Webfgpa is not Synthesizing

Support
#1

Hello,

A few months ago, I was at the Pacificon flea market... and scored a ShastaFPGA card, along with a few boxes of neat two-color Phillips LED bulbs.

Trying to get started with the FPGA card - but beta.webfpga.io isn’t really working. I bring it up - looks OK. All right, the USB doesn’t work with Firefox, let’s move to Chrome.

Now the USB is happy… But when I click on “Run Synthesis”, nothing happens. If I click
on it again, it says “> error: synthesis already running”.

If I click on “Flash Device”, it says “error: you must run synthesis before programming”.

??

#2

OK, it’s fixed this morning. Thanks!

#3

And now it’s doing it again :(.

#4

I am having the same problem. I have been unable to synthesize for several weeks. I have tried multiple computers, multiple browsers with no luck. This is a real problem. Is there a way to add a button to the IDE to clear whatever flag (and process) is the problem? As it is, I have doubts that I can continue to use WebFPGA in my class. I cannot tolerate even a few hours in which my students cannot synthesize their code.

#5

Can the unit be programmed without webfpga? With open source Verilog tools, or the toolchain
provided by the manufacturer of the chip?

#6

Hi all, investigating right now. Should be back up by EOD.

You can flash the device using open source tools. We’ll find some documentation to attach. It should have been posted elsewhere.

#7

Yes but the toolsets are huge, complicated to use and do not run on every OS. I am teaching a course where I do not want to waste time teaching the students to use toolsets. I want them running Verilog code in a few minutes. (Which is why I bought a bunch of WebFPGA boards.) If you are happy with the tools they have the advantage of providing visual output of the synthesis and a lot of control over the process, but I need a cloud based IDE that is reliable since I am about to commit the FPGA material to an indelible medium (paper) in the second edition of the course textbook.

#8

One quick fix could be to use a cron job to reset the process - say every morning around 2:00.
Sort of the “kill a fly with a sledgehammer” technique.
Back when men were men and computers were 8-bit, I got my email and netnews with a DOS PC powered through a 24-hour timer. Early each morning, the timer would turn on the computer, and
it would get the mail.