This page provides a list of resources to help you get started using Versal Adaptive SoC, including pre-built images for AMD evaluation boards, tutorials, and example designs. More detailed information can be found by following the links provided on this page. 

Whether you're an expert or novice user, the easiest way to get started with an AMD evaluation board is to start with a pre-built Linux image for your board.  If you're new the AMD embedded design flow, the Embedded Design Tutorial is the recommended way to learn the tools and design flow.  To build a custom Linux image, it's recommended that you start with a PetaLinux BSP for one of the AMD boards and then customize the configuration to suit your needs.

Table of Contents

Versal Wiki Pages

Pre-Built Release Images

The pre-built images referenced here are for the AMD evaluation boards. These can be loaded on to SD Cards on the AMD evaluation boards and you can boot Linux. The Pre-Built Releases Images page includes images for Versal, Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC, Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC and Zynq-7000.

Evaluation Boards and BSP

PetaLinux Board Support Packages (BSP) and Reference Examples include pre-built boot loaders, system images and bitstreams. Built-in tools allow a single command to deploy and boot these elements to either physical hardware, or to the included full QEMU system emulator. With PetaLinux, developers can have their AMD-based hardware booted and running within about 5 minutes after installation; ready for application, library and driver development.

AMD provides several evaluation boards for the Versal Adaptive SoC devices. For more information, the links below take you back to board-specific pages at AMD Evaluation Boards

• AMD Versal™ AI Core Series VCK190 Evaluation Kit

• AMD Versal™ AI Edge Series VEK280 Evaluation Kit

• AMD Versal™ HBM Series VHK158 Evaluation Kit

• AMD Versal™ Prime Series VMK180 Evaluation Kit

• AMD Versal™ Premium Series VPK120 Evaluation Kit

• AMD Versal™ Premium Series VPK180 Evaluation Kit

Each board also comes with a PetaLinux BSP that includes an image, documentation to recreate that image and a design that can be used as a starting point for the hardware user. There is one BSP for each board above. They are called PetaLinux BSPs since the AMD PetaLinux tool is used to create these images. You can download the PetaLinux BSPs by going to the AMD.com PetaLinux Download page. Please note that you will need a http://amd.com login to download these files.

Embedded Design Tutorial (EDT)

The Embedded Design Tutorial provides an introduction to using the AMD® Vivado® Design Suite flow for using the Versal Adaptive SoC. The latest versions of the EDT use the Vitis™ Unified Software Platform.  

• Versal Adaptive SoC Embedded Design Tutorial (UG1305)

 Embedded Software Stack on a Versal

The following is an overview of the embedded software stack for a Versal.

Open

For system start-up, a Versal™ device must successfully initialize, boot, and configure from a supported boot source.

The Versal™ Adaptive SoC has four key system start-up phases, that are independent of the selected boot mode, from boot through life-cycle management:

• Phase 1: Pre-Boot (PMC hardware), Power-up and Reset

• Phase 2: Boot Setup (RCU BootROM), Initialization and boot header processing

• Phase 3: Load Platform (PPU PLM), Boot image processing and configuration

• Phase 4: Post-Boot (PPU PLM), Platform management and monitoring services

The following sections provide a simplified overview the four phases.

Phase 1 (Pre-Boot) and 2 (Boot Setup) are handled by the Platform Management Controller and RCU BootROM. This goes through the power up sequence and start executing the code in the RCU BootROM. This will select the boot device and validate the boot header. The control is then passed to the PMC Platform Processing Unit (PPU) which loads the Platform Loader and Manager (PLM) code. 

For full details please see the Versal Adaptive SoC Technical Reference Manual and Versal Adaptive SoC System Software Developers Guide. 

PLM - Platform Management and Boot

During Phase 3 (Load Platform) the PPU executes the PLM software from the PPU RAM. The PLM reads the programmable device image and the boot mode properties are setup. The PLM software configures the peripherals, programmable logic, and processing system then completes the initial device boot. The PLM loads the applications and data for the Arm Cortex-A72 and Cortex-R5F processors to various memories specified by the ELF file. These memories include on-board DDR and internal memories, such as OCM and TCM. 

For Phase 4 (Post-Boot) the PLM continues to run until the next POR or system reset, and is responsible for post-boot platform management tasks. Post-boot services include DFX reconfiguration, power management, subsystem restart, error management, and safety and security services.

ARM Trusted Firmware

ARM Trusted Firmware (ATF) provides a reference to secure software for ARMv8-A architecture and it provides implementations of various interface standards like PSCI(Power State Coordination Interface) and Secure monitor code for interfacing to Normal world software. Xilinx ARM trusted firmware is based on arm trusted firmware at GitHub - ARM-software/arm-trusted-firmware: Read-only mirror of Trusted Firmware-A .
Xilinx ARM Trusted Firmware tree will be released and available at GitHub - Xilinx/arm-trusted-firmware: ARM Trusted Firmware .

For more information, go to the ATF page. 

U-Boot

U-Boot, short for Universal Boot Loader, is an open source, primary boot loader used in embedded devices to boot the device's operating system kernel that is frequently used in the Linux community. Xilinx uses U-Boot as a second stage boot loader in the Versal Adaptive SoC devices. For more information about U-Boot visit their page at U-Boot Documentation.

For more information about U-Boot on Versal devices, go to the U-Boot page on this wiki.

Hypervisor (Optional)

On the Versal devices, a hypervisor can be used to run more than one virtual machine. There are several hypervisors supported on the Versal AI Core devices. The list can be found on the AMD Adaptive SoC Embedded Software Ecosystem. 

For more information regarding hypervisor uses on Versal, please see the Multi-OS Support (AMP & Hypervisor) page.

Linux

Since Linux is the primary OS that people start with on the Versal Adaptive SoC devices, there is more information on it at the Linux page. This includes the two different build tools used to create customer distributions. Xilinx's PetaLinux and Yocto, an open-source project that is part of the Linux Foundation. The Linux page also describes how to build your own Linux from the source, and links to information about the Linux drivers that AMD provides. 

Documentation/Resources

For full information on Versal Adaptive SoC technical details and software development please see the following two documents. 

• Versal Adaptive SoC Technical Reference Manual

• Versal Adaptive SoC System Software Developers Guide

The following link a list of Design Hubs (lists of related documentation) for development on Versal Adaptive SoC devices from amd.com. 

• Versal Adaptive SoC Design Process Hubs

• Vitis Application Acceleration Development Flow

• Vitis Embedded Software Development Flow

• PetaLinux Tools for Embedded Linux Development Design Hub

The AMD Community Forums are places to get answers to questions or search for solutions to problems using AMD devices.

• AMD Adaptive SoC & FPGA Support

The AMD Developer site showcases projects using AMD products.

• Developer Central

Tools

The AMD tools provide all required tool chains to compile and link applications for AMD supported platforms, create and configure hardware designs, and create bitstreams.

Installing the AMD Tools