Install Vivado/Vitis

Table of Contents

We will be using several Xilinx software tools, including Vivado, Vitis, and Vitis HLS. These can all be installed using a single Vitis installer.

Download

  1. Go to https://www.xilinx.com/support/download/index.html/content/xilinx/en/downloadNav/vitis/archive-vitis.html

  2. Under 2020, select 2020.2, and find the section Vitis Core Development Kit - 2020.2 Full Product Installation.

  3. You can either:
    • Download all the files upfront (All OS installer Single-File Download), or
    • Download files as you install using the Web Installer:
      • Windows: Xilinx Unified Installer 2020.2: Windows Self Extracting Web Installer
      • Linux: Xilinx Unified Installer 2020.2: Linux Self Extracting Web Installer
  4. You will need a free Xilinx account in order to download the software.

Running the Installer

Depending on how you downloaded the files, you will run the installer differently:

  • All OS installer Single-File Download:
    • Windows
      • Extract the files from the Xilinx_Unified_2020.2_1118_1232.tar.gz archive using a program like 7-zip.
      • Run xsetup.exe
    • Linux:
      • Extract the files from the Xilinx_Unified_2020.2_1118_1232.tar.gz archive: tar -xvf Xilinx_Unified_2020.2_1118_1232.tar.gz
      • Run the installer: sudo ./xsetup
  • Web installer:
    • Windows:
      • Run Xilinx_Unified_2020.2_1118_1232_Win64.exe
    • Linux:
      • Run the installer: sudo ./Xilinx_Unified_2020.2_1118_1232_Lin64.bin

Installer Options

  1. Enter your Xilinx account information, and select Download and Install Now.
  2. On the Select Product to Install screen, choose Vitis.
  3. On the customization screen, uncheck everything, except make sure you have:
    • Install the board files you need. This may be SoCs/Zynq-7000 (PYNQ, Zedboard, or other Zynq boards), SoCs/Zynq Ultrascale+ MPSoC (Ultra96, UltraZed, or other MPSoC boards), 7 Series/Artix-7 (Arty, BASYS 3), or others, depending on which board type you are using. You can always come back and install more board files later, but it’s a bit of a hassle, so it’s better to install all the board files you think you will need now. Note that the more boards you select, the more disk space you will need.
    • Install Cable Drivers
  4. On the next screen, agree to all boxes.
  5. On the next screen, choose an installation location with enough space.
  6. On the next screen, click Install and wait a while.

Install Cable Drivers

If you are using Windows, your cable driver will have been installed during the installation process. If you are using Linux, you must install them manually:

cd /tools/Xilinx/Vivado/2020.2/data/xicom/cable_drivers/lin64/install_script/install_drivers
sudo ./install_drivers

Other Considerations

  • Before you can run any Vivado/Vitis tool, you will need to add the executables to your PATH. This is done using a Xilinx-provided script:

    source /tools/Xilinx/Vivado/2020.2/settings64.sh
  • If you want that to always be run when you open a new shell, add it to your ~/.bashrc file. Note: While this is convenient, it can also cause issues. The Xilinx tools come with their own versions of several others tools (ie. make, cmake), and you if add this to your .bashrc then the Xilinx versions of these programs will always be run instead of the version installed by your Linux package manager.

  • By default, Vivado creates log files in whatever directory it is run from. To prevent these from cluttering up your filesystem, it is nice to redirect them to fixed locations (again, you may want to add this to your ~/.bashrc):

     alias vivado="vivado -log /tmp/vivado.log -journal /tmp/vivado.jou"