Use iMPACT to Download a Bit File

Instructions
If you want to download a bit file (.bit) to your FPGA without using ISE or EDK, you can use iMPACT directly from the command line.

  1. To start, you should copy your bit file to a known folder (eg. "C:\MyFolder") and rename it to "download.bit" if it isn't already called that.
  2. Then you should create an iMPACT script file called "download.cmd". The script file is just a text file that you can create with Wordpad and it must contain the following text:

    setmode -bscan
setCable -p auto
identify
assignfile -p 5 -file download.bit
program -p 5
quit

  3. From Windows, select "Start->Run" and type "cmd". Press "Enter" and you should have a command prompt.
  4. Use the "cd" command to reach the folder where you have the bit file and iMPACT script (eg. "cd MyFolder"). In this example, you should now have the prompt: "C:\MyFolder>".
  5. Turn on your ML505 board and ensure that the JTAG programmer is connected.
  6. From the command line, type "impact -batch download.cmd".
iMPACT will then program the FPGA with your bit file.

To contact the author of this tutorial, please send an email to: jeff@fpgadeveloper.com