Xliinx/AMD: no more free Linux licenses...

Darn. No more lifelong licenses, it's all annualized now (so they can change the terms more easily I suppose), and the new free version is only on Windows not Linux.

https://www.amd.com/en/products/sof...ions.html#tabs-cbefba2790-item-c03136817a-tab

Well, I guess it's the end of the line for my Artix-7 base projects :-( Version 2025.2 will be enough to work with the current hardware, but not a lot of point in creating new hardware when the software support is gone.

What a weird decision.

It was bad enough as was - the amount of effort with signups and agreements and the pure size of the installs meaning I had to keep deleting them to get space back were part of what held me back learning FPGA stuff for both main manufacturers.

Guess that they have no interest in home users, which is sort of fair enough, except that once in a while, playing at home is where a big product comes from. I have no doubt that Arduinos drive decades of AVR sales.

Phipli said:

Guess that they have no interest in home users, which is sort of fair enough, except that once in a while, playing at home is where a big product comes from. I have no doubt that Arduinos drive decades of AVR sales.

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Yes, it's very short-sighted. Having really great support for your FPGA freely accessible to those who won't/can't pay is a great way to lock-in mindshare and expertise.

Hobbyists, students, small companies were using those licenses. Without them, people are going to look at alternatives, including boosting support for open-source tools. Which will help their competitors using those tools as part of their toolchains, and so lowering the barrier of entry for new players - including many of those based in China.

It's probably good for open-source tools eventually (and therefore everyone long-term), but I can't understand what idiotic money-saving rational Xilinx/AMD has to do this stupid of a move... You'd think no-one at AMD noticed that CUDA is why people buy truckloads (literally these days) of NVidia GPU, and that CUDA is free from day one because NVidia was smart enough to realize it's just necessary NRE to help the primary business, selling hardware.

Oh, what a bummer. I was just looking at your IIsiA7 project with an eye towards a potential quadra pds version (using an edge connector like the Q610 PDS and nubus adapter boards to sidestep the unobtanium KEL/Robinson-Nugent/3M connector problem). Sad that this might be the end of the line.

terrier said:

Oh, what a bummer. I was just looking at your IIsiA7 project

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The linux 2025.2 might remain usable (though it calls home, so you never now...), and the 2026.1 on Windows still has a free license though for one year only. So it's not entirely dead.

terrier said:

with an eye towards a potential quadra pds version (using an edge connector like the Q610 PDS and nubus adapter boards to sidestep the unobtanium KEL/Robinson-Nugent/3M connector problem). Sad that this might be the end of the line.

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I'm not sure what you mean; you want to plug a card-edge in the PDS slot ?

Melkhior said:

I'm not sure what you mean; you want to plug a card-edge in the PDS slot ?

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The Quadra 610 form factor Macs have an edge connector PDS IIRC

robin-fo said:

The Quadra 610 form factor Macs have an edge connector PDS IIRC

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Oh, OK, did not know that, I thought Apple had standardized the Quadra PDS for all Quadras (that have one, so not e.g; the 840AV).

Melkhior said:

Oh, OK, did not know that, I thought Apple had standardized the Quadra PDS for all Quadras (that have one, so not e.g; the 840AV).

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610 and 660av both have different, different slots. Also the Quadra 605 and 630, but they're both not real Quadras.

Melkhior said:

I'm not sure what you mean; you want to plug a card-edge in the PDS slot ?

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The Quadra/Centris 610 (aka WLCD) has an MCA-style edge connector socket on its logic board that exposes the PDS signals. As far as I know it's only used by 3 cards: the passive adapter/riser for the Q610 DOS Compatible (just routes the signals to a standard quadra PDS connector), the active Centris/Quadra 610 nubus adapter, and the Asante MacCon 610 ethernet card (e.g. https://www.ebay.com/itm/226177508165 - this is a weird one as I don't think very many 610s were sold without onboard ethernet populated)

I'm working (gradually, as time permits) on a couple of Wombat-derived board designs, and was considering adding an edge-connector style PDS using something widely available (so, not the Q610 board connector, sadly, as it has an uncommon pin count/layout and is just as hard to source as the standard quadra PDS connectors) to accommodate fun retro projects. But a Q610-A7 would be a nice starting point since those slots already exist.

terrier said:

and was considering adding an edge-connector style PDS using something widely available

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I'd recommend a real connector, preferably some sort of modern high-speed high-density connector. It helps with signal integrity issue and with mechanical support. Look at what is available in large quantity at JLCPCB, and that should be popular enough to be somewhat future-proof.

(edit: i will admit to a bias, I deeply loathe card-edge, it's just a cost-cutting measure from the 70's that should not have survived the 80s IMHO...)

Melkhior said:

Yes, it's very short-sighted. Having really great support for your FPGA freely accessible to those who won't/can't pay is a great way to lock-in mindshare and expertise.

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Melkhior said:

<snip> look at alternatives, including boosting support for open-source tools <snip> based in China.

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The lack of OSHW FPGA tools is mostly why I've shied away from FPGA development. I just don't want to do it on a PC/Windows. I understand Tang Nano has OSHW tools?

@Melkhior does this mean your FPGA Sparc is on hold?