This tutorial will show how to get started with Instant SoC. It is assumed that the user is familiar with Vivado or a similar VHDL simulator.

Start Instant SoC application that is found in the Windows start menu.

Select or create a folder where you want your project to be placed.

Select the gcc root directory. This is located in the [Instant SoC install directory]/gcc.

Select “Create Example”.

Press “Setup Project Folder” to generate necessary files.

Now start Visual Studio Code. Open the folder you created, [File] – [Open Folder…]

Click on the “example.cpp” file to open it.

The “example-cpp” file looks like:

#include "fc_io.h"
#include "fc_system.h"

int main()
{
    //% hw_begin
    FC_IO_Clk clk(100);
    FC_IO_Out counter(8);
    FC_System_Timer timer;
    //% hw_end
    int counter_value = 0;
    timer.Start(1, TU_us);
    for (;;)
    {
        timer.WaitTimer();
        counter = counter_value++;
    }
}

The hardware (peripherals) are defined between //% hw_begin and //%hw_end. The first hardware component has to be a clock. In this case the system clock (clk) is 100 MHz.

Build the system by pressing Ctrl+Shift+B.

You can now see that “example.vhd”, “example_TB.vhd” and “example.vh” files are created in your folder.

Now we will add an UART that sends a “Hello World” message. Place the cursor in the “hw” section.

When you type “FC_IO” a drop-list with all IO classes is displayed.

Add an FC_IO_UART_TX object with the baudrate as constructor argument.

Add a stream “hello world” message. The code should now look like:

#include "fc_io.h"
#include "fc_system.h"

int main()
{
    //% hw_begin
    FC_IO_Clk clk(100);
    FC_IO_Out counter(8);
    FC_IO_UART_TX tx(115200);
    FC_System_Timer timer;
    //% hw_end
    int counter_value = 0;

    tx << "Hello World!";
    
    timer.Start(1, TU_us);
    for (;;)
    {
        timer.WaitTimer();
        counter = counter_value++;
    }
}

Build the system (Ctrl+Shift+B). This results in the following entity:

--
library IEEE;
use IEEE.std_logic_1164.all;
use IEEE.numeric_std.all;

entity example is
    port(
        clk : in std_logic;
        counter : out std_logic_vector(7 downto 0);
        tx : out std_logic
    );
end entity;

architecture IMPL of example is
...

Open Vivado (or other vhdl simulator) and create a new project. Add these two vhdl files to the project (simulation). Select tutorial_TB as top-level and run the simulation.

The “example.vhd” can be used as a top level or a lower level component.