Using DE1-SoC

The DE1-SoC runs Angstrom Linux which is quite capable and able to install and run many packages. The board uses the opkg package manager which is comparable to apt-get or yum.

NengoFPGA

The Nengo interface for the board is installed in /opt/nengo-de1. The hardware bitstreams (*.aocx files) and the interface library (*.so file) must be saved in /opt/nengo-de1/lib, see the README in the /opt/nengo-de1/lib folder on the board for details. If these files do not exist in this directory, see the Updating Bitstreams section below for details.

For running networks on the board please refer to the NengoFPGA usage documentation.

Updating Bitstreams

The NengoFPGA bitstreams for the DE1-SoC are tailored to your specific device. We will need your Device ID in order to build a new bitstream. You can obtain your Device ID and acquire bitstreams by following the instructions in the NengoFPGA copy protection documentation.

Once we have obtained your Device ID, your custom bitstream will be built and distributed to you. You will receive an email with a weblink to download your tailored bitstreams. The link will allow you to download an archive (zip file) named as the Device ID that was provided to us, for example, 0x0123456789abcdef.zip. This archive contains the following files:

  • pyhost_pes.so: The host library for the NengoFPGA interface.

  • pes_relu_rate.aocx: The hardware design that implements rate model rectified linear units.

  • pes_relu_spiking.aocx: The hardware design that implements spiking model rectified linear units.

Unzip the archive and copy all of these files to /opt/nengo-de1/lib on the board. See Copying Files to/from DE1-SoC for help copying the files to the board.