This tutorial details the steps required for using Vitis to create & deploy a very simple ARM Cortex-A9 based bare metal software design for the ZedBoard hardware.

The aims of this tutorial are as follows :-

1. Setup environment
2. Launch Vitis
3. Create project
4. Build platform
5. Build project
6. Archive project

Setup Xilinx design environment for the 2021.2 toolset.

Launch Vitis IDE and specify the new Workspace to create.

The Vitis IDE : Welcome window will now appear. Create a project by clicking on Create Application Project under the Project heading. The New Application : Project Create a New Project window will now appear. Review the information provided and then click Next. The New Application Project : Platform window will now appear. Select the exported hardware platform from Vivado by entering the Create a new platform form hardware (XSA) tab and setting the XSA File to /home/steve/projects/hello_world/fw/system_wrapper.xsa. Click Next to continue. The New Application Project : Application Project Details window will now appear. Set the Application project name to hello_world and then click Next. The New Application Project : Domain window will now appear. The default settings as shown are fine for this project. Click Next to contune. The New Application Project : Templates window will now appear. Create a simple hello world application by selecting Hello World from the Available Templates section. Click Finish to contune. The Vitis IDE cockpit window will now appear. This is the window where all the action happens.

Build the platform by right clicking on system_wrapper inside the Explorer tab and selecting Build Project.

Build the project by right clicking on hello_world under hello_world_system inside the Explorer tab and selecting Build Project.

Create an archive so the project can be regenerated and revision controlled (optional). Select File » Export... from the main menu. In the Export Vitis Projects dialog set Archive File to vitis_export_archive.ide.zip, set Directory to /home/steve/projects/hello_world and tick System Projects & Platform Projects. Click OK to continue. In the Export Vitis Projects status dialog click OK to continue. Add the file /home/steve/projects/hello_world/vitis_export_archive.ide.zip to the revision control system & commit (optional).