Guide: Install developer tools on Linux

Below are basic instructions for installing the dev tools on ubuntu. These are written for ubuntu 24 and we have done only limited testing. The instructions may not be compatible with a different version or alternate distro.

Before starting, confirm your version.

Check: confirm Ubuntu

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
Release:        24.04
Codename:       noble

Install riscv-unknown-elf toolchain and prerequisites

1. Install prerequisites and base toolchain.

   $ sudo apt install build-essential gcc-riscv64-unknown-elf
   

2. Download archive of our custom debugger build and extract files into place.

   $ wget https://github.com/cs107e/homebrew-cs107e/raw/master/riscv64-gdb-wsl.tar.xz
   $ sudo tar -xvf riscv64-gdb-wsl.tar.xz -C /usr/local/bin
   $ rm riscv64-gdb-wsl.tar.xz  # remove archive, not needed
   

Check: confirm compiler and debugger with simulator

$ riscv64-unknown-elf-gcc --version
riscv64-unknown-elf-gcc () 13.2.0
Copyright (C) 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

$ riscv64-unknown-elf-gdb
GNU gdb (GDB) 13.2
... blah blah blah ...
(gdb) target sim
Connected to the simulator.
(gdb) quit

Build and install xfel

You also need xfel (https://github.com/xboot/xfel), a tool used to communicate with your Pi (i.e., send code and other nifty tricks).

1. Install prerequisites.

    $ sudo apt install libusb-1.0-0-dev pkg-config
   

2. Clone sources for xfel.

    $ git clone git@github.com:cs107e/xfel.git
   

3. Build and install.

    $ cd xfel
    $ sudo make install
   

   Check: confirm xfel

Confirm xfel is properly installed by running the command below.

$ which xfel
/usr/local/bin/xfel
$ xfel
xfel(v1.3.2) - https://github.com/xboot/xfel
usage:
    xfel version                                        - Show chip version
    xfel hexdump <address> <length>                     - Dumps memory region in hex
    xfel dump <address> <length>                        - Binary memory dump to stdout
    ... blah blah blah ...

Installation complete

Yay! If you made it this far, you should feel so proud! Head back to the main installation guide to do one last set of checks.