SoftConsole
Overview
SoftConsole is Microchip’s free and primarily open-source based software development environment for Windows and GNU/Linux facilitating the rapid development of bare-metal and RTOS based C/C++ software for Microchip CPU and SoC (System on Chip) based FPGAs.It provides development and debugging support for all Microchip SoC FPGAs and 32-bit soft IP CPUs:
- PolarFire SoC FPGAs with an RV64 64-bit RISC-V multiprocessor-based Microcontroller Subsystem (MSS).
- Mi-V RV32 32-bit RISC-V soft IP Cores for Microchip PolarFire SoC, PolarFire, RT (Radiation Tolerant) PolarFire, RTG4, IGLOO2, and SmartFusion2 SoC FPGAs.
- SmartFusion2 SoC FPGAs with a 32-bit Arm® Cortex™-M3 based MSS.
- SmartFusion SoC FPGAs with a 32-bit Arm Cortex-M3 based MSS.
- Arm Cortex-M1 soft IP CPU cores for Microsemi PolarFire, and RTG4 FPGAs.
- Arm Cortex-M1 pre-placed design block for M1 variant Microsemi IGLOO/e, ProASIC3/e/L, and Fusion FPGAs.
- OpenJDK Java/Eclipse/CDT based GUI (Graphical User Interface) IDE (Integrated Development Environment) including a custom “Develop and Debug” perspective obviating the need to switch between “C/C++” and “Debug” perspectives. Users can extend the GUI IDE functionality by installing arbitrary additional Eclipse software/plugins.
- Eclipse Embedded CDT plugins extending Eclipse/CDT to provide enhanced support for RISC-V and Arm development/debugging.
- GNU GCC/GDB/Binutils based toolchains for RISC-V and Arm targets.
- Newlib (and Newlib nano) C standard library for resource constrained embedded targets which also supports Arm Cortex-M semi-hosting redirection of standard I/O from embedded targets to the host debugger.
- OpenOCD for JTAG-based embedded debugging and embedded flash programming using GDB and FlashPro.
- Antmicro Renode™ embedded systems emulator for PolarFire SoC and Mi-V RV32 soft IP RISC-V based system modeling even when hardware is not yet available.
- Siemens AG Tessent Embedded Analytics UltraSoC trace components for use with the UltraSoC trace IP integrated into PolarFire SoC
- Microchip Libero SoC supporting a comprehensive full design flow for implementing hardware designs on Microchip SoC FPGA
- Microchip Programming and Debug Tools for programming and debugging hardware designs in Microchip SoC FPGAs and for managing PolarFire SoC boot modes/boot loaders from SoftConsole
- Microchip Firmware Catalog for the generation of firmware artefacts for 32-bit soft IP CPU core based SoCs.
- PolarFire SoC GitHub repositories providing a wealth of hardware and firmware resources relevant to PolarFire SoC.
- RISC-V on Microchip FPGA GitHub repositories providing a wealth of hardware and firmware resources relevant to Mi-V RV32 32-bit RISC-V soft IP core based SoCs.
- Please read the release notes for the relevant version of SoftConsole to be aware of all relevant features, known issues, troubleshooting tips, etc.
SoftConsole User Interface IDE
Documents
Application Notes
Tutorials
TU0546: SoftConsole v4.0 and Libero SoC v11.7 Tutorial
|
9/2017 |
TU0775: PolarFire FPGA: Building a Mi-V Processor Subsystem Tutorial
|
10/2020 |
TU0778: PolarFire FPGA Building a Cortex-M1 Processor Subsystem Tutorial
|
11/2017 |
FAQ
| SoftConsole FAQ | 5/2013 |
Downloads
SoftConsole v2021.1 Release (04/14/2021)
- Please read SoftConsole v2021.1 Release Notes before using SoftConsole
- SoftConsole v2021.1 Download for Windows
- SoftConsole v2021.1 Download for Linux
Notes
- For operating system and minimum requirements, please refer to the SoftConsole v2021.1 Release Notes or visit Libero SoC page.
- SoftConsole v2021.1 is available as a standalone installer and not bundled with Libero SoC or Libero SoC PolarFire software
SoftConsole v6.5 Release (11/05/2020)
- Must read SoftConsole v6.5 Release Notes before working with Software
- SoftConsole v6.5 Download for Windows
- SoftConsole v6.5 Download for Linux
Notes
- For operating system and minimum requirements, please refer to the SoftConsole v6.5 Release Notes or visit Libero SoC page.
- SoftConsole v6.5 is available as a standalone installer and not bundled with Libero SoC or Libero SoC PolarFire software
SoftConsole v6.4 Release (09/08/2020)
- Must read SoftConsole v6.4 Release Notes before working with software
- SoftConsole v6.4 Download for Windows
- SoftConsole v6.4 Download for Linux
Notes
- For operating system and minimum requirements, please refer to the SoftConsole v6.4 Release Notes or visit Libero SoC page.
- SoftConsole v6.4 is available as a standalone installer and not bundled with Libero SoC or Libero SoC PolarFire software
SoftConsole v6.2 Release (12/09/2019)
- Must read SoftConsole v6.2 Release Notes before working with software
- SoftConsole v6.2 Download for Windows
- SoftConsole v6.2 Download for Linux
Notes
- For operating system and minimum requirements, please refer to the SoftConsole v6.2 Release Notes or visit Libero SoC page.
- SoftConsole v6.2 is available as a standalone installer and not bundled with Libero SoC or Libero SoC PolarFire software
SoftConsole v6.1 Release (08/27/2019)
- Must read SoftConsole v6.1 Release Notes before working with software
- SoftConsole v6.1 Download for Windows
- SoftConsole v6.1 Download for Linux
Notes
- For operating system and minimum requirements, please refer to the SoftConsole v6.1 Release Notes or visit Libero SoC page.
- SoftConsole v6.1 is available as a standalone installer and not bundled with Libero SoC or Libero SoC PolarFire software
SoftConsole v6.0 Release (12/03/2018)
- Must read SoftConsole v6.0 Release Notes before working with software
- SoftConsole v6.0 Download for Windows
- SoftConsole v6.0 Download for Linux
Notes
- For operating system and minimum requirements, please refer to the SoftConsole v6.0 Release Notes or visit Libero SoC page.
- SoftConsole v6.0 is available as a standalone installer and not bundled with Libero SoC or Libero SoC PolarFire software
SoftConsole v5.3 Release (07/18/2018)
- Must read SoftConsole v5.3 Release Notes before working with software
- SoftConsole v5.3 Download for Windows
- SoftConsole v5.3 Download for Linux
Notes
- For operating system and minimum requirements, please refer to the SoftConsole v5.3 Release Notes
- For operating system and minimum requirements, visit Libero SoC page.
- SoftConsole v5.3 is available as a standalone installer and not bundled with Libero SoC or Libero SoC PolarFire software
SoftConsole v5.2 Release (11/24/2017)
- Must read SoftConsole v5.2 Release Notes before working with software
- SoftConsole v5.2 Download for Windows
- SoftConsole v5.2 Download for Linux
Notes
- For operating system and minimum requirements, please refer to the SoftConsole v5.2 Release Notes
- For operating system and minimum requirements, visit Libero SoC page.
- SoftConsole v5.2 is available as a standalone installer and not bundled with Libero SoC or Libero SoC PolarFire software
SoftConsole v5.1 Release (06/06/2017)
- Must read SoftConsole v5.1 Release Notes before working with software
- SoftConsole v5.1 Download for Windows
- SoftConsole v5.1 Download for Linux
Notes
- SoftConsole v5.1 is the first release that supports RISC-V on Windows platform
- SoftConsole v5.1 is available as a standalone installer and not bundled with Libero SoC or Libero SoC PolarFire software
- For operating system and minimum requirements, visit Libero SoC page.
- SoftConsole v5.1 Release Notes contain instructions for installing
SoftConsole v5.0 For RISC-V Introduction (11/16/2016)
- Microsemi SoftConsole v5.0 Release Notes
- Microsemi SoftConsole v5.0 Download Linux (Linux only available at this time)
SoftConsole v4.0 Release (10/21/2015):
- Downloads
- Documentation
- SoftConsole v4.0 is available as a standalone installer and not bundled with Libero SoC v11.8
- For operating system and minimum requirements, visit Libero SoC page.
- SoftConsole v4.0 Release Notes contain instructions for installing
- Download the SoftConsole v4.0 License Agreement for licensing
-
SoftConsole workspaces/projects generated by Libero (into the "SoftConsole" folder of a Libero project) are for use with SoftConsole v3.4 SP1 and are not compatible with and should not be used with SoftConsole v4.0. Firmware exported by Libero into the "firmware" folder of a Libero project is compatible with SoftConsole v4.0 and should be copied/imported into a SoftConsole v4.0 project. Refer to the SoftConsole v4.0 release notes for more information about using Libero SoC generated firmware in SoftConsole v4.0 projects. SoftConsole v4.0 should not be configured as a Software IDE Tool Profile in Libero.
Soft Console v3.4 SP1 Release (Previous Release)
- Microsemi SoftConsole v3.4 SP1 Software (7/21/14) -Windows® Version(545 KB)
- Microsemi SoftConsole v3.4 Software (4/8/13) - Windows® Version (162 MB)
- SoftConsole Version v3.4 Release Notes (4/8/2013)
Supported Platforms
Microsemi tests and supports the latest releases of the specific operating systems shown in the chart below. We are committed to resolving problems encountered by customers on these supported operating systems. We do not support untested operating systems or versions.
| Operating Systems | Libero | FlashPro/Express | Firmware Catalog | SoftConsole |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 10 |  1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
| Windows 8.1 | 1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
| Windows 7 | 1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
| RHEL 51,2 | |
|
N/A | N/A |
| RHEL 6 | 1 |
1 |
N/A | 3 |
| RHEL 7 | 1 |
1 |
N/A | 1,3 |
| CentOS 51,2 | |
|
N/A |
N/A |
| CentOS 61 | 1 |
1 |
N/A | 4,3 |
| CentOS 7 | 1 |
1 |
N/A | 1,3 |
| SUSE 11 SP4 | 1 |
N/A | N/A | 3,5 |
| Ubuntu 14.04 LTS | N/A | N/A | N/A | 3 |
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | N/A | N/A | N/A | 3 |
| Opensuse Leap 42.3 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 1,3 |
| Debian 9.2 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 3 |
- Tools are supported on 64-bit operating systems, 32-bit operating systems are not supported.
- RHEL 5 and CentOS 5 do not support programming using FlashPro5.
- Only SoftConsole v4.0, v5.0, v5.1 and v5.2 standalone tools support Linux operating systems. CentOS and RHEL v6.9 is not supported.
- Tools Supports 32-bit and 64-bit operating system.
- SoftConsole has not been validated on SUSE platform.
Important Note:
1. Windows XP is no longer supported.
2. 32-bit operating systems are no longer supported.
