Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs: User Guide

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ID 784383
Date 7/08/2024
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Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
1. About This Document 2. Intel® Simics® Simulator and Virtual Platforms 3. Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs Device Portfolio 4. Installing the Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs 5. Getting Started with Intel® Simics® Simulator 6. Debugging Target Software 7. Networking with the Simulated Target System 8. Intel® Simics® Scripting 9. Software Debug Examples with Intel® Simics® Simulator 10. Document Revision History for Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel FPGAs User Guide A. Intel® Simics® Simulator Command Reference
1. About This Document x
1.1. Documentation Conventions for Examples 1.2. Terminology 1.3. List of Acronyms
2. Intel® Simics® Simulator and Virtual Platforms x
2.1. Device Model and Virtual Platforms 2.2. Intel® Simics® Simulator 2.3. Intel® Simics® Simulator Architecture
2.2. Intel® Simics® Simulator x
2.2.1. Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel FPGAs Capabilities
4. Installing the Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs x
4.1. Installing the Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs on Linux* Systems 4.2. Installing the Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs on Microsoft Windows* Systems 4.3. Installing Ashling* RiscFree* IDE for Intel® FPGAs 4.4. Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs Support
5. Getting Started with Intel® Simics® Simulator x
5.1. Simulation Set Up 5.2. Starting the Simulation 5.3. Intel® Simics® Simulator Command-Line Interface (CLI) 5.4. Hardware Inspection 5.5. Intel® Simics® Simulator Timing
5.1. Simulation Set Up x
5.1.1. Initializing an Intel® Simics® Project and Deploying a Virtual Platform 5.1.2. Understanding Target Scripts
5.2. Starting the Simulation x
5.2.1. Starting a Simulation from a Command Prompt 5.2.2. Starting a Simulation with Ashling* RiscFree* IDE
5.3. Intel® Simics® Simulator Command-Line Interface (CLI) x
5.3.1. Version of the Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel FPGAs Software 5.3.2. Simulation Run Control from CLI 5.3.3. Intel® Simics® Simulator Command Scope 5.3.4. Intel® Simics® Simulator CLI Variables and Operations 5.3.5. Intel® Simics® Simulator CLI Command Completion and Command History 5.3.6. Intel® Simics® Command-Line Interface Help 5.3.7. Capture of CLI Session to a File 5.3.8. Intel® Simics® Simulator File Location and Intel® Simics® Search Path
5.4. Hardware Inspection x
5.4.1. Listing Objects in the Target System 5.4.2. Processor (CPU) Inspection 5.4.3. Device Inspection 5.4.4. Memory Mapping and Memory Inspection 5.4.5. Logging
5.4.2. Processor (CPU) Inspection x
5.4.2.1. Listing Processors 5.4.2.2. Inspect Processor Registers
5.4.3. Device Inspection x
5.4.3.1. Retrieve List of Devices 5.4.3.2. Inspecting Device Registers
5.4.4. Memory Mapping and Memory Inspection x
5.4.4.1. Memory Mapping Inspection 5.4.4.2. Memory Inspection
5.4.5. Logging x
5.4.5.1. Breakpoints on CLI Log Messages
5.5. Intel® Simics® Simulator Timing x
5.5.1. CPU Frequency 5.5.2. CPU Cycles and Steps 5.5.3. Events 5.5.4. Enable Real Time
6. Debugging Target Software x
6.1. Intel® Simics® Debugger and Debug Context 6.2. Capturing Serial Console Output 6.3. Breakpoints 6.4. Debugging Target Software with Symbol Files 6.5. Debugging Target Software with Ashling* RiscFree* Debugger 6.6. Capturing CPU Instruction Execution Trace
6.3. Breakpoints x
6.3.1. Memory Breakpoints 6.3.2. Temporal Breakpoints 6.3.3. CPU Control Register Breakpoints 6.3.4. Hardware Access Breakpoints 6.3.5. CPU Register Breakpoints 6.3.6. Tracing Breakpoints 6.3.7. Text Console Activity Breakpoints
6.4. Debugging Target Software with Symbol Files x
6.4.1. Loading Symbol Files in a Simulation
6.5. Debugging Target Software with Ashling* RiscFree* Debugger x
6.5.1. Remote Debugging with RiscFree* IDE
6.5.1. Remote Debugging with RiscFree* IDE x
6.5.1.1. Remote Debugging With Intel® Simics® Simulation and RiscFree* IDE on the Same System 6.5.1.2. Remote Debugging With Intel® Simics® Simulation and RiscFree* IDE on Different Systems 6.5.1.3. Remote Access to the Target System Serial Console
7. Networking with the Simulated Target System x
7.1. Network Simulation and Service Node 7.2. Connectivity Between Host PC and Target System
7.2. Connectivity Between Host PC and Target System x
7.2.1. Port Forwarding 7.2.2. Transferring Files Between Host PC and Target System 7.2.3. Accessing Target System from Host PC Through HTTP 7.2.4. Networking Commands Reference Table
7.2.1. Port Forwarding x
7.2.1.1. Incoming Port Forwarding 7.2.1.2. Outgoing Port Forwarding
7.2.1.1. Incoming Port Forwarding x
7.2.1.1.1. Example of an SSH Connection with Incoming Port Forwarding
7.2.1.2. Outgoing Port Forwarding x
7.2.1.2.1. Example of SSH Connection With Outgoing Port Forwarding 7.2.1.2.2. Example of SSH Connection via NAPT
7.2.2. Transferring Files Between Host PC and Target System x
7.2.2.1. Transferring Files with SCP service 7.2.2.2. Transferring Files with TFTP service
7.2.2.1. Transferring Files with SCP service x
7.2.2.1.1. Transferring Files With SCP Service via Forwarding Ports 7.2.2.1.2. Transferring Files with SCP from Target System to Host PC via NAPT
7.2.2.2. Transferring Files with TFTP service x
7.2.2.2.1. TFTP Using Forwarding Port 7.2.2.2.2. TFTP via NAPT 7.2.2.2.3. TFTP Using TFTP Server in Intel® Simics® Service Node
8. Intel® Simics® Scripting x
8.1. Scripts in CLI
8.1. Scripts in CLI x
8.1.1. Variables 8.1.2. Command Return Values 8.1.3. Control Flow Commands 8.1.4. Local Variables 8.1.5. Integer Conversion 8.1.6. Accessing Configuration Parameters 8.1.7. Error Handling in Scripts 8.1.8. Script Branches
8.1.8. Script Branches x
8.1.8.1. Script Branches Commands 8.1.8.2. Variables in Script Branches 8.1.8.3. Branch Synchronization 8.1.8.4. Canceling Script Branches 8.1.8.5. Script Branches Restrictions
9. Software Debug Examples with Intel® Simics® Simulator x
9.1. Debugging Linux* User-Mode Application
9.1. Debugging Linux* User-Mode Application x
9.1.1. Debugging a Linux Application with GDB 9.1.2. Debugging a Linux Application with RiscFree* IDE
9.1.1. Debugging a Linux Application with GDB x
9.1.1.1. Debugging with GDB Debug from Host PC Using Forwarding Ports 9.1.1.2. Debugging with GDB from Host PC with Intel® Simics® Simulator GDB Server
1. About This Document
2. Intel® Simics® Simulator and Virtual Platforms
3. Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs Device Portfolio
4. Installing the Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs
5. Getting Started with Intel® Simics® Simulator
6. Debugging Target Software
7. Networking with the Simulated Target System
8. Intel® Simics® Scripting
9. Software Debug Examples with Intel® Simics® Simulator
10. Document Revision History for Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel FPGAs User Guide
A. Intel® Simics® Simulator Command Reference

4.1. Installing the Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs on Linux* Systems

Tip: You can install the Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs in Windows* Subsystem for Linux* 2 (WSL 2 ) environments on systems running Windows 10 Version 1903 or later. Your WSL 2 Linux environment must meet the requirements listed in this section.

Host Machine Hardware Requirements

The minimum hardware requirements to install the Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs on Linux systems are as follows:

  • 64-bit processor (for example, 6th Gen Intel Core™ or later)

    If you install the Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs on a virtual machine, the hypervisor might not report the underlying CPU model correctly. In this case, the Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs might give you a warning message.

  • 16 GB of RAM memory
  • 8 GB of disk space

Host Machine Software Requirements

The minimum software requirements to install the Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs on Linux* systems are as follows:

  • Operating system: Modern 64-bit Linux distribution (such as Ubuntu 20.04 or later). If you use SUSE* Linux Enterprise Server, you must use SUSE* Linux Enterprise Server 15 or later.
  • GCC 6.3 compiler or higher
    Note: For forward compatibility with the Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs version 6.0.171 and higher, the compiler needs to support DWARF-5 format.
  • g++ 9.4 or higher
  • GNU make 4.1 or higher

The following software packages are used in some examples in this document:

  • aarch64-none-linux-gnu-gcc - GCC compiler for Arm* architecture (Linux x86_64 toolchain)
  • aarch64-none-linux-gnu-gdb – GDB debugger for Arm* architecture (Linux x86_64 toolchain)
  • TFTP Server for Linux x86_64

Installing Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs

Install the Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs as follows:

  1. Download the Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs from the Intel FPGA Software Download Center at the following location:

    https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/software-kit/current/775783.html

    The name of the downloaded file is IntelSimicsSetup-intel-fpga-ext_nn.n.nnn-linux.run, where nn.n.nnn is the version and build number of the Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs.

  2. Run the installer with the following command:
    ./IntelSimicsSetup-intel-fpga-ext_nn.n.nnn-linux.run
  3. Complete the installation wizard. The wizard walks you through accepting the license agreement and choosing (and creating, if needed) a installation directory for the Intel® Simics® Simulator for Intel® FPGAs.

    This document refers to the installation directory as <simics_installdir> .

  4. Click Finish in the wizard after the installation finishes to exit the wizard. After installation wizard completes the installation, the following directories are created under the installation directory:
    • logs: Contains the installation log files.
    • simics: Contains the following subfolders:
      • bin Contains the simics_intelfpga_cli executable file.
      • platforms: Contains the Intel® Simics® Virtual Platforms.
      • simics-version : Contains files for the Intel® Simics® base package.
      • simics-intelfpga-ext-version Contains the Intel FPGA packages, including Intel® Simics® models of supported Intel FPGA devices.
    • uninstall: Contains the uninstaller.
  5. Add <simics_installdir>/bin to your PATH environment variable.
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