Lab 2: Four Digit Hex Counter

Objective:

• In this lab, our objective is to design a four digit (16-bit) counter that will display its value using all four 7-segment displays on the Nexys4 board.

Important Notes:

• The clock on the Nexys4 DDR is a 100 MHz crystal oscillator connected to pin E3, which is different than the labeling in the Lab specs (ie. Nexys2 clock is at 50 MHz, while the newer board is 100 MHz) - Link

Reference Links:

• Instructions for how to load your .mcs file onto your device: Here

Steps for Lab 2:

• Using the same leddec project (leddec.xpr) from Lab 1, you will want to add the .vhd files from Prof. Kevin Lu's github (Link)
  • Specifically, counter.vhd and hexcount.vhd
  • In hexcount.vhd, you will want to rename "clk_50Mhz" to "clk_100Mhz"
• In the leddec.xdc from lab 1, you will want to "comment in" the clock creation, and name it "clk_100MHz"

• Once you add the new files to the project, you will just need to generate a new bitstream and follow the same steps in Lab 1 to run the .bit file on your Nexys4 DDR
• Ultimately, the code from lab 1 will be changed to simulate the diagram below.

Next Steps:

Using hardware manager, connect to the board then right click on the device and select "Add Configuration Memory Device"

Navigate to the correct memory location by inputting 128 bits for memory,and select Spansion for manufacturer. $ options should show up select the one that has xxxxxx0 at the end of the name.

Answer OK to programming the memory device, and then select the .mcs file you created in the step above which should automatically save into the location you set on installing Vivado (Most likely C drive). Finally right click on the device again and select "Boot from Configuration Memory Device".

Source Code