Looking for some guidance on setting up an FPGA development environment
Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some guidance on setting up an FPGA development environment on my Apple MacBook M1 running macOS 14.5. , I have a shallow knowledge about Verilog programming . However, my experience with terminals and setting up development environments is quite limited. I can manage some basic terminal commands but I’m far from proficient.
I am now really interested in diving deeper into HDL and working on FPGA projects. Here are a few specific questions I have:
1. What tools and software do I need to get started with FPGA development on macOS 14.5? Are there any M1-specific considerations I should be aware of?
2. Are there any step-by-step guides or tutorials you would recommend for beginners, particularly those that cover setting up the environment on a Mac?
3. Is it possible to run popular FPGA development tools like Xilinx Vivado or Intel Quartus on an M1 Mac natively without emulation( since i only got 8gb of ram )?
4. Are there any alternative FPGA development tools that work well on macOS?
5. Any tips on learning resources for HDL, especially Verilog or VHDL, that are beginner-friendly?
I appreciate any help or advice you can offer. Thanks in advance.
Solution:Jump to solution
Get a better computer. 8 GB of RAM is not enough memory for modern FPGA development tools. And you can also avoid emulating or having to run VMs by getting an x86 machine instead of ARM.
4 Replies
Well, @UC GEE You need a computer that runs certain distros of Linux or Windows to use Vivado. Your 8GB M1 is nowhere near the right computer. Most Mac users have a powerful Linux server for this, and use X11 as the remote GUI interface.
Solution
Get a better computer. 8 GB of RAM is not enough memory for modern FPGA development tools. And you can also avoid emulating or having to run VMs by getting an x86 machine instead of ARM.
Ohh... Thanks 👍 @Sterling
Wow 🥺...This is educative 💯.. Thanks @Marvee Amasi