Getting Started

This guide will show you how to setup your development board and computer to get started using PYNQ. Any questions can be posted to the PYNQ support forum.

If you have one of the following boards, you can follow the quick start guide.

If you have another Zynq board see the following guide:

Connecting to Jupyter Notebook

Once your board is setup, to connect to Jupyter Notebooks open a web browser and navigate to:

If your board is configured correctly you will be presented with a login screen. The username is xilinx and the password is also xilinx.

After logging in, you will see the following screen:

_images/portal_homepage.jpg

The default hostname is pynq and the default static IP address is 192.168.2.99. If you changed the hostname or static IP of the board, you will need to change the address you browse to.

The first time you connect, it may take a few seconds for your computer to resolve the hostname/IP address.

Example Notebooks

PYNQ uses the Jupyter Notebook environment to provide examples and documentation. Using your browser you can view and run the notebook documentation interactively.

The Getting_Started folder in the Jupyter home area includes some introductory Jupyter notebooks.

_images/getting_started_notebooks.jpg

The example notebooks have been divided into categories

  • common: examples that are not overlay specific

Depending on your board, and the PYNQ image you are using, other folders may be available with examples related to Overlays. E.g. The base directory will have examples related to the base overlay. If you install any additional overlays, a folder with example notebooks will usually be copied here.

When you open a notebook and make any changes, or execute cells, the notebook document will be modified. It is recommended that you “Save a copy” when you open a new notebook. If you want to restore the original versions, you can download all the example notebooks from GitHub.

Configuring PYNQ

Accessing Files on The Board

Samba, a file sharing service, is running on the board. This allows you to access the Pynq home area as a network drive, to transfer files to and from the board.

Note

In the examples below change the hostname or IP address to match your board settings.

To access the Pynq home area in Windows Explorer type one of the following in the navigation bar.

\\192.168.2.99\xilinx        # If connected to a Computer with a Static IP
\\pynq\xilinx                # If connected to a Network/Router with DHCP

When prompted, the username is xilinx and the password is xilinx. The following screen should appear:

_images/samba_share.JPG

To access the home area in Ubuntu, open a file broswer, click Go -> Enter Location and type one of the following in the box:

smb://192.168.2.99/xilinx        # If connected to a Computer with a Static IP
smb://pynq/xilinx                # If connected to a Network/Router with DHCP

When prompted, the username is xilinx and the password is xilinx

Change the Hostname

If you are on a network where other PYNQ boards may be connected, you should change your hostname immediately. This is a common requirement in a work or university environment. You can change the hostname from a terminal. You can use the USB cable to connect a terminal. A terminal is also available in the Jupyter environment and can be used from an internet browser.

To access the Jupyter terminal, in the Jupyter portal home area, select New >> Terminal.

_images/dashboard_files_tab_new.JPG

This will open a terminal inside the browser as root.

Use the preloaded pynq_hostname.sh script to change your board’s hostname.

pynq_hostname.sh <NEW HOSTNAME>

The board must be restarted for the changes to be applied.

shutdown -r now

Note that as you are logged in as root, sudo is not required. If you connect a terminal from the USB connection, you will be logged in as the xilinx user and sudo must be added to these commands.

When the board reboots, reconnect using the new hostname.

If you can’t connect to your board, see the step below to open a terminal using the micro USB cable.

Configure Proxy Settings

If your board is connected to a network that uses a proxy, you need to set the proxy variables on the board. Open a terminal as above and enter the following where you should replace “my_http_proxy:8080” and “my_https_proxy:8080” with your settings.

set http_proxy=my_http_proxy:8080
set https_proxy=my_https_proxy:8080

Troubleshooting

Opening a USB Serial Terminal

If you can’t access the terminal from Jupyter, you can connect the micro-USB cable from your computer to the board and open a terminal. You can use the terminal to check the network connection of the board. You will need to have terminal emulator software installed on your computer. PuTTY is one application that can be used, and is available for free on Windows. To open a terminal, you will need to know the COM port for the board.

On Windows, you can find this in the Windows Device Manager in the control panel.

  1. Open the Device Manager, expand the Ports menu
  2. Find the COM port for the USB Serial Port. e.g. COM5
  3. Open PuTTY

Once PuTTY is open, enter the following settings:

  1. Select serial
  2. Enter the COM port number
  3. Enter the serial terminal settings (below)
  4. Click Open

Full terminal Settings:

  • 115200 baud
  • 8 data bits
  • 1 stop bit
  • No Parity
  • No Flow Control

Hit Enter in the terminal window to make sure you can see the command prompt:

xilinnx@pynq:/home/xilinx#

You can then run the same commands listed above to change the hostname, or configure a proxy.

You can also check the hostname of the board by running the hostname command:

hostname

You can also check the IP address of the board using ifconfig:

ifconfig

If you are having problems, please see the Troubleshooting section in Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) or go the PYNQ support forum