Experimental open source micro-ecosystem for open FPGAs. Based on platformio. Apio is a multiplatform toolbox, with static pre-built packages, project configuration tools and easy commands to verify, synthesize, simulate and upload your verilog designs.
Apio is used by Icestudio.
- Installation
- Apio packages
- Supported boards
- Documentation
- Development
- FAQ
- Videos
- Authors
- Contributors
- License
| Package | Installation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| drivers | apio install drivers | Drivers tools (only for Windows) |
| examples | apio install examples | Verilog basic examples, pinouts, etc |
| gtkwave | apio install gtkwave | Simulation viewer. GTKWave project (only for Windows) |
| icestorm | apio install icestorm | iCE40 FPGA synthesis, place & route and configuration tools. Icestorm project |
| iverilog | apio install iverilog | Verilog simulation and synthesis tool. Icarus Verilog project |
| scons | apio install scons | A software construction tool. Scons project |
| system | apio install system | Tools for listing the USB devices and retrieving information from the FTDI chips |
| verilator | apio install verilator | Verilog HDL simulator. Verilator project |
Supported platforms
linux_x86_64, linux_i686, linux_armv7l, linux_aarch64, windows_x86, windows_amd64, darwin.
| Board name | Interface |
|---|---|
| IceZUM Alhambra | FTDI |
| Nandland Go board | FTDI |
| iCEstick Evaluation Kit | FTDI |
| Board name | Interface |
|---|---|
| Alhambra II | FTDI |
| icoBOARD 1.0 | GPIO RPi |
| CAT Board | GPIO RPi |
| BlackIce | Serial |
| BlackIce II | Serial |
| Kéfir I iCE40-HX4K | FTDI |
| iCE40-HX8K Breakout Board | FTDI |
| Board name | Interface |
|---|---|
| TinyFPGA B2 | Serial |
| Board name | Interface |
|---|---|
| UPDuino v1.0 | FTDI |
| UPDuino v2.0 | FTDI |
| iCEBreaker | FTDI |
| iCEBreaker bitsy | FTDI |
| FPGA 101 Workshop Badge Board | FTDI |
| iCE40 UltraPlus Breakout Board | FTDI |
NOTE: all supported Icestorm FPGAs can be used with --fpga or --size, --type and --pack options.
The project full documentation is located in Read the Docs: http://apiodoc.readthedocs.io
git clone https://github.com/FPGAwars/apio.git
cd apiopip install toxtoxtox -e offline
tox -e coveragecd docs
make html
firefox _build/html/index.htmlAlso you can find the debian scripts to package the full application and all the packages here: https://github.com/set-soft/apio-debian.
Thanks Salvador E. Tropea!
Apio is an experimental micro-ecosystem for open FPGAs. Based on platformio. Apio is a multiplatform toolbox, with static pre-built packages, project configuration tools and easy commands to verify, synthesize, simulate and upload your verilog designs.
Apio is a command line interface (CLI) made for open FPGA developers. It is also a flexible project, ready to be adapted to new experimental toolchains, boards and cores. It contains some extra utilities like cross-platform lsusb and lsftdi, examples, drivers' configuration, etc.
Apio evolves with the growing open FPGA movement. It must be flexible, adaptative and hackable
Apio appeared as a need to unify and simplify the use of the main open source tools for open FPGAs Icestorm and Icarus Verilog. This became very useful for the verilog developers as a CLI and for projects like Icestudio as a back-end.
We want to spread the open FPGA knowledge and tools to everyone (eg: verilog tutorial). Simplifying the setup time would help to focus on the content, improve workshops performances, etc. In short, reduce the entry barrier to new users.
There were some drawbacks that we wanted to solve:
- Very long configuration time
- Compile the toolchains for each OS
- Multiple commands with low level parameters
- Different behavior in Linux, Windows and Mac
Then, we started building lsusb, lsftdi and icestorm static pre-built packages for Linux (x86_64, i386, armv7l, aarch64), Windows and Mac OS, and learning about these amazing emerging tools.
The first integration step was to add FPGA tools in the PlatformIO project (Platforio-FPGA), which has been always used for classic microcontroller ecosystems. But the slow integration and the lack of flexibility encouraged us to create a custom fork of PlatformIO (pio) called Apio to speed up our investigation and experiments with open FPGAs.
Note: also a pio-fpga Apio package was created to configure FPGA tools in PlatformIO through Apio in the early times.
Very interesting ideas like a nice Python click interface, a SCons build system and a user-level package installation were included in the project.
PlatformIO Lattice FPGA support was added in the 2.9.0 release. An issue was created with a very primitive and experimental support of iCEstick and Icezum boards (#480).
It was an initial attempt to try to fit the new open FPGA project concept into a classic microcontroller ecosystem.
In Platformio 3.0 a more flexible contribution method was implemented. Then, more contributions were made to support platform-lattice_iCE40 using the work and knowledge generated in the Apio project.
Apio is a micro-ecosystem focused only on open FPGAs while PlatformIO is an ecosystem focused on embedded platforms and microcontrollers. Apio has also a different API from PlatformIO.
Apio contains direct commands to verify, simulate, analyze, build, upload verilog code. It also contains system utilities, drivers configuration, generic examples, package management and board detection.
$ apio
Usage: apio [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...
Experimental micro-ecosystem for open FPGAs
Options:
--version Show the version and exit.
--help Show this message and exit.
Code commands:
build Synthesize the bitstream.
clean Clean the previous generated files.
lint Lint the verilog code.
sim Launch the verilog simulation.
time Bitstream timing analysis.
upload Upload the bitstream to the FPGA.
verify Verify the verilog code.
Environment commands:
boards Manage FPGA boards.
config Apio configuration.
drivers Manage FPGA boards drivers.
examples Manage verilog examples.
init Manage apio projects.
install Install packages.
system System tools.
uninstall Uninstall packages.
upgrade Check the latest Apio version.
PlatformIO is a bigger ecosystem than Apio. It integrates a lot of platforms, frameworks, boards and libraries for current IoT development. It also contains continuous integration, library examples, serial utilities and project testing.
$ pio
Usage: pio [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...
Options:
--version Show the version and exit.
-f, --force Force to accept any confirmation prompts.
-c, --caller TEXT Caller ID (service).
-h, --help Show this message and exit.
Commands:
boards Pre-configured Embedded Boards
ci Continuous Integration
device Monitor device or list existing
init Initialize PlatformIO project or update existing
lib Library Manager
platform Platform Manager
run Process project environments
settings Manage PlatformIO settings
test Unit Testing
update Update installed Platforms, Packages and Libraries
upgrade Upgrade PlatformIO to the latest version
Apio will continue growing with new packages, commands, boards and more, improving from the community knowledge and contributions, and satisfying our FPGA needs.
PlatformIO may also increase its FPGA support using all the knowledge generated in the Apio project and the contribution of the community.
Yes.
- Apio-IDE: is an experimental IDE that integrates Atom and Apio.
- Icestudio: is an experimental visual hardware editor built with web technologies.
-
FPGAwars community has developed this project in a voluntary and altruistic way since 11/2016.
-
BQ sponsored this project from 02/2016 to 11/2016. Thanks
Licensed under GPL 2.0 and Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.