Vitis is a tool that allows platform design for data acceleration cards for Alevo series data center acceleration cards or embedded design for embedded Arm processors.

Notice that Vitis’s Linux edition can only do the design for data center acceleration cards, while the Windows edition can only do design for embedded systems. The software requires high CPU and memory performance; thus, it might not be ideal to do Vitis platform design on your own laptop.

Below shows the step-by-step software installation on your local Linux Desktop.

Hardware preparation

Designing system-scale hardware is costly but worthwhile. Below is one possible installation setting:

• Intel i7 14700k, I9 14900K CPU.
• SSD hard drive with at least 4TB, heatsink and latest PCIe.
• Motherboard ASUS ProArt Z790, please note that the DP input is INPUT to the motherboard. Use Type-C or HDMI for the display purpose. Error x 2.
• DDR5 RAM ideally 96GB (2 x 48GB), we tried an 2 x 32GB +2 x 48GB version. You may consider the ones with higher MegaTransfers per second.
• CPU cooler, ideally using a water cooling solution, since an air cooler may limit available RAM slots. Be mindful of the case; water cooling might not fit within the case comfortably. A possible air cooler is Noctua NH-U12A.
• High Power supply with Fan. You may go up to 1000W if needed. Please also be aware of the dimensions.
• Large Computer case with additional PWM Fans; we use Lian Li LancooL 216 Black Steel/Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower Computer Case,2X 160 mm PWM Fans Included (Non-RGB)- LANCOOL 216X Black.

Zhenyu Xu provided the above settings from Dr. Wei’s NEXT Lab research group at Clemson University.

Operating system preparation

You are not expected to run it over a virtual machine. Thus, you need to install Linux on your desktop. We use Ubuntu 22.04 LTS for convenience, which is available at https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop. Unlike a virtual machine, you need to use a tool like Rufus, which is available here https://rufus.ie/en, to make your USB flash drive bootable. The video below shows how you use it:

Warning: If you used the provided motherboard, please check your BIOS version; it must be 0816 [preferred] or 0904 X86 to fully support the 22.04 installation. Otherwise, it will return an out-of-memory error.

Version 0904 has an issue: the SSD port labeled as C is not usable with the Intel i7 14700k CPU. Later BIOS versions may fix this issue. The 0816 version has good support for the Intel i7 13700 K CPU. You can install Ubuntu 24.04 with a later BIOS (like 1801), but it cannot support the Xilinx toolchain at this moment. The installation steps are available at https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1012815/. You can download the driver from https://www.asus.com/us/motherboards-components/motherboards/proart/proart-z790-creator-wifi/helpdesk_bios?model2Name=ProArt-Z790-CREATOR-WIFI, and you can refresh your BIOS following the method in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAP7DQOSgU.

Vitis unified design download and installation

Vitis can be downloaded from https://www.xilinx.com/support/download/index.html/content/xilinx/en/downloadNav/vitis.html

Once you sign in, we have two options: Single File Download (SFD) or the web installer.

Single File Download (SFD) [Recommended]

The download speed will probably be faster than using the web installer. Extract the files from the Xilinx_.tar.gz archive:

tar -xvf Xilinx_<version>.tar.gz

Run the installer:

sudo ./xsetup

Use web installer

Download the .bin file. You need to change your directory to your download path, make the .bin file executable, and start the installation by

chmod +x <installer>.bin && sudo ./<installer>.bin

Known issues

If you stopped generating the installed device, you need to install the following and restart the installation after completion.

sudo apt install libtinfo5 libncurses5

XRT download and build

XRT is avaliable at https://www.xilinx.com/support/download/index.html/content/xilinx/en/downloadNav/alveo.html in xrt_.deb or xrt_.rpm file based on your operating system. While it might fail.

A better way is to build it from GitHub, which can be followed using the build instructions available at https://xilinx.github.io/XRT/master/html/build.html and https://docs.xilinx.com/r/en-US/ug1301-getting-started-guide-alveo-accelerator-cards/XRT-and-Deployment-Package-Installation-Procedures-on-Ubuntu

git clone https://github.com/Xilinx/XRT.git
sudo <XRT>/src/runtime_src/tools/scripts/xrtdeps.sh
cd <XRT>/build
source /tools/Xilinx/Vitis/2023.1/settings64.sh
./build.sh
cd /Release 
sudo apt install ./xrt*.deb---------------

Known issues

If you encounter the error: cmake: error while loading shared libraries: libidn.so.11: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory From https://askubuntu.com/questions/1477217/cant-install-libidn11-on-my-ubuntu-22-04, you need to:

sudo apt update
wget http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/pool/main/libi/libidn/libidn11_1.33-2.2ubuntu2_amd64.deb
sudo apt install ./libidn11_1.33-2.2ubuntu2_amd64.deb

If you happen to have two cmake versions within your XILINX library after loading the Vitis. With the issue as cmake version issue: CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:4 (cmake_minimum_required): CMake 3.5.0 or higher is required. You are running version 3.3.2 You can check by

which cmake

which may possibly returns: /tools/Xilinx/Vitis/2023.1/tps/lnx64/cmake-3.3.2/bin/cmake

Go to the directory “/tools/Xilinx/Vitis/2023.1/tps/lnx64” and check if there is a newer cmake there. If so, copy that directory and the ENTIRE PATH environment variable by first copying the current PATH variable, and then :

export PATH=/tools/Xilinx/Vitis_HLS/2023.1/bin:/tools/Xilinx/Model_Composer/2023.1/bin:/tools/Xilinx/Vitis/2023.1/bin:/tools/Xilinx/Vitis/2023.1/gnu/microblaze/lin/bin:/tools/Xilinx/Vitis/2023.1/gnu/arm/lin/bin:/tools/Xilinx/Vitis/2023.1/gnu/microblaze/linux_toolchain/lin64_le/bin:/tools/Xilinx/Vitis/2023.1/gnu/aarch32/lin/gcc-arm-linux-gnueabi/bin:/tools/Xilinx/Vitis/2023.1/gnu/aarch32/lin/gcc-arm-none-eabi/bin:/tools/Xilinx/Vitis/2023.1/gnu/aarch64/lin/aarch64-linux/bin:/tools/Xilinx/Vitis/2023.1/gnu/aarch64/lin/aarch64-none/bin:/tools/Xilinx/Vitis/2023.1/gnu/armr5/lin/gcc-arm-none-eabi/bin:/tools/Xilinx/Vitis/2023.1/tps/lnx64/cmake-3.24.2/bin:/tools/Xilinx/Vitis/2023.1/aietools/bin:/tools/Xilinx/Vivado/2023.1/bin:/tools/Xilinx/DocNav:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin:/snap/bin

If you face the error:

cmake: error while loading shared libraries: libssl.so.10: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

You need to follow the link https://support.xilinx.com/s/question/0D54U00006RtdwzSAB/cmake-version-upgrade-can-not-find-library?language=en_US by entering:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/<YOUR PATH>/Vitis/2022.2/tps/lnx64/cmake-3.21.4/libs/Ubuntu:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

Other errors: ./build.sh: line 5: grep: command not found ./build.sh: line 5: awk: command not found ./build.sh: line 5: tr: command not found

sudo apt install grep
sudo apt-get install gawk

Uninstall XRT

sudo apt remove xrt

Platform data download

Similar but different from Vivado, you need to download the Alveo data acceleration card from https://www.xilinx.com/support/download/index.html/content/xilinx/en/downloadNav/alveo.html by choosing the appropriate software and operating system.

Apart from downloading the .tar.gz files for your desired platform (U55C, U200, U250, U280), untar the tarball and install using the following command:

source /tools/Xilinx/Vitis/2023.1/settings64.sh
sudo apt install ./*.deb

You also need to download the Development Target Platform. You need to download and install the desired platform one by one.