Xilinx Vivado from NI website vs. Xilinx website

[Terry_ALE]

As a rule (with no exceptions) I always use the Xilinx Compile tools that link from here http://www.ni.com/product-documentation/53056/en/.  I always recommend only these for using NI FPGA products.

I am trying to find a link or written resource that states this.  Could provide info on this?

If one uses the same version of Vivado from Xilinx's website vs. NI's website, what are the differences in capabilities?  My guess is that using Vivado from Xilinx's website will not allow you to target NI hardware.

[MichaelDB]

Hi Terry_ALE,

The NI provided downloads for the Xilinx Compile tools include just the Xilinx compiler and some additional software to feed the intermediate files generated by LabVIEW FPGA into the compiler.  You can read more about how the FPGA compilation process in LabVIEW works here: http://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/371599N-01/lvfpgaconcepts/compiling_fpga_vis/ and http://www.ni.com/white-paper/9381/en/

The NI downloads for the Xilinx Compile tools are needed for integration with LabVIEW FPGA.  As to whether you could also use the Design Suite tools from Xilinx directly to target NI hardware, I couldn't say.  In principle, it's the same underlying compiler so as long as it can target the right model chip I don't see why you couldn't.  You'd likely be introducing a lot more manual work into the process though, as LabVIEW would no longer be managing the behind the scenes work to handle intermediate files and to push the bitfile to the target.  It's also not something NI would be able to support the way we support LabVIEW FPGA.

Do you mind if I ask, do you have an application in mind that would require this?