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Getting Started With Forgix

Adam Taylor

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Overview<br>Things<br>Story<br>Introduction<br>Architecture<br>Installing the Tools<br>Setting the RP2354 into Boot Mode<br>RP2354 SW<br>FPGA Development<br>Testing<br>Conclusion<br>Credits<br>Comments(0)

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Adam Taylor

Published July 9, 2026 &copy; MIT

Getting Started With Forgix<br>How to get started with the Forgix FPGA and RP2354A<br>BeginnerFull instructions provided1 hour3

Things used in this project

Hardware components<br>Adiuvo Engineering & Training Forgix Development Board&times;1Software apps and online services<br>MicroPython

Story

Introduction<br>The Forgix board contains a combination of RP2354 and the Efinix T8 FPGA, powered and programmed over USB C in a compact footprint.<br>This makes for a compact and powerful FPGA development board which can be used for many projects which require parallel (FPGA) and sequential (RP2354) processing.<br>The Efinix FPGA is the T8 from the Trion range and provides the developer with 7384 Logic elements, 122.8 Kbits of embedded memory / 24 embedded memory blocks and 8 embedded multipliers.<br>The RP2354, takes the base design provided by the RP2350 and integrates 2 MB of QSPI flash into the package, this allows for a more compact solution. It retains the dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 and dual-core Hazard3 RISC-V architecture, 520 KB of SRAM, PIO blocks, and enhanced security features.<br>We develop the Efinix FPGA using the Efinity design software, while we can develop the RP2354 application in several different ways including C/C++ or MicroPython. In this instance we will be using MicroPython but we will be setting up the system to ensure we are able to develop using a C/C++ approach as too if desired later.

Architecture<br>The architecture of the Forgix board is straightforward and designed to provide the developer with straightforward access to the FPGA and RP 2354.<br>Users connect to the RP2354 over the USB C Interface, this RP2354 is then connected to the T8 FPGA by SPI and several dedicated GPIO. This SPI port is used for configuring the FPGA, but can be retained post configuration to control applications deployed into the FPGA.<br>Along with the FPGA and USB C the RP2354 is connected to the IO pins providing two UARTS. There is also a IIC QWIIC connector mounting available, this is fitted on the initial 100 production units, but is unfitted on the main production batch. This enables expansion with a range of IIC sensors and drives if desired.<br>The FPGA is connected to a push button switch, a tri colour LED, the RP 2354, and 11 IO on the board edge.<br>Clockwise the FPGA is clocked from a 32 MHz oscillator, while the reset can be provided by the RP2354 if desired.

Installing the Tools<br>To be able to work effectively with this board we need the following tools.<br>Pico SDK installed via VS Code.<br>Efinity FPGA development Software.<br>RP Pico2 MicroPython UF2 Image.<br>Thonny for application development.<br>Download and install the three applications, store the UF2 in a directory you can easily access as we will need this very soon.<br>To download and install the Efinity Development suite you will need to register with an email address.<br>Once the tools have been installed the next step in VSCode is to install the VSCode extension. This will install a set of tools called picotools and we will be able to use these tools in the development of our applications easing it significantly.

With the extension installed you will see a new icon on the left menu for RP2354 development. This will help you develop applications using C/C++/Zephyr/MicroPython and Rust.

ensure your path contains the location of the picotools normally under your user / account.

Setting the RP2354 into Boot Mode<br>The next step is to connect your Forgix board to your development machine using the USB C Cable.

To be able to work with the Forgix board, we need to be able to load application software onto the RP2354.<br>the software we load on will be in a UF2 format which is the result of either compilation of a project or downloading a pre existing image.<br>By default the Forgix comes with a UF2 loaded which is available on the repo and works with a host python application to program the FPGA, the host application is also in the same repo. This makes the RP2354 act as a programmer, but not much more.<br>If we want to load on MicroPython like we do in this application.<br>What we want to do is replace the currently loaded UF2 with the MicroPython UF2. to do this we need to make the Forgix board enter boot mode.<br>To be able to do this we need to ensure the Forgix enters boot mode, over USB C.<br>When in boot mode we will see the Forgix mount as a drive on our host system which...