Official bladeRF forum

Hello,

I recently did the aquisition of a BladeRF x40.

I updated the firmware of the micro controller, but I can not find anywhere a pre compiled version of firmware 0.8.0 fpga.

Do I have to compile it from sources, or is there somewhere a pre compiled version available?

Thanks.

Use this for now. I've contacted the web guy to update the page. Sorry about that!

http://www.nuand.com/fpga/v0.8.0/hostedx40.rbf
http://www.nuand.com/fpga/v0.8.0/hostedx40.rbf.md5sum

There use to be a site(like hoopycat, or something to that effect) that ran a compile bot, churning out nightly builds of the FX3 image, and the FPGA bitstreams for the x40 and x115. It seems that site doesn't exist anymore, or the person running it no longer runs the compile bot.

No matter, it would be really awesome to have that tool available again, especially considering that there is both new products and there is a rather noticable issue with the more expensive of the new boards. If it is a matter of not having a spot to run a compile bot, I will loan my MediaTemple hosting account and web addresses, if anyone wants to put up another compile bot(otherwise, it is all going to waste, and will be for the next two years, or more).

Just let me know, and I will setup access for whomever might want to take up the endeavor.

That was mine, back in the day.

Continuous automated builds are on my to-do list, and there is progress! It's just slow, behind-the-scenes progress.

BTW, if you want to give it a shot, the original buildbot source is at https://github.com/rtucker/bladeRF-buildbot ... see also https://github.com/rtucker/bladeRF-buil ... -modernize, which has tooling to install Quartus as a Docker image (docker-quartus).

How can I force BladerRF to use new FPGA ?
I have downloaded new firmware from /fpga/v0.8.0/hostedxA4.rbf into /usr/share/Nuand/bladeRF/, next I did:

bladerf-cli -L /usr/share/Nuand/bladeRF/hostedxA4.rbf

and finally rebooted computer, but bladerf-cli version still shows:

bladeRF> version

bladeRF-cli version: 1.6.1-git-c9a2230c
libbladeRF version: 2.0.2-git-c9a2230c

Firmware version: 2.2.0-git-47f93fe1
FPGA version: 0.7.3

bglod wrote: ↑Mon Oct 08, 2018 8:36 am Use this for now. I've contacted the web guy to update the page. Sorry about that!

http://www.nuand.com/fpga/v0.8.0/hostedx40.rbf
http://www.nuand.com/fpga/v0.8.0/hostedx40.rbf.md5sum

thanks for this link !

jarek556 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:56 pm How can I force BladerRF to use new FPGA ?
I have downloaded new firmware from /fpga/v0.8.0/hostedxA4.rbf into /usr/share/Nuand/bladeRF/, next I did:

bladerf-cli -L /usr/share/Nuand/bladeRF/hostedxA4.rbf

and finally rebooted computer, but bladerf-cli version still shows:

bladeRF> version

bladeRF-cli version: 1.6.1-git-c9a2230c
libbladeRF version: 2.0.2-git-c9a2230c

Firmware version: 2.2.0-git-47f93fe1
FPGA version: 0.7.3

Note that the -L (capital L) option loads the FPGA into SPI flash. When you power cycle the board, it takes some time for the FPGA to load from SPI flash. Wait for the LEDs to turn on before opening the device. What's likely happening is the SPI load is being interrupted and the host is loading its own .rbf. To update the host-based FPGA autoloading files, refer to the locations here: https://github.com/Nuand/bladeRF/wiki/FPGA-Autoloading

The SPI flash loading is really slow, both to update an FPGA image in the flash and to load the FPGA on power-up. We generally only recommend using that method if you plan to operate the bladeRF "headless" (without a host). Host-based autoloading is nearly instantaneous and is much easier to keep the FPGA .rbf file(s) up-to-date. If you change your mind and no longer wish to use SPI flash FPGA loading, we highly recommend disabling it to avoid future conflict by using the following command:

FYI: if you *do* use SPI flash autoloading of FPGA images, FX3 firmware 2.3.1 ensures that FPGA programming is complete before letting the host open the device. This means you don't have to watch for the lights: you can just plug it in and go, and libbladeRF will block until the load is complete.

Also, with that FX3 firmware and the latest libbladeRF/bladeRF-cli, the 'version' command will tell you whether the FPGA was programmed from flash or via USB.

Hopefully this will improve your experience going forward. Thanks for your feedback!