Ok, so now what?

Ok, so I just recently found out about VHDL. Im interested in
simulating a digital circuit to see how it works. I built a simple
VHDL script, but now I don't see any way to run this script. Im on Sun
Solaris 9, and aparently, you need a seperate compiler other than GCC
to compile this.
Is VHDL compiled to binary then run or is it more of an interpreted
(shell-like) language where you run under an interpreter? Does anyone
know where I can find either a compiler or an interpreter for this?
Anti-spam email: rwatkins at dssolutions dot com.

usao

usao wrote:


> Ok, so I just recently found out about VHDL. Im interested in
> simulating a digital circuit to see how it works. I built a simple
> VHDL script, but now I don't see any way to run this script. Im on Sun
> Solaris 9, and aparently, you need a seperate compiler other than GCC
> to compile this.

VHDL is not connected to any operating system. GCC is a software
compiler. VHDL is a hardware description language.


> Is VHDL compiled to binary then run or is it more of an interpreted
> (shell-like) language where you run under an interpreter?

No, you need a simulator-environment (consisting of a compiler,
elaborator and simulator).



> Does anyone
> know where I can find either a compiler or an interpreter for this?

Do not program VHDL. A HDL is a hardware description languaga. You have
to model hardware. Don't think in C-style.


Ralf

Ralf Hildebrandt

Take a look at comp.lang.vhdl FAQ at http://www.vhdl.org/vi/comp.lang.vhdl/

Jim Wu
(remove capital letters)
http://www.geocities.com/jimwu88/chips


"usao" <> wrote in message
news: m...
> Ok, so I just recently found out about VHDL. Im interested in
> simulating a digital circuit to see how it works. I built a simple
> VHDL script, but now I don't see any way to run this script. Im on Sun
> Solaris 9, and aparently, you need a seperate compiler other than GCC
> to compile this.
> Is VHDL compiled to binary then run or is it more of an interpreted
> (shell-like) language where you run under an interpreter? Does anyone
> know where I can find either a compiler or an interpreter for this?
> Anti-spam email: rwatkins at dssolutions dot com.

Jim Wu

usao wrote:
> Ok, so I just recently found out about VHDL. Im interested in
> simulating a digital circuit to see how it works. I built a simple
> VHDL script, but now I don't see any way to run this script.

You need a simulator like Modelsim.

vlib work
vmap work work
vcom my_script.vhd
vsim -c my_script -do "run"


related thread
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=si...onment+Ramenan


-- Mike Treseler

Mike Treseler

Mike Treseler wrote:
> usao wrote:
>
>> Ok, so I just recently found out about VHDL. Im interested in
>> simulating a digital circuit to see how it works. I built a simple
>> VHDL script, but now I don't see any way to run this script.
>
>
> You need a simulator like Modelsim.
>
> vlib work
> vmap work work
> vcom my_script.vhd
> vsim -c my_script -do "run"

While the other comments about modeling vs compiling are true, and
essential in the "mind set" for VHDL, I should mention GHDL, which is a
gcc extension to compile VHDL into a simulation model.

http://ghdl.free.fr/

Regards,

John

John Williams