Hi everyone,
According to the Xilinx’s document “Spartan-7 FPGA Configuration with SPI Flash and Bank 14” spi flash pins of the spartan 7 fpga is not connected to spi flash.
IO_L1P_T0_D00_MOSI_14, IO_L1N_T0_D01_DIN_14, CCLK_0 etc. They are connected to ESP32 IC.
So i cannot put my vhdl project .bin file on the spi flash with openocd. I can only program it with JTAG where it holds project until power down. I bought this board for stand alone fpga development since it has great peripherals. But i cannot hold my desing in it after power down.
How can i put vivado generated .bin file for spi flash on the board. Or do i need to use ESP32 as a flash memory. Any explanation and help is appriciated.
Thank you.
Hi ,
You can use the spartan-edge-esp32-boot repo it explains load bitstream(FPGA Logic) from SDCard to the on-board FPGA(xc7s15) by the on-board ESP32.
The flash chip on the board belongs to ESP32 mcu, it stores the firmware for ESP32 only.
There is no flash for fpga, instead fpga is put into “Slave Serial” configuration mode with onboard switch (bit 5 of SW4), and it’s ESP32 firmware’s responsibility to upload the config into fpga.
The stream could be stored on SD card and read by ESP32 sketch, or embedded directly into ESP32 firmware as a constant data - decision is yours.
Unfortunately, you’re forced to make that decision 
Thank you for both answers. I used sdcard and esp32 to load .bit file. It works.
Great to know that.
Hi,
Could you please make the video to program the FPGA in standalone mode using SD card?
Hi,
Could you please make the video to program the FPGA in standalone mode using SD card?