Oracle® VM VirtualBox

Installation Instructions for Windows 10

and
Linux Virtual Machine Creation
Targeting Avnet Development Boards

Version 2.0
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Preparing Your Machine

For best results with using VirtualBox Virtual Machines (VMs) as depicted in this document, some
preparation of your machine is required to enable virtualization extensions for your CPU within the
system BIOS (or UEFI) and to make sure that no conflicting virtualization packages are loaded.

Enabling CPU Virtualization Features:

The system BIOS (or UEFI) of a PC is responsible for enabling virtualization extensions and features of
CPUs that support Virtualization Technology (VT). This is important because workstation and
development workloads can co-locate while maintaining full isolation from each other. They can also
freely migrate across infrastructures and scale as needed.

To enable your CPU virtualization extensions, you will need to reboot your PC and enter the (BIOS or
UEFI) configuration menu. This often involved holding down a special key during the early stages of
booting the PC so you may need to refer to the manufacturer documentation for your specific model of
PC or motherboard to know which key is needed to enter the configuration screen. Once in the
configuration screen, look for the Intel VT-x, Intel Virtualization Technology, or Virtualization
Extensions options and make sure that they are enabled. Again, model specific PC manufacturer
documentation may help here with locating the correct settings.

For further information on enabling virtualization features on the CPU of your development machine,
there are other resources that provide guidance:

https://www.howtogeek.com/213795/how-to-enable-intel-vt-x-in-your-computers-bios-or-uefi-
firmware/

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Disabling Windows 10 Hyper-V:

Windows 10 Pro includes Microsoft provided VM enablement called Hyper-V. However, Hyper-V and
VirtualBox cannot be used concurrently. The Hyper-V feature of Windows needs to be disabled in order
to use VirtualBox. If Hyper-V is enabled VirtualBox may still run to a point and then VM will likely hang
without any explanation from VirtualBox that Hyper-V is still enabled.

If more advanced users want to run Docker for Windows, it will require Hyper-V instead of VirtualBox.

The following dialog is where many Windows 10 features can be enabled/disabled, you can find it from
the Win 10 search bar with the “Windows Features” search string and Hyper-V can be disabled by
removing the checkmarks next to these features:

Microsoft has also provided an answer on the topic of disabling Windows 8 and Windows 10 Hyper-V.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-windows_install/how-do-i-uninstall-
hyper-v/7d268911-47cd-4c52-bfe5-ea41e58067ab

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Download Links
While this document shows how to setup and install a VirtualBox environment for use of a Linux virtual
machine for the cross build platform, downloads are on the large side. It is recommended to begin all
downloads ahead of time in order to save time later when continuing this document. The download
links are also interleaved in the appropriate locations IN this document, however, it is recommended to
download all files early as they can take quite some time.

VirtualBox and Extension Pack Download:

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

Vivado and SDK:

https://www.xilinx.com/support/download.html
-OR-
SDSoC (includes Vivado and SDK):
https://www.xilinx.com/support/download/index.html/content/xilinx/en/downloadNav/sdx-
development-environments.html

Note that you will need an SDSoC license. If you only plan on using Vivado and SDK, there is NO need to
download the SDSoC installer. If you are planning to use SDSoC, then it is strongly recommended to
install the SDSoC installer ONLY, as this will include the Vivado HLS install, SDK, as well as the SDx
extensions for the Eclipse environment.

The PetaLinux 2019.1 Installer:

https://www.xilinx.com/support/download/index.html/content/xilinx/en/downloadNav/embedded-
design-tools/2019-1.html

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Installing Oracle VM VirtualBox on Windows 10

This document shows how to install VirtualBox and the Extension Pack to enable the use of a Linux
virtual machine for the cross build platform.

General Instruction:
Install Oracle VM VirtualBox using the official VirtualBox installer. For legal distribution reasons, the
VirtualBox installation executable cannot be included with any public Avnet materials. To obtain a free
legal copy of the Oracle VM VirtualBox and the Extension Pack, please download from the VirtualBox
website:
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

The version downloaded may differ from the version shown in this documentation (6.0.12). Be sure to
read the VirtualBox EULA to ensure you do not violate the Personal Use and Evaluation License (PUEL).
You may also wish to consult the VirtualBox Licensing Frequently Asked Questions for a quick overview
of the intent of the license agreements:

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Licensing_FAQ

Step-by-Step Instructions:
1. To obtain a free legal copy of Oracle VM VirtualBox, download the installer from this website:

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

The version downloaded may differ from the version shown in this documentation (6.0.12). You
also need to download the Extension Pack which is a separate download. Make sure the
Extension Pack you download is the same version as your VirtualBox installer.

2. Launch the VirtualBox installer from Windows Explorer by double-clicking the self-extracting
executable. Allow the installer to make changes to your computer, if so prompted.

VirtualBox Installer for Windows

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3. Once the VirtualBox installation wizard appears, click the Next button.

4. You may accept all the installation defaults, although you may wish to change the installation
location on your development platform using the Browse button. If the options are acceptable,
click the Next button.

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You may again accept the default options and click the Next button.

5. Click the Yes button to continue with the installation wizard.

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6. Click the Install button to load VirtualBox to your development system.

7. During the installation you may receive prompts to authorize installation of various
components. If prompted, allow the installer to make changes to your system, including
installation of the USB interface and Network adapters.

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8. If you are asked to install the Oracle Corporation Universal Serial Bus device driver, or Oracle
Corporation Network Adapters/Network Service, choose to install them

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9. Click the Finish button to complete the installation. Leave the checkbox enabled so VirtualBox
will start after the installer finishes.

10. Once VirtualBox starts (you can also start it from the Desktop shortcut, or the Windows Start
button), the Extension Pack must be added. From the main menu, select File > Preferences.

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11. Select Extensions. Right-click in the Extension Packages whitespace box, and select Add
Package.

12. Browse to the location where you downloaded the VirtualBox Extension Pack compatible with
your VirtualBox version. Select the Extension Pack and click the Open button.

13. Click the Install button to add the VirtualBox Extension Pack.

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14. Read the VirtualBox Extension Pack PUEL License to ensure you will not be in violation of the
Oracle definition of Personal Use. See the VirtualBox Licensing Frequently Asked Questions for
additional details. If you can accept the license conditions, scroll to the bottom of the
agreement text box and click the I Agree button 1. If prompted, allow the installer to make
changes to your development system.

15. Click the OK button to complete the installation.

1
If you must disagree, the installation will be terminated. You should either purchase a commercial license or
uninstall VirtualBox from your host computer.

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16. Click the OK button to return to VirtualBox.

This completes the installation of VirtualBox on your host development system. VirtualBox is now ready
to accept a new Virtual Machine.

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Create a New Virtual Machine

1. Launch Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager and click Machine  New icon at the upper left.

2. Select a descriptive name for the VM. Set the Type to Linux and the Version to one that
corresponds to the OS you wish to install.

a. For Ubuntu, choose Ubuntu (64-bit).

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3. Select the amount of memory to be allocated to the Virtual Machine. Allocating more memory 2
will improve the VM performance, but you must leave sufficient memory available for your host
system for all other concurrent processes. For a host system with 16 GB of RAM, a value of
8192 MB is recommended for the Virtual Machine, especially if you intend on using Xilinx
SDSoC. You may wish to experiment with this value to optimize your performance as larger
density target devices have higher2 memory requirements. The memory can also be changed at
any time even after installing the VM hosted OS. You will need to locate a balance of host and
guest performance through properly balancing this. Of course the MORE memory you can
provide the guest, WITHOUT causing issues for the host, the better your guest OS will run!

4. Click the Create 3 button to accept the default file type for a VirtualBox Disk Image and allocate a
virtual hard drive now.

2
You may need more memory if you intend to run Vivado with large Xilinx devices. Refer to
https://www.xilinx.com/products/design-tools/vivado/memory.html for details selecting RAM for your application
3
If you are importing an existing Virtual Machine, click the “Use an existing…” button.

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Select Next, leaving the defaults for Hard disk file type

5. Select Fixed Size for the physical storage on your host hard drive. This will improve overall
performance of the Virtual Machine.

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6. Select the name and location for the Virtual Machine within your host file system. The
recommended size is 500.00 GB to accommodate the Xilinx tools. If this space is unavailable,
150.0 GB is sufficient if you plan to install the SDK (but and only a few of the Vivado tools.
375.0GB is sufficient for creating a PetaLinux based SDSoC platform. Note that it has been seen,
if your host PC has a SSD, a dynamically allocated VDI does not appear to affect performance
significantly. Click the Create button.

The Virtual Hard Disk may take a few minutes to create and initialize on your host file system.

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7. Once the Virtual Disk completes, select the newly created VM and click on the Settings button
to open the Settings dialog specific to the VM instance.

8. Under the System blade and the Processor tab, select the number of logical CPU cores to be
allocated to the Virtual Machine. Allocating more CPU cores will improve the VM performance,
but you must leave sufficient CPU cores available for your host system for all other concurrent
processes. For a host system with 8 CPU cores, a value of 4 CPU cores is recommended for the
Virtual Machine, especially if you intend on using Xilinx SDSoC. You may wish to experiment with
this value to optimize your performance as larger density target devices have higher2
computation requirements for design placement. The memory can also be changed at any time
even after installing the VM Guest OS as long as the Guest is shut down and the VM powered
off. You will need to locate a balance of host and guest performance through properly balancing
this.

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9. Once the processor allocation has been modified in the above step, your VM is ready to accept
an operating system.

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Install the Ubuntu 18.04 Operating System

To perform the steps in this section, you will need to download a bootable OS image in .iso format to
your host system. While Ubuntu 19.04 is the latest, Ubuntu 18.04.1 is the recommended version4
(ubuntu-18.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso). We have also seen other sub versions of Ubuntu 18.04 work with
this. The Ubuntu images can be downloaded from:

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

Repeat the steps outlined in Create a New Virtual Machine, entering Ubuntu as the Name of the VM.
Once the Virtual Disk completes, your VM is ready to accept an operating system.

1. Launch VirtualBox (if necessary) and select the VM you wish to start in the left-hand panel. Click
the Start button to execute the VM.

2. Select the Browse icon to locate the .iso image for the OS you wish to install on your Virtual
Machine. Click the Start button to begin.

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3. When the Install Welcome screen appears, select English and click the Install Ubuntu button.

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4. Select your preferred keyboard layout option. The default displays as English (US). Click the
Continue button.

5. The installer shows requirements for installation. Uncheck Download updates while installing
Ubuntu in order to speed the install. Click the Continue button.

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6. The installer displays various installation types. The default displays as Erase disk and install
Ubuntu. Click the Install Now button.

As this is a new installation, we want all changes written to the disks. Click the Continue button.

7. Select your time zone and click the Continue button.

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8. Enter the primary user name for the Virtual Machine. In this case, create a default user name
training. The system will auto-populate the computer name and username. Enter and confirm a
password. Click the Continue button.

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9. The installation displays a Welcome graphic and proceeds with installation. When the
installation is complete, a screen appears asking you to restart. Click the Restart Now button.

If the Restart appears to “freeze”, you can force a reboot manually:

a. From the main VirtualBox menu, select File | Close.
b. In the Close Virtual Machine dialog, select Power off the machine and click the OK
button.
c. In the Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager, select your Virtual Machine and click the Start
button.
If Ubuntu requests that you remove the installation media and press enter to continue, it is
easiest to select Devices-> Insert Guest Editions CD image…

10. Click through the “What’s new in Ubuntu

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Configuring VirtualBox for Better Ease of Use

Configuring VirtualBox on a supported Linux system should be straightforward, but depending on the
precise hardware configuration of your development system, there could be some challenges to create
an optimal environment. This section outlines a few of the common issues that may be encountered
along with some suggested workarounds to help increase the ease of use for the environment.

VirtualBox Guest Additions Installation (File Sharing)

1. It was found with the latest versions of VirtualBox, we did not have to install the Guest Editions.
If you do not get the message from the following step, continue to section “VirtualBox Shared
Folders”
2. The use of shared folders allows for easy transfer of files between the host and guest systems.
To use the shared file facility of VirtualBox, you must install the Guest Additions
(VBoxGuestAdditions.iso). If you attempt to use the shared folder facility without the Additions,
you will receive the following error message.

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After Guest Additions are installed, you can move the cursor between the Virtual Machine and
the host OS without having to use the Right Ctrl key to recapture the cursor in the host.

a. If the VBox_Gas_6.0.12 icon is NOT on the desktop, from the Devices menu, select
Insert Guest Additions CD image…

b. If you need to, double click the icon, then when prompted, click the Run button to
execute the installation.

c. Note, if this does not auto-run

i. open a terminal
ii. cd /media/training/Vbox_Gas_6.0.12
iii. sudo ./autorun.sh
Enter your root password
iv. Skip to the “VirtualBox Shared Folders” section
d. The Guest Additions should install and verify with no failures.
i. If this does fail, reboot and attempt the same procedure to install the Guest
Additions

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e. If the installation states that it needs to be reset before kernel modifications can occur,
do so and then come back and continue at the “VirtualBox Shared Folders” section
f. Press the Enter key to close the installation window. Be sure to restart Linux to ensure
that the Guest Additions is started properly before moving on to a later section of this
guide.

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VirtualBox Shared Folders

Once Guest Additions have been installed, you must select a folder to share between the host and guest
systems. This folder is used to transfer files to/from the Virtual Machine and the Host system.

1. From the VirtualBox main menu, select Devices > Shared Folder > Shared Folders Settings…

2. Right-click Machine Folders and select Add Shared Folder.

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3. In the Folder Path box, click the dropdown arrow on the right. Select the Other entry to open a
Windows Explorer pane. Browse to the location in Windows where you want to set up a shared
folder and click Select Folder in the Explorer pane. Click the checkboxes for Auto-mount and
Make Permanent. Click the OK button. For consistency with Lab and training materials, it is
suggested to use C:\VirtualBox_Share and VirtualBox_Share as shown in the image below

4. The location of the shared folder in Windows is shown in the Path column. The folder will
Auto-mount and Full Access is allowed. The corresponding folder in the Linux VM is
/media/sf_<Windows Folder Name>. In the example shown, this corresponds to:

/media/sf_VirtualBox_Share

Click the OK button to close the panel.

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5. Shared folders are only available to user accounts that are also members of the group vboxsf.
This means the user account created earlier must be added to this group. This can only be done
in Ubuntu 16.04 from the command line. To view available groups and members, open a
Terminal window but selecting the Dash and then searching for Terminal. In a Terminal window
enter one or more of the following commands.

This command lists all groups:

$ getent group

This command lists a specific group named vboxsf:

$ getent group vboxsf

To add an existing user to an existing group, in a Terminal enter the following command:

$ sudo usermod -a -G vboxsf <current username>

6. Reboot the Virtual Machine.

7. The selected user name will belong to the vboxsf group on the next login. To access the shared
folder from the Virtual machine, browse to: /media/sf_<sharename>

In this example, the folder in Windows is named VirtualBox_Share, so the <sharename> in Linux
is sf_VirtualBox_Share, automatically mounted in the /media folder. Any files in this folder are
available to the Virtual Machine and the Host OS system.

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VirtualBox Shared Clipboard

Once the Guest Additions have been installed, you can enable the Shared Clipboard which will make it
easier to copy and paste text strings from tutorial documents from the host system to the guest
systems. This is very useful for later tutorials where it is desirable to copy command prompt instructions
verbatim from the tutorial guide document directly into the command prompt of the guest system.

1. From the VirtualBox main menu, select Devices > Shared Clipboard > Bidirectional

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Network Bridging
When VirtualBox is installed with its default options, the networking is set up to use Network Address
Translation (NAT). This allows your Virtual Machine complete outgoing access to your LAN and/or the
Internet, but it assigns an internal IP address that may not be compatible with your LAN and the IP
address of your host system.

If you would like your Virtual Machine to accept an address from a local DHCP server, you can change
the default network type to Bridged. This will make the Virtual Machine available to any other
connected device on the same subnet on your LAN.

1. From the main VirtualBox menu in a running Virtual Machine, click on the Settings button. If the
button is not visible, select Machine > Settings.

2. Select the Network entry in the left panel. Select the tab for your NIC (typically Adapter 1) and
expand the dropdown menu for the Attached to field.

3. Select Bridged Adapter from the dropdown menu and click the OK button to save the changes.
Wait a few seconds for your Virtual Machine to request an address from the local DHCP server.
Once complete, the VM will now have an address on your local subnet, accessible to all devices
on your LAN.

If you do not receive a new IP address after a minute, stop and restart the Ethernet service.

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Configuring Ubuntu 18.04

Configuring Ubuntu on a supported Virtual Machine should be straightforward, but there could be some
additional steps needed to create an optimal environment. This section outlines a few of the common
issues that may be encountered.

Set a root user password

By default, Ubuntu does not set a password for the root user. You can do this by simply invoking the
sudo passwd command. You supply your own user password, then set the root user password.

sudo passwd
<Enter user password>
<Enter new root password>
<Confirm new root password>

From this point forward, you will be able to precede a command with sudo to obtain root authority.

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Change the default shell to bash for PetaLinux

If you intend to use the PetaLinux tool-chain under Ubuntu, you will find that it requires the bash shell
as the default to execute correctly. By default, Ubuntu uses the dash shell, which is an extension of the
bash shell with a few additional features and optimized for faster execution. Unfortunately, the dash
shell is not compatible with the current PetaLinux tool-chain.

A description for the dash shell and its potential issues can be found here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DashAsBinSh

1. Most distributions use /bin/sh as a symbolic link to points to the actual default shell. Under your
Ubuntu environment, to determine the current shell, enter:

$ ls -l /bin/sh

2. To change the default shell for all terminal windows, enter:

$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure dash

3. Select the option to remove dash as the default shell when prompted.

4. When the change is complete, close all open Terminal windows and open a new Terminal.

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5. Verify the default shell is bash using the commands shown previously.

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Xilinx Vivado/SDK Installation

Installing Vivado/SDK tools on a supported Linux system should be straightforward, but depending on
the precise configuration of your development system, there could be some challenges to create an
optimal environment. This section outlines a few of the common issues that may be encountered.

To perform the steps in this section, you need to download a tar.gz image to your host system. The most
recent images can be downloaded from: http://www.xilinx.com/support/download.html.

NOTE: Once the download is complete, you may want to verify there is an md5sum utility installed by
default. Open a terminal window and enter the following:

$ md5sum -b <path to your compressed-Vivado-tar.gz file>

The valid checksums for the different download archives are available from the Xilinx download site.

Install Vivado in the VirtualBox Linux VM

1. Copy the All-OS version of the compressed Vivado or SDSoC installer from your host system to
your VM desktop from the file share. (2019.1 SDx installer shown below)

2. Open a terminal window and decompress the installer on your desktop. It will create a new
folder automatically in the current directory of your Terminal window.

$ tar -xvzf ~/Desktop/<Compressed-Vivado-Installer-Name>

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3. Change into the new folder and execute the installer setup script. You will need root privilege to
install into the default directory of /tools/Xilinx (preferred).

$ cd ./Xilinx_Vivado_SDK_2019.1_0524_1430/
-OR-
$ cd ./Xilinx_Vivado_SDx_2019.1_0524_1430/
$ sudo ./xsetup

4. The Vivado 2019.1 Installer lists the operating systems officially supported by Xilinx. The tools
may run on other Linux distributions and versions, but there will likely be some manual
configuration required. Installation on unsupported systems is beyond the scope of these notes.

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5. Follow the instructions as shown in the Installer GUI.

Note: If installing Vivado, if you also want to install the SDK, select SDK Development Kit from
the menu.
a. Read and Accept all license agreements.
b. Select the Vivado edition (version) you wish to install (or SDK Standalone).
c. Select the Devices you need.
i. If choosing SDSoC, you can deselect SDACCEL
d. Cable Drivers are no longer installed by this installer under Linux. See instructions in the
Install Missing Cable Drivers section of this document.

e. Select the default directory for installation. Depending on the size of your virtual disk,
you may be space limited here. You can delete the compressed installer archive to free
20-25 GB of disk space, if necessary.
f. If needed for your device or tool selection, obtain and install a license for your tools. If
you are planning to use a free WebPACK license for development on your target
platform, there is nothing further that is needed and you can close the Vivado License
Manger dialog.

6. You may optionally delete the entire folder where you decompressed the installer to free up
additional disk space.

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Adjust GTK Version Used for Vivado in the VirtualBox Linux VM

It is a known issue that SDK will fail to launch on Ubuntu 16.04 without a workaround. This is also true
for Ubuntu 18.04 and this is addressed in Xilinx Answer Record AR67580:

https://www.xilinx.com/support/answers/67580.html

The issue is with the GTK version shipped with Ubuntu 18.04, which has issues with the eclipse. In order
to work around this issue, set the environment variable SWT_GTK3 to 0.

1. To temporarily set this environment variable for the current terminal session, use the following
command:

$ export SWT_GTK3=0

2. To permanently set this environment variable for the all future terminal sessions, insert this
comment and export command near the top of the ~/.bashrc file using your favorite editor:

# This is a workaround for Xilinx SDK and GTK incompatibility.

export SWT_GTK3=0

3. Save the edits to the ~/.bashrc file.

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Install make
Ubuntu 18.04 does not include make as part of the default install.

1. Run the below command to install make

$ sudo apt install make

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Create Symbolic Link for gmake

It is a known issue that SDK can fail to build, and by extension SDSoC’s compiler flow, when using
Ubuntu 16.04. This is also true for Ubuntu 18.04. Using the below workaround we can address this
issue. It is also addressed more generically in Xilinx Answer Record AR68344:

https://www.xilinx.com/support/answers/68344.html

The issue is that Ubuntu does not include gmake by default. While make IS included.

2. To permanently set this we will create a symbolic link. As this will become permanent, we will
not have to perform any further modifications.

$ sudo ln -s /usr/bin/make /usr/bin/gmake

As you can see from the above image, gmake does not exist on this install, while make does.

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Install GTK Terminal

The Ubuntu Serial port terminal (or GTK Terminal) application is used in some of the Avnet Reference
Designs and Tutorial materials since it allows for simple connection to USB-UART of many development
board platforms.

1. Plug in your development board and connect the USB-UART port to the PC so that the USB-
UART device is recognized under Windows first. Then locate your USB-UART device under the
DevicesUSB selection menu and click on it to remove the device from the host operating
system and add it to the guest operating system. In this example the Digilent USB Device [0900]
device is used as it represents the USB-UART of the Avnet MiniZed board.

2. Once the device is detected and enumerated under Ubuntu, the USB-UART port should be listed
under one of the /dev/ttyUSBx device entries. Locate the device entry for the USB-UART and
make a note of this device for use in a later step.

$ ls /dev/ttyUSB*

3. To make it easier to launch the terminal app (GtkTerm) without needing to provide the root
password each time, open a command window and add the current user to the group for the
/dev/ttyUSBx devices used for USB-UART:

$ sudo usermod -a -G dialout <current username>

4. Install the gtkterm package:

$ sudo apt-get install gtkterm

5. Reboot the Virtual Machine to force the changes to take effect.

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6. Create a Desktop icon by copying and pasting Serial port terminal (gtkterm) application from
the /usr/share/applications folder directly to the ~/Desktop folder:

7. Right-click on the new Serial port terminal (gtkterm) application Desktop icon and select the
Properties option.

8. Within the Properties window, set the app attributes to match the USB-UART device attached to
the system, in this example the USB-UART is attached to the /dev/ttyUSB1 device entry:

Name: Serial port ttyUSB1

Command: gtkterm -p /dev/ttyUSB1 -s 115200

9. Close the Properties window

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10. The first time you launch this shortcut, you will need to trust it to launch the application. This
also serves to correct the ICON image

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Install Missing Cable Drivers

The drivers, which were not included with the install, can be installed manually.

1. Open a Terminal window.

2. At the command prompt, enter:

$ cd
/tools/Xilinx/Vivado/2019.1/data/xicom/cable_drivers/lin64/insta
ll_script/install_drivers/
$ sudo ./install_drivers

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Vivado and SDK Permission Issues

When you invoke Vivado, you MAY see the following error message, indicating a permission issue in the
directory hierarchy:

This indicates that the hidden folder named .Xilinx, where license and configuration information is
stored, is read-only for the invoking username. One method to correct this is to change ownership of the
directory hierarchy using root authority.

1. IF you have the above error, change to the directory above the .Xilinx folder, which in this case is
the /home/<current user> folder. Enter the following commands:

$ cd ~
$ sudo chown <current username> -R .Xilinx
$ sudo chgrp <current username> -R .Xilinx

2. Run the Xilinx Vivado and SDK 64-bit environment settings scripts in a terminal window to setup
the environment path to the tools install folder so that Vivado and SDK can be located in the
next steps.

$ source /tools/Xilinx/Vivado/2019.1/settings64.sh
$ source /tools/Xilinx/SDK/2019.1/settings64.sh
-- Optional if using SDSoC --
$ source /tools/Xilinx/SDx/2019.1/settings64.sh

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3. Launch Vivado or the SDK as usual using the fixed permissions on the .Xilinx folder.

To start Vivado from a Terminal window, enter the following command:

$ vivado &

To start the Xilinx SDK from a terminal window, enter the following command:

$ xsdk &

If you installed SDSoC and you want to start the Xilinx SDSoC from a terminal window, enter the
following command:

$ sdx &

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Install Missing Desktop Icons

In some cases Vivado and/or SDK desktop icons may be missing. These can be manually added
through the use of some launcher shell scripts and by adding some desktop icon entries.

1. Change to the home directory for the current user.

$ cd ~

2. Using your favorite text editor edit a new shell script named vivado_launch.sh

$ gedit vivado_launch.sh

Paste the following text into that script file, save the contents and exit. This creates a script that
is capable of invoking the settings script needed for Vivado to launch correctly.

#!/bin/bash
. /tools/Xilinx/Vivado/2019.1/settings64.sh
vivado &

3. Using your favorite text editor edit a new shell script named sdk_launch.sh

$ gedit sdk_launch.sh

Paste the following text into that script file, save the contents and exit. This creates a script that
is capable of invoking the settings script needed for Xilinx SDK to launch correctly.

#!/bin/bash
# This is a workaround for Xilinx SDK and GTK incompatibility.
export SWT_GTK3=0
. /tools/Xilinx/SDK/2019.1/settings64.sh
xsdk &

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4. If you have installed SDSoC, using your favorite text editor edit a new shell script named
sdx_launch.sh
Otherwise skip to the next step

$ gedit sdx_launch.sh

Paste the following text into that script file, save the contents and exit. This creates a script that
is capable of invoking the settings script needed for Xilinx SDK to launch correctly.

#!/bin/bash
# This is a workaround for Xilinx SDK and GTK incompatibility.
export SWT_GTK3=0
. /tools/Xilinx/SDx/2019.1/settings64.sh
sdx &
5. Change permissions of both launcher scripts so that they can be executed.

$ chmod u+x vivado_launch.sh

$ chmod u+x sdk_launch.sh
-- Optional if using SDSoC --
$ chmod u+x sdx_launch.sh

6. Change directories to the home Desktop folder of the current user.

$ cd ~/Desktop

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7. Using your favorite text editor edit a new file named Vivado.desktop

$ gedit Vivado.desktop

Paste the following text into that script file, save the contents and exit. This creates a desktop
launcher icon that is capable of invoking the Vivado launcher script created in earlier steps.

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=/home/training/vivado_launch.sh
Name=Vivado 2019.1
Comment=Xilinx Vivado Design Suite 2019.1
Icon=/tools/Xilinx/Vivado/2019.1/doc/images/vivado_logo.ico
StartupNotify=true

8. Using your favorite text editor edit a new file named SDK.desktop

$ gedit SDK.desktop

Paste the following text into that script file, save the contents and exit. This creates a desktop
launcher icon that is capable of invoking the Xilinx SDK launcher script created in earlier steps.

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=/home/training/sdk_launch.sh
Name=Xilinx SDK 2019.1
Comment=Xilinx Software Development Kit 2019.1
Icon=/tools/Xilinx/SDK/2019.1/data/sdk/images/sdk_logo.ico
StartupNotify=true

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9. If using SDSoC, using your favorite text editor edit a new file named SDX.desktop
Otherwise, skip to the next step

$ gedit SDX.desktop

Paste the following text into that script file, save the contents and exit. This creates a desktop
launcher icon that is capable of invoking the Xilinx SDK launcher script created in earlier steps.

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=/home/training/sdx_launch.sh
Name=Xilinx SDx 2019.1
Comment=Xilinx SDSoC Development Kit 2019.1
Icon=/tools/Xilinx/SDx/2019.1/docs/images/sdx_icon.ico
StartupNotify=true

10. Change permissions of both launcher scripts so that they can be executed.

$ chmod u+x Vivado.desktop

$ chmod u+x SDK.desktop
-- Optional if using SDSoC --
$ chmod u+x SDX.desktop

Once the execution permission is changed, and you have trusted the applications, the icons will
populate on the Desktop with the correct graphics. Note that SDx is optional.

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PetaLinux Installation
Installing PetaLinux tools on a supported Linux system should be straightforward, but depending on the
precise configuration of your development system, there could be some challenges to create an optimal
environment. This section outlines a few of the common issues that may be encountered. For more
information on the installations of PetaLinux tools, please refer to Xilinx User Guide UG1144.

TFTP Server Install and Setup

1. Install the following packages:

$ sudo apt-get install xinetd tftpd tftp

2. Create /etc/xinetd.d/tftp and put this entry:

service tftp
{
protocol = udp
port = 69
socket_type = dgram
wait = yes
user = nobody
server = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd
server_args = /tftpboot
disable = no
}

3. Create a tftpboot folder, this should match what is in the server_args, and assign read/write
permissions with the following command:

$ sudo mkdir /tftpboot

$ sudo chmod ugo+rw /tftpboot/

4. Restart the xinetd service.

For new systems:

$ sudo service xinetd restart

For older systems:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/xinetd restart

Now our tftp server is up and running.

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Install openssl Libraries for PetaLinux

As of 2015.2, the PetaLinux tools require the openssl libraries on the host system which can be installed
under Ubuntu using the following command:

$ sudo apt-get --yes install libssl-dev

Install Additional System Tools and Library Dependencies for PetaLinux

According to Xilinx User Guide UG1144, PetaLinux 2019.1 tools require some additional system tools and
libraries to be installed on the host system. For exact system dependencies, refer to UG1144 document.

If you are using Ubuntu, this can be accomplished in a terminal window with the following command:

$ sudo apt-get --yes install tofrodos iproute2 gawk gcc git-core

make net-tools libncurses5-dev tftpd zlib1g-dev flex bison lib32z1
lib32ncurses5 lib32ncursesw5 lib32gomp1 xvfb chrpath socat autoconf
libtool texinfo gcc-multilib libsdl1.2-dev libglib2.0-dev
zlib1g:i386 xterm python

Adjusting Permissions of Vivado and PetaLinux Install Folder

As of 2019.1, PetaLinux tools require the installation as a non-root user so the permissions of these
folders under the /opt folder must be adjusted accordingly.

This can be accomplished in a terminal window with the following commands:

$ sudo chmod ugo+w /tools/

$ sudo mkdir /tools/petalinux-v2019.1-final
$ sudo chmod -R ugo+w /tools/Xilinx
$ sudo chmod -R ugo+w /tools/petalinux-v2019.1-final
$ sudo chown -R <current username>:<current user group>
/tools/petalinux-v2019.1-final

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Install PetaLinux into /opt/petalinux-v2019.1-final Folder

The PetaLinux 2019.1 Installer (TAR/GZIP – 7.7 GB) takes about 1.5-4 hours depending on the download
speed. The file can be downloaded here:

https://www.xilinx.com/support/download/index.html/content/xilinx/en/downloadNav/embedded-
design-tools/2019-1.html

1. Copy the PetaLinux installer from your host system or Downloads folder to your VM desktop.

2. Open a terminal window and launch the installer while specifying the target install folder.

$ cd ~/Desktop
$ ./petalinux-v2019.1-final-installer.run /tools/petalinux-
v2019.1-final

3. The Vivado 2019.1 Installer will take several minutes to verify the integrity of the packed
installer and then extract itself.

4. Read the PetaLinux license agreements and, if you can accept the license conditions, press enter
to view the license, use keyboard page up/down keys to scroll through the agreement, press
the q key to quit viewing the agreement when finished, and press the y key if you accept the
license conditions. If prompted, allow the installer to make changes to your development
system.

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5. Be sure to source the /tools/petalinux-v2019.1-final/settings.sh script prior to attempting to

use the PetaLinux tools for development.

$ source /tools/petalinux-v2019.1-final/settings.sh

6. To permanently set this environment variable for the all future terminal sessions, insert this
comment and export command near the top of the ~/.bashrc file using your favorite editor:

# This automatically sets up the PetaLinux tools environment.

source /tools/petalinux-v2019.1-final/settings.sh

7. Save the edits to the ~/.bashrc file

8. With Ubuntu 18.04 it has been observed that some system variables are not set immediately
upon boot. This can cause the operating system to HALT during boot. It does not cause serious
issues aside from preventing the continuation of boot until you click “OK.” As such, until a
proper solution comes to fruition, a workaround should be implemented to make workflow
efficient

a. Edit settings.sh located at /tools/petalinux-v2019.1-final

b. Scroll to line 96

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c. Comment out the line shown in the above figure to hard-code the variable
${PETALINUX} to be instead /tools/petalinux-v2019.1-final/

d. Save this file

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Appendix
If you have a need to license the Vivado tools installed on your virtual machine to handle other Xilinx
devices or IP Cores that are not covered by the free Xilinx WebPACK License, you will need to perform
the workaround outlined in Xilinx Answer Record 60510:

https://www.xilinx.com/support/answers/60510.html

There is also some additional, distribution specific, guidance provided in this MiniZed.org Community
Forum Post.

http://minized.org/content/running-vivado-centos-7-virtual-machine

This limitation of the licensing tool being able to read the MAC ID from the modern Ubuntu Ethernet
interface naming conventions will likely be fixed in a future release of the Xilinx tools.

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Revision History
Version Date Details
1.0 Feb 19, 2015 VirtualBox 4.3, CentOS 6.5, CentOS 7
1.1 Feb 24, 2015 Device tree reverse compilation, Ethernet Adapter Names
1.2 November 2015 Removed CentOS 6.5 support, validated all instructions,
and restructured/standardized document.
1.3 August 2016 CentOS 7 support, Ubuntu 16.04, CentOS PetaLinux 2016.2,
and Xilinx Vivado/SDK 2016.2
1.4 April 2017 Updated for PetaLinux 2016.4 and Xilinx Vivado/SDK
2016.4 tools, removed instructions and support for CentOS,
removed unnecessary sections
1.5 July 2017 Updated for PetaLinux 2017.1 and Xilinx Vivado/SDK
2017.1 tools
1.6 August 2017 Updated for PetaLinux 2017.2 and Xilinx Vivado/SDK
2017.2 tools
1.7 September 2017 Corrected download link to PetaLinux 2017.2 tools and
adjusted section headers
1.8 August 2018 Updated for PetaLinux 2018.2 and Xilinx
Vivado/SDK/SDSoC 2018.2 tools; added cumulative
download section
1.9 January 2019 Updated for PetaLinux 2018.3 and Xilinx
Vivado/SDK/SDSoC 2018.3 tools, tools moved to new folder
Added AR relating to gmake (SDSoC critical)
1.10 March 2019 Added notes for disabling Hyper-V under Windows 10 and
allocating additional CPU cores for the VM
2.0 October 2019 Updated for VirtualBox 6 as well as Xilinx 2019.1 tools

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