ubuntu_virtual_cae_system [Digitale Elektronik und Technische Informatik]

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===== Debian Virtual CAE System =====

The Debian virtual CAE System is a Debian Linux based CAE environment based on Intel/Altera(r), Quartus(r), ghdl and gtkwave. The idea is to run Linux in a virtual machine. The lab as two different boards which require different Quartus Version.

  * [[altera_boards|Altera DE1 board]] (Digitaltechnik, System on Chip Design, Master) with Cyclone II FPGA
  * Altera DE1 SOC (Technische Projektarbeit) with Cyclone V FPGA

The last version that supports Cyclone II fpga architecture is Quartus 13.0sp1. That version does not support the Cyclone V architecture. All quartus versions that support Cyclone V do not support Cyclone II. So unfortunately there is not one Quartus version that supports both fpga architecutures. 

==== Preconfigured VirtualBox / UTM virtual machine ====

Hans Färber has build three different virtual machines for VirtualBox, targeted to Windows and x86 machines

  * [[https://www.hs-augsburg.de/homes/haf/php/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=public:praktikum_digitaltechnik:cae-virtual-machine:caevm-install|Altera DE1 Virtual Machine with Quartus 13.0sp1 and ghdl/gtkwave]] for Digitaltechnik
  * [[https://www.hs-augsburg.de/homes/haf/php/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=public:meng:caemachine:caevm-install|Altera DE1 Virtual Machine with Quartus, ghdl, gtkwave and OpenROAD tools]] for Master Courses (Only x86_64, see below for new MacBooks)
  * [[https://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&No=836|Altera DE1 SoC board]]: [[https://www.hs-augsburg.de/homes/haf/php/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=public:meng:caemachine:socvm-install|SoC Virtual Machine]] (used in previous years for Master courses)

I have a preconfigured virtual machine for arm64 MacOS with UTM here:

  * [[https://tha.de/homes/beckmanf/public/vcae-arm64-1.utm.tar.xz|Altera DE1 Virtual Machine for arm based MacOS with Quartus 13.0sp1, ghdl and OpenROAD]] 



===== Build your own from scratch =====

The CAD software is based on Debian Linux, Quartus and other software. The software and the linux operating system are supposed to run in a virtual machine. If you do not use a virtualization environment, then you can install also directly on a native linux machine. See [[dt_manual_vm|manual setup]] for manual installation hints.

==== Virtual Machine ====

=== Virtualization Software ===
There are different virtual machine environments. 

== VMWare ==

VMWare(r) provides a commercial version [[https://www.vmware.com/products/desktop-hypervisor.html|VMWare Fusion]] for Mac OS(r). This has a very good integration in MacOS and I use it with MacOS 12.7.5 (Monterey). I have a commercial version but there is a free "VMWaver Fusion" for personal use also. They have "VMWaver Workstation" for Windows but I have not tested that.

== VirtualBox ==

[[https://www.virtualbox.org|VirtualBox(r)]] is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS. It is free. From my experience with MacOS it is not as good integrated as VMWare Fusion. If you want to use this, then download and install the the virtual machine software from [[https://www.virtualbox.org|https://www.virtualbox.org]]

== UTM for Mac ==

[[https://github.com/utmapp/UTM|UTM]] is based on [[https://www.qemu.org|QEMU]]. UTM/QEMU allows to run the amd64 based machine also on ARM based Apple Laptops. The quartus synthesis software is x86_64 based, i.e. it can not run native on the ARM laptops. I have made a debian base VM which runs everything arm native except the quartus synthesis software. Therefore that is much faster than emulating the complete machine. You must use this for Apple ARM based machines.

The following description is for ARM based Apple Laptops.

=== Get the .iso install image ===

The current vcae machine is based on debian 13 (trixie). Download the debian iso from here:

https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/arm64/iso-cd/debian-13.4.0-arm64-netinst.iso

=== Create the virtual machine ===

== UTM ==

Create a new virtual machine with the following settings:

  * Virtualize
  * Linux
  * Minimum 8192 MiB RAM
  * Cores: Leave Standard or choose more than half of your cores
  * Leave "Use Apple Virtualization" unchecked
  * Check: "Boot from ISO image"
  * Select the debian iso that you have downloaded
  * Chose 128 GiB Disk Space (the actually used space on the host depends on your actual usage)
  * Leave Share unused
  * Name your machine "vcae-arm64-1"
  * Save the machine

When you now start the machine, you boot the "virtual" USB stick from your iso file. Select:

  * Your language and localisation settings as you like
  * Hostname: vcae
  * Domain-name: mac.local
  * Root-Password: LEAVE EMPTY
  * User Fullname: caeuser
  * Username: caeuser
  * Password: caeuser
  * Partition: guided - complete disk
  * Choose: vda
  * All files on one partition
  * Confirm to write files on disk
  * No additional install media
  * Debian mirror: ftp.de.debian.org
  * Mirror proxy: LEAVE EMPTY
  * popularity-contest: yes
  * Software selection: Leave only "SSH server" and "Standard-Systemtools" checked

After reboot, you will again enter the installer because you still have the iso file mounted as USB.

  * Switch off the machine
  * Delete the USB Drive in the machine settings in UTM via right-click "edit"
  * Start the Machine again
  * Login as user "caeuser" with password "caeuser"

=== Finalize the installation ===

After the debian installer has finished you should reboot your virtual machine. It will start in terminal mode. You need to login as user "caeuser" with password "caeuser" to finalize the installation. After login do:

<code>
cd
sudo apt -y install ansible git
git clone https://github.com/fredowski/vcae.git
pushd ./vcae/ansible
sudo ansible-playbook disable-sudo-password.yaml
ansible-playbook sose26.yaml
</code>

After the installation, the machine will reboot with gui. After reboot, open a terminal and do:

<code>
sudo apt -y install gtkwave
git clone https://github.com/fredowski/thavlsibuild.git
pushd ./thavlsibuild
./installdependencies.sh
popd
wget https://tha.de/homes/beckmanf/public/openroad.tar.xz
sudo tar -xJf openroad.tar.xz -C /opt
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/openroad/bin' >> .bashrc
echo 'export OPENROAD_EXE=/opt/openroad/bin/openroad' >> .bashrc
echo 'export YOSYS_EXE=/opt/openroad/bin/yosys' >> .bashrc
</code>

That will install 

  * Altera Quartus II Web Edition Version 13.0sp1 (13.0.1 build 232)
  * gtkwave
  * OpenROAD tools including ghdl, yosys, ghdl-yosys plugin and openroad
  * LXQt + Lightdm Window environment

These versions are required for the Altera DE1 board which is used in the digital design lab and is available in the library. This Quartus version is the last version that supports the Altera Cyclone II FPGA which is on that board. So do not install a later version if you want to use that board. The quartus software will be installed at "/opt/altera/13.0sp1".

ghdl, yosys and the openroad tools are precompiled for arm64 on debian 13 (trixie). These precompiled binaries are produced with these scripts: https://github.com/fredowski/thavlsibuild

The installation of quartus and the window environment is done via ansible. You need to open a new terminal to have the PATH settings active.

===== Test the installation =====

=== Start Quartus GUI===

<code>
quartus --64bit
</code>

=== Run some projects ===

Install git

<code>
sudo apt install git
</code>

Download the "Digitallabor" from the git server: [[https://caeis.etech.fh-augsburg.de/beckmanf/dtlab.git]]

<code>
cd
mkdir projects
cd projects
git clone https://caeis.etech.fh-augsburg.de/beckmanf/dtlab.git
</code>

Now start a simulation

<code>
cd dtlab
cd sim
cd top_shift
make wave
</code>

To run a synthesis

<code>
cd dtlab
cd pnr
cd top_simple
make quartus
</code>

If you have a [[altera_boards|FPGA Board]], you can download and test the design. 

<code>
make prog
</code>

==== How this is done ====

The repository [[https://github.com/fredowski/vcae]] contains how the

  * Debian preconfigured iso
  * The quartus debian packages
  * The ansible install scripts
  * A vagrant setup

are made.

==== Install Quartus via the package ====

If you already have a native linux installed, then you can install quartus also via a debian package. In order to make the packages available on your installation. Copy the file [[https://github.com/fredowski/vcae/blob/main/quartus-debian-package/quartus.list|"quartus.list"]]

<code bash quartus.list>
deb [arch=arm64,amd64 trusted=yes lang=none] http://www.tha.de/homes/beckmanf/public/repository ./
</code>

to "/etc/apt/sources.d" and update the package repository database with

<code>
sudo cp quartus.list /etc/apt/sources.d
sudo apt update
</code>

=== Intel Quartus 13.0sp1 for Cyclone II FPGA (Alter DE1 Board)===

<code>
sudo apt update
sudo apt install quartus13
</code>

=== Quartus 23.1 for Cyclone V (Altera DE1-SoC Board) ===

<code>
sudo apt update
sudo apt install quartus23
</code>

=== Quartus path setup ===

In order to be able to start the binaries from the terminal, the path for the binaries has to be in the PATH environment variable. For that you have to modify the .bashrc file in your home directory. Append the following snippet to the .bashrc file with [[http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/~matloff/UnixAndC/Editors/ViIntro.html|vi]].

<code bash .bashrc>
# Include the ALTERA fpga software
export PATH="$PATH:/opt/altera/13.0sp1/quartus/bin"
</code>

Then you have to logout and login again to make the changes active.