images that must be loaded to the Eclypse prior to running Linux-based applications.

Digilent's Installing Vivado, Xilinx SDK, and Digilent Board Files guide goes step by step through the process of installing Vivado and Xilinx SDK. These are tools provided by Xilinx which allow a user to write hardware and software for a Xilinx FPGA chip, including the Zynq-7000 present on the Eclypse Z7. The guide also covers downloading and installing Digilent-provided board support files. At time of writing, materials for the Eclypse Z7 are only supported in Vivado 2019.1 and Xilinx SDK 2019.1.

Petalinux 2019.1 can be downloaded from Xilinx's website, and detailed installation instructions can be found in Xilinx User Guide 1144. Note that Petalinux is only supported in Linux-based operating systems. Windows users are recommended to either use a dual-boot setup or virtual machine. These requirements are further described in UG1144. At time of writing, materials for the Eclypse Z7 are only supported in Petalinux 2019.1.

Running a Zmod Demo

Demos that target the Eclypse Z7 are provided for each Digilent Zmod. These demos are version controlled on GitHub, and instructions for finding and running them are here on Reference. Find them in the Example Projects section of the resource center.

Next Steps

Return to the Eclypse Z7 Resource Center for more information and examples of how the Eclypse Z7 can be used.