Firmware/Bitstream Tools Comparison

For new users (Generation 3 Firmware), the OpenFutNet tool is recommended.

If the user has a Python 2.7 interpreter installed on Windows OS, he/she could also use the couple Open_FUT (gen 3) + CyControl:

• Open_FUT for generation 3 (Firmware Update and FPGA Configuration using a simplified TE_USB_FX2_CyAPI.dll)
• Cypress USB Control Center (Recovery Boot (TE USB FX2 Firmware Recovery) uses CyUSB.dll)

See also TE USB FX2 Software tools.

Tool	FPGA Configuration capable?	Generation 2 Firmware Upgrade capable?(1)	Generation 3 Firmware Upgrade capable?(2)	It works without Reference Firmware?	Firmware Recovery capable?(3)	Remarks
Xilinx iMPACT (Windows OS or Linux OS)	direct or indirect in system programming .mcs file (both Xilinx Flash and third-party SPI Flash can be used)					A Linux version of this tool exists.
DEWESoft Firmware Upgrade Tool (Windows OS)	old .fwu (and .bin) file	old .fwu (and .bin) file		Gen2		Obsolete, not recommended. 32 bit only.
Open_FUT for generation 2 (Windows OS)	FPGA Configuration .bit, .mcs file ( Xilinx Flash only) or old .fwu (and .bin) file	.iic file and old .fwu (and .bin) file		Gen2		Python 2.7 interpreter required.
Open_FUT for generation 3 (Windows OS)	(5) FPGA Configuration .bit or a .mcs file ( Xilinx Flash only) or old .fwu (and .bin) file		(5) Firmware Update .iic file and old .fwu (and .bin) file	Gen3		Python 2.7 interpreter required.
CyConsole = Cypress USB Console (Windows OS)			Firmware Update .iic file		Recovery Boot .iic file	Less easy than CyControl.
CyControl = Cypress USB Control Center (Windows OS))			Firmware Update .iic file		Recovery Boot .iic file	Microsoft .NET Framework Version ≥ 2.0 required.
OpenFutNet: it is possible to run 3 different procedures (Windows OS)	FPGA Configuration(6) .bit or .mcs file (both Xilinx Flash and third-party SPI Flash can be used)	the  Recovery Boot  (7) should be used instead	Firmware Update(6) .iic file	for Recovery Boot (7)  for Firmware Update (6)  for FPGA Config (4)	Recovery Boot  (7) .iic file	Microsoft .NET Framework Version≥ 4.0.30319 required. Recommended tool.
Linux_FUT (Linux OS)	FPGA Configuration .bin only	.bin, but a .iic should also work	.bin, but a .iic should also work		use fx2loader (see also here) instead	libusb library (C API) should be used
fx2loader (Linux OS) (Windows OS)		but it could be a two step procedure	but it could be a two step procedure	(8)	modified recovery boot	libusb library (C API) should be used

Firmware/bitstream tools comparison chart

⁽¹⁾ Generation 2 Firmware Upgrade: it requires DEWESoft device driver (VID/PID:0x0547/0x1002) and DEWESoft API.

⁽²⁾ Generation 3 Firmware Upgrade: it requires TE USB FX2 device driver (VID/PID:0x0BD0/0x0300) and TE API (C++ TE_USB_FX2_CyAPI.dll or .NET TE_USB_FX2_CyUSB.dll).

⁽³⁾ Firmware Recovery:requires USB generic Cypress device driver, to boot with EEPROM disabled and to enable EEPROM after TE USB FX2 module is inserted into USB port. This is the procedure followed by Recovery Boot (TE USB FX2 Firmware Recovery) (CyConsole and CyControl) and Recovery Boot (OpenFutNet).

⁽⁴⁾ You can use  Recovery Boot to program the USB FX2 microcontroller's  EEPROM with the Generation 3 Firmware required by Firmware Update and FPGA Configuration.

⁽⁵⁾ Based on simplified TE_USB_FX2_CyAPI.dll

⁽⁶⁾ Based on both CyUSB.dll and TE_USB_FX2_CyUSB.dll

⁽⁷⁾ Based on CyUSB.dll

⁽⁸⁾ To write a new firmware in FX2 microcontroller's RAM, fx2loader does not require a reference firmware but, to write a new firmware in FX2 microcontroller's EEPROM a firmware supporting EEPROM writing should already run in FX2 microcontroller's RAM

Is Reference Firmware required?

The following firmware tools

• DEWESoft FUT (firmware upgrade tool)
• Open_FUT for generation 2 (Firmware Update and FPGA Configuration)
• Open_FUT for generation 3 (Firmware Update and FPGA Configuration using a simplified TE_USB_FX2_CyAPI.dll)
• OpenFutNet (generation 3, Firmware Update  and FPGA Configuration are using both CyUSB.dll and TE_USB_FX2_CyUSB.dll )

work only if the reference firmware, or a derived firmware, is running in the module. The reference/derived firmware is necessary because the three tools make use of TE API Commands executed by the USB FX2 microcontroller. These tools are therefore able to update the firmware (EEPROM programming) of the USB FX2 microcontroller and the FPGA configuration file (bitstream, SPI Flash programming).

Note: some TE API Commands require support from a Xilinx MicroBlaze soft embedded processor (of the TE reference/derived architecture), but this TE API Commands are not needed for EEPROM and SPI Flash programming.

The following firmware tools

• Cypress USB Console (Recovery Boot (TE USB FX2 Firmware Recovery) uses CyAPI.lib)
• Cypress USB Control Center (Recovery Boot (TE USB FX2 Firmware Recovery) uses CyUSB.dll)
• OpenFutNet ( Recovery Boot uses CyUSB.dll)

work also if the reference firmware, or a derived firmware, is not running in the module. The reference/derived firmware is not necessary because they do not make use of TE API Commands. Conversely, they directly make use of CyAPI.lib and CyUSB.dll, respectively. These two tools are therefore only able to update the firmware of the USB FX2 microcontroller, but not the FPGA configuration file (bitstream).