Windows 8 and Labview 2013 FPGA

[lodup29]

I installed Labview 2013 including the FPGA design suite on a Windows 8 (x64) host. I was surprised to see Windows 8 on the list of supported OS as I was aware that up to this day no Xilinx design suite supported Windows 8.

But as a matter of fact it didn't took long before I hit:

ERROR: Simulator:861 - Failed to link the design

following this tutorial while clicking on check syntax (using one of the VHDL file provided with the tutorial). The error is clearly linked to a lack of Windows 8 compatibility from the XIlinx tools running underneath. Is there a known workaround? Thanks.

[lodup29]

It really look for sure like Labview FPGA is supported on Windows 8:

[HollyBerry · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately, you cannot compile FPGA code on a Windows 8 yet since Xilinx does not have that compatibility. The following KnolwedgeBase article describes this. There is also a link in this article to another article that describes how to compile your code on a remote computer. That is the recommended way to compile when you have a Windows 8.

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/8FDE6923DA3C069786257A36005C3EEF?OpenDocument

[lodup29]

Thanks,

Unfortunately I don't have access to a compatible Windows platform (isn't it possible to install a farm on a Linux host?). I think that NI should stop advertising Windows 8 support (at least on the second DVD which only includes the FPGA tools).

[HollyBerry]

Here is more information about compile farms which could be a great solution for you:

http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/210566

[dan_u]

You could probably also set up a virtual machine (on your Windows 8 machine) with Windows 7 or Linux and install the compile tools in there.

I did not try this, though.

[lodup29]

That I could do but Linux is not listed here ... but Windows 8 is listed as supported for the farm server and not for the development environment. Isn't is the other way around? On top of that it looks like we should read GB instead of MB for the farm toolkit.

[HollyBerry]

Here is more information about setting up a Linux-Based FPGA Compile Worker:

http://www.ni.com/white-paper/14039/en/

[Ceslav]

For those who are still struggling with Win8 and Xilinx compile tools, I've managed to make everything work (including external IP nodes) by installing the latest version of MinGW: http://www.mingw.org/ and copying the installed files from the default location "C:\MinGW" to "C:\NIFPGA\programs\Xilinx14_7\ISE\gnu\MinGW\5.0.0\nt". I choose to install the complete MinGW, but installing the gcc tools only, could be sufficient.

My current setup is LabView FPGA 2014 with Xilinx Tools 14.7, Windows 8.1 running on Microsoft Surface Pro 3.

[andrea4381]

Thank you very much, it works perfectly. You solved me a lot of problems!