====== Migrating X-BLOX Designs to Alliance/Foundation Series 1.3  ============

Why Use "xblox2m1" program?
===========================
Currently, the Alliance/Foundation design tools cannot implement XNF files 
with references to old X-BLOX components. The new enhanced replacement is 
LogiBLOX which offers greater easy-of-use GUI interface and design performance. 

To facilitate the migration of existing X-BLOX designs to the Alliance or
Foundation Series 1.3 design environment, Xilinx now provides a script 
that automatically converts an X-BLOX XNF netlist to an XTF netlist. The
resulting XTF netlist output can then be imported into the Alliance or 
Foundation design environment. This particular enhancement solution offers 
the following advantages:
	
1. Simple and fast conversion of X-BLOX design to comply with 
   the Alliance/Foundation Series 1.3 design system.
2. No need for co-maintenance of XACTStep 5.2.1/6.0.1 and 
   Alliance/Foundation Series 1.3 systems to process X-BLOX design.
3. Run X-BLOX program without license restriction.

With this "X-BLOX conversion" tool, Xilinx designers will be able to 
migrate their X-BLOX design directly into Alliance/Foundation 1.3 
systems and thus simplify the conversion process.
      
Importing X-BLOX to Alliance/Foundation 1.3 Recommendations: 
============================================================
1. Use the "xblox2m1" program to import X-BLOX design netlist to Alliance 
   or Foundation Series 1.3 environment.
2. Resynthesize the HDL design to target LogiBLOX-based libraries or Xilinx 
   technology-specific libraries instead of XBLOX-based libraries. 
3. Replace existing X-BLOX components with LogiBLOX for all design schematics. 

This archive contains the executables needed to do this.
 
See the "Conversion Guide" for information on converting schematics and HDL
to use LogiBLOX.

Archive Description:
====================
This archive contains the XACTStep 5.2.1/6.0.1 programs XNFMERGE, XNFPREP, 
and XBLOX, as well as the supporting data files necessary for these 
programs to execute. All the files contained within this archive are a 
subset of the files found on the XACTStep 5.2.1/6.0.1 CD, with the exception
of XBLOX, which has been modified to run without license requirement.
There also exists a new script in this archive which replaces XMAKE (XMAKE 
will check for the existence of various files that are not needed for this 
archive, therefore it was not incorporated).

Installation:
=============
***Note: If you already have the XACT 5.2.x/6.0.x tools installed on your 
system, and you are already licensed for X-BLOX, then you do not need to 
install. You should be able to use the flow outlined in "Usage".  
If you have XACT 5.2.x/6.0.x installed on your system, but you do not have a 
valid license or key installed (for XBLOX ), then you may simply replace the 
file "xblox" located in the "bin" directory with the unlicensed "xblox" 
from this archive. XNFMERGE and XNFPREP are not licensed programs.

 

For Sun/HP Users:
1) Uncompress and untar the archive "xblox2m1_<platform>.tar" in a separate 
   directory

   Example:
           cd /tools/xilinx/xact    
           uncompress xblox2m1_sun.tar.Z
           tar -xvf xblox2m1_sun.tar

2) Set up your environment to use these tools
   Example:
           place following commands in a file "env_xblox2m1":

              setenv XACT /tools/xilinx/xact  ##path you installed archive at
              set path = ($XACT/bin/sparc $path) ##"hppa" instead of "sparc" for HP 

           source the file in the shell you will be executing these tools in:

              source env_xblox2m1

For PC Users:
1) Pkunzip the archive "xblox2m1.zip" in a separate directory (be sure to use 
the -d switch)
   You may use "WinZip" or other PKZip extractors if you wish.
   Example:
           cd c:\tools\xilinx\xact
           pkunzip -d xblox2m1.zip

2) Set up your environment to use these tools
   For Windows NT 3.51/4.0, you must see Sol'n #902 at www.xilinx.com for 
additional info

   For Win3.x and Win95:
           set PATH = c:\tools\xilinx\xact;%PATH%
           set XACT = c:\tools\xilinx\xact  
 

Usage:
======

This archive contains the C-shell script "xblox2m1" (for HP and SUN) and the 
batch file "xblox2m1.bat" (for the PC). Their purpose is to automatically perform 
the steps required to created the XTF file. If you wish, you may optionally execute 
the individual programs yourself, outlined in "manual translation". Manual 
translation may be required if you need to access command line options of the 
various XACT programs. 
***Note: This archive does not contain Design Manager, XDM, or XMake.

    Using XBLOX2M1
    --------------
All platforms:    
    The "xblox2m1" script/batch file will accept a XNF, XFF, or XTF file as an 
input, and it will then execute all the programs necessary to produce the XTF file. 
    The -p option can be used to specify the parttype on the command line. You are 
not required to use it if the proper part is specified in the source XNF/XFF/XTG file.
    The -noblox option is used to skip XBLOX. Use this switch if your design does 
not contain XBLOX symbols, but you still want to create a XTF file (Note: It is 
recommended that the XNF file be used as the input to M1, if possible). 

SUN and HP platforms:
    The "xblox2m1" script will detect a .xnf, .xff, or .xtg extension and run the 
appropriate flow. If you do not specify an extension, xblox2m1 will assume XNF.
    Example1:  xblox2m1 count8      
              (count8.xnf is input)
    Example2:  xblox2m1 count8.xff -noblox -p 4005epc84  
              (count8.xff is input, skip XBLOX, use 4005epc84 as part)

PC platforms:
    The "xblox2m1.bat" batch file CANNOT detect the .xnf, .xff, or .xtg extension. 
Do NOT specify an extension when running this batch file, even if it is .xnf. 
The batch file will assume XNF is the extension, unless you use the   "-x" option 
to specify otherwise.
    Example1:  xblox2m1 count8
               (count8.xnf is input)
    Example2:  xblox2m1 count8 -noblox -p 4005epc84 -x xff
               (count8.xff is input, skip XBLOX, use 4005epc84 as part)
  
    
    Manual Translation:
    ------------------ 

The following flow may be used:

xnfmerge design.xnf < -p parttype>
xnfprep design.xff
xblox design
xnfprep design.xg


    Taking the XTF to Alliance/Foundation Series 1.3 tools
    ------------------------------------------------------

.XTF file from XNFPREP or XBLOX2M1
     ||
     ||  To the Alliance/Foundation Series 1.3 tools
     ||
    \  /
     \/

Either:
1) Create a project in the Alliance/Foundation Series Design Manager, 
   using the XTF file as the source.
2) Run from command line as usual, using the XTF file as the source. 
   Example:
   "ngdbuild design.xtf -p 4020ehq240"
   .....continue on as normal (MAP->PAR->TRCE, etc)


Support:
-------

/ /\/    
\ \      
/ /      Please visit our WEB site at http://www.xilinx.com for the latest 
\_\/\    Xilinx documentation and application information.

Technical Support Office:
North America       	 1-800-255-7778		hotline@xilinx.com
United Kingdom      	(44) 1932-820821	ukhelp@xilinx.com
France			(33) 1-3463-0100	frhelp@xilinx.com
Germany			(49) 89-93088-130	dlhelp@xilinx.com
Japan			(81) 3-3297-9163	jhotline@xilinx.com

