Xilinx ISE Installation Instructions

ISE Installation Instructions

1. Make sure you have a xilinx.com account
2. Go to Xilinx.com, navigate to their ISE Webpack download page. Links can be found here ISE Webpack
3. Once you sign in and register, you'll be at the Xilinx Entitlement center, and have several options to download software. On your left, under quick links, there is a link titled "Register and Download 10.1 and earlier software."
   1. You will receive a registration email. This will contain a registrationID which you'll need later. Save this email and keep it handy.
4. Follow the screens to download the ISE Webpack. You'll be presented with either downloading the 2.5Gb image or the Webinstall client, which will download the files you'll need as it installs. You can choose either, I would recommend grabbing the 2.25Gb tarball. Instructions will be based on installing from the full tarball. Expect your vm drive to start growing.
5. By default, your download (webpack_SFD.tar for the full file) will go to your ~/Desktop folder. Open up a terminal and unpack the tarball.

   1.  cd  ~/Desktop 

   2. tar -xvf webpack_SFD.tar 

   3. This creates the directory ~/Desktop/webpack containing the installation files for the webpack. These installation files will work for Linux and Windows.
6. Now we're going to run the installer as root

   1.  cd webpack 

   2.  su (password is linux on the vm) 

   3.  ./setup 

7. During the setup you'll be prompted for a registrationID. This is the registrationID in the email you got back in step 3. Enter it here.
8. You'll then be presented with terms of service screens. Agree through them to proceed.
9. Next you'll be presented with a choice of installation directory. The default choise, /opt/Xilinx/10.1 is fine
10. Next is installation options You may as well choose all of them, but you must choose "All FPGA devices except Virtex 4 and Virtex 5" in order to design towards the Spartan 3E boards. You should be ready for your VM's disk to grow by 4 more gigs.
11. You'll then be presented with a set of environmental variables which are set in a settings file for ise. They can be left at defaults.
12. Select the cable drivers. Click through to confirm the settings and install the tools.
    1. You may uncheck the update feature, if you do not wish to immeadiately update the tools after installation. This will cause a large download to occur after installation, if it is checked.
13. Wait for the tools to install. Play cards with a buddy or go and grab a sandwich. This may be around half an hour of install time.