Downloading Vivado Design Suite for Apple

• There is no stand-alone version of the program for Apple operating systems, so you will have to run a virtual machine to download the program.
• Open the App store and search for "Parallel Desktop Lite", download the program.
• Once the program is downloaded, open it. It will give you two options:
  • Purchase a Microsoft License and run the box on Windows
  • Download a Linux OS for free (I chose Ubuntu 16.04)
• Once your OS is downloaded, open the web browser and follow the instructions on the course webpage.
• When the Installer is downloaded, it will download as a .bin file. If you chose a Linux operating system, you will need to go into the terminal and format it to run manually.
  • Save your installer to a location you will remember ( e.g. a folder on your desktop labeled "install")
  • Open your terminal
  • Use the 'ls' command to view directories in your current location
  • Use the 'cd' command to change to the directory holding your Installer (e.g. 'cd Desktop/install')
  • Once there, use 'chmod +x filename.bin' to mark the file as executable
  • Run the program from the terminal window with './filename.bin'.
  • I did not run into this problem, but there is a chance you will have to run it as an administrator with 'sudo ./filename.bin'.
• After you have the program running, you are back on to the instructions from the course website. Carry on from there.
• You are ready to work. Don't worry about building an architecture to a USB port. When a new device is inserted, Parallel Desktop will ask whether it should be introduced to the virtual machine or to your Apple computer. ** HOWEVER ** Vivado may not recognize your BASYS3 board. If it does not, that generally means the Vivado cable drivers did not install automatically. See below for how to install those drivers manually.

Manually Installing the Vivado cable drivers

If you are running the Ubuntu through Parallel Desktop, when you generate the bitstream and try to connect automatically to the Basys 3, it will not recognize it the first time. The cable driver for the usb port was not installed with the package.


• Search your computer for a directory called "install_script". Copy the whole directory. Search for a directory titled '/tmp" somewhere inside the "Vivado" files. Mine was "/Vivado/2017.3/msys32/home/fangqing/test/link_dll/cmake/test06_dynamic_lib/tmp". It's really in there like a Russian nesting doll, so scroll back to make sure you get the right temporary directory.
• Paste the "install_script" into "/tmp". Open a terminal window, use "cd" to move to the directory where you installed Vivado, then "cd" to the "/tmp" directory (don't forget the nesting subdirectories).
• Then use "cd install_script/install_drivers".
• Run the installation with "./install_driver".
• Restart the Parallel desktop and plug in your usb cable. It should work as expected when connecting form the Vivado suite.