BittWare Toolkit Lite

[Rok]

Hi,

We have an Intel Arria 10 PAC card with version 1.1 FIM and BMC firmware that would require an upgrade to version 1.2. I have been informed by a BittWare representative that since July 31 2020, BittWare no longer provides support or access to tools/updates to Intel PAC. Can anybody provide assistance (i.e., a copy of BittWare Toolkit Lite or an equivalent tool)?

Kind regards,
Rok

(Moderator removed weblink)

[HRZ]

You can get the latest Acceleration Stack, firmware, etc. for PAC A10 from here:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/programmable/products/boards_and_kits/dev-kits/altera/acceleration-card-arria-10-gx/getting-started.html

[Rok]

Thank you for your answer. I have the whole stack including the required firmware, but the tool to actually write the firmware (BittWare Toolkit Lite, including bwconfig, bwmonitor, bwdfu-programmer commands) is not included. In the past it had to be obtained from BittWare, but they no longer provide it after July 31 2020. The point is that the card first needs to be updated in a two step procedure from 1.1 (FIM version 9926ab6d-6c92-5a68-aabc-a7d84c545738, BMC firmware 26822) to 1.2 using the BittWare tools, then one can use the newer tool to upgrade it from 1.2 to 1.2.1 (i.e., to firmware version 26895, bootloader 26895).

Kind regards,
Rok

[HRZ]

Oh, I see. Intel's documentation do not seem to indicate where the users of the PAC A10 board are supposed to get the Bittware Toolkit from and if Bittware does not distribute the tool to PAC A10 users, then the situation becomes hard to resolve. Have you tried contacting the vendor/reseller you purchased your board from?

[Rok]

This is  a repurposed board that I wanted to try out with oneAPI at some point. There is no support offering from the vendor, and I have now found an Intel document according to which Intel has just recently discontinued support of the card as well, as of Sep 30 2020 (Invel customer advisory ADV2022):

https://www.thailand.intel.com/content/dam/www/programmable/us/en/pdfs/literature/pcn/adv2022.pdf

Indeed, quite a conundrum.

Kind regards,
Rok

[EricMunYew_C_Intel]

Hi, Rok

You can refer to page 35 of below document to install the Bittworks II ToolkitLite:

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/programmable/us/en/pdfs/literature/ug/archives/ug-qs-ias-v1-2-1-2.pdf

[Rok]

Dear Eric,

Thank you for your answer. Indeed, what I need is "Bittworks II Toolkit Lite". The issue is that the tool is no longer available for download anywhere after the support has been terminated on July 31 2020.

This is the response I received from Bittworks: "As of July 31, BittWare no longer provides support or access to tools/updates for Intel PAC.  Please contact Intel directly for assistance."

So far I have not been able to obtain the tool neither from Bittworks nor from Intel. Meanwhile I have managed to make contact with the vendor (Mouser Electronics), but the issue remains unresolved.

Kind regards,
Rok

[EricMunYew_C_Intel]

Hi, Rok

Can you try the attached.

[Rok]

Dear Eric,

There was no attachment. Probably it gets removed by the software running the forums.

Kind regards,
Rok

rok.zitko@ijs.si

[EricMunYew_C_Intel · Accepted solution]

Hi, Rok

Attached.

[Yohann]

Hello @EricMunYew_C_Intel,

I face the similar issue as OP, but Iḿ trying to update my old board from 1.0 to 1.1

It seems that the requires BittWorks II Toolkit-Lite version is different and that I need "Release 2017.4".

Can you provide me with this 2017.4 version? as well as with the correct BMC version (26822)?

Many thanks!

Yohann

[JasonW9737]

Dear Eric,

Could you please resend the attachment? The current link is broken.

[EricMunYew_C_Intel]

Hi, Rok

Attached.

[druva1]

Hi,

I have the same issue but I have a Windows machine, Could I get the Windows version? 

I am actually just interested in the driver and the pinout of the board so I can use Quartus Pro to program the board.

cheers 

[Rok]

Dear Eric,

Thank you very much. I am happy to report that the upgrade has been successful. I was not able to boot Ubuntu 16.04 nor CentOS 7.4 on our machine, but I was able to force install the package on Ubuntu 18.04 and run the upgrade procedure (using legacy kernel). I followed this up with an update to FPGA stack 1.2.1 and then with oneAPI installation. It all works fine, we are now able to offload calculations to the FPGA accelerator in modern C++ code.

Thank you very much for assistance!

Kind regards,
Rok