Setup your desktop

In this lesson you will learn how to set up your environment in preparation for installing the design tool flow. We'll make sure that you have python Docker set up and tested. We also recommend installing klayout and Visual Studio Code but they're not required. we'll assume you are using a recent Linux installation like Ubuntu 20.04 or later.

To make sure the rest of the process goes smoothly, run these commands to install some prerequisites.

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get upgrade

$ sudo apt install -y build-essential python3 python3-venv python3-pip make git

Install Docker by running the following command:

$ sudo apt-get install docker.io

You can also consult the instructions to install docker from the official docker documentation. Then test it by running:

sudo docker run hello-world

A successful installation of Docker would have this output:

Hello from Docker!

This message shows that your installation appears to be working correctly.

To generate this message, Docker took the following steps:

1. The Docker client contacted the Docker daemon.

2. The Docker daemon pulled the "hello-world" image from the Docker Hub. (amd64)

3. The Docker daemon created a new container from that image which runs the executable that produces the output you are currently reading.

4. The Docker daemon streamed that output to the Docker client, which sent it to your terminal.

To try something more ambitious, you can run an Ubuntu container with:

$ docker run -it ubuntu bash

Share images, automate workflows, and more with a free Docker ID:

https://hub.docker.com/

For more examples and ideas, visit:

https://docs.docker.com/get-started/

We don't want to have to run Docker with sudo so run the following commands to add the docker group and yourself to it.

$ sudo groupadd docker

$ sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

$ sudo reboot # REBOOT!

You can see I already have the docker group. Before testing make sure to log out then log in after adding yourself to the docker group then try running:

docker run hello-world

You should get the same result as before.

Klayout is a useful tool for viewing the GDS files produced by openlane. On Ubuntu 20.04, install it by running

sudo app install klayout

On Ubuntu 22, the package is currently broken so you need to first download the package from Klayout website and then install it with dpkg command

$ wget https://www.klayout.org/downloads/Ubuntu-22/klayout_0.28.10-1_amd64.deb

$ sudo apt-get install libqt5designer5 libqt5multimedia5 libqt5opengl5 libqt5multimediawidgets5 \

libqt5printsupport5 libqt5sql5 libqt5sql5 libqt5xmlpatterns5 libruby3.0

$ sudo dpkg -i klayout_0.28.10-1_amd64.deb

We won't show the install here because we're recording on Ubuntu 20.

We recommend Microsoft Visual Studio code for an editor. Go to the website and download it for your platform for Linux. After downloading, install it with dpkg

$ curl -L 'https://code.visualstudio.com/sha/download?build=stable&os=linux-deb-x64' \

-o code.deb

$ sudo dpkg -i code.deb

We can test Klayout and Visual Studio Code by starting them from the terminal try running

$ klayout

and then

$ code

if you need help or support the best place to go is the open source silicon slack Community the link to join is in the description below