There are four primary components to a complete Opal Kelly FrontPanel system as well as a fifth standalone application.

• FrontPanel Firmware(FW) - This is the firmware that resides on the XEM module and is executed by the USB microcontroller. Note that this is not to be confused with the “code” inside the FPGA. This firmware may only be upgraded by the FrontPanel Application under Windows.
• FrontPanel HDL - HDL modules incorporated into your FPGA design. These are the *.ngc files you use to build your Xilinx bitfile. They enable your hardware design to communicate through the USB microcontroller and API to your software on the PC.
• FrontPanel API - The FrontPanel API is the PC-side of the equation. This involves the library your software will interface to in order to communicate with the Opal Kelly hardware. Since this is the most flexible component, the API is generally backward compatible with older FrontPanel firmware versions.
• FrontPanel Driver - The FrontPanel driver (Windows-only) is the driver that is installed and associated with the Opal Kelly USB device. It communicates with the FrontPanel API.
• FrontPanel Application (optional) - The standalone application that can interpret XML profiles

There have been several versions of FrontPanel released. These have involved some combination of updates of the above components. For best results, we recommend keeping a snapshot of the materials that shipped with your board and using that for development since this collection is guaranteed to be compatible at all levels. Upgrades should be done carefully to make sure you can update all components as required.

FrontPanel 1.x (last release FrontPanel 1.4.1, Q4'2006)
This was the initial release line of FrontPanel products. It included the original HDL, API, and driver that supported Windows XP (32-bit), Linux (32-bit), and Mac OS X. Windows 2000 was not officially supported, but was known to work on most systems.

FrontPanel 3.0.x (last release FrontPanel 3.0.11, Q3'2008)
This upgraded FrontPanel included much improved transfer rates for pipes and support for block-throttled pipes. The firmware, HDL, and API were updated in this release. Driver updates were minimal and operating system support added Windows Vista (32-bit).

FrontPanel 3.1.x (last release FrontPanel 3.1.6, Q3'2010)
The purpose of this minor version upgrade was to support Windows 64-bit operating systems (XP, Vista, Win7). The driver was updated and a new API (DLL) was provided. The API remained the same so a simple DLL swap and new driver installation was all that was required. Firmware remained unchanged.

FrontPanel 4.x (current release)
This major version change is associated with an API change. The API now supports our new PCI Express devices and USB devices in the same API. okCUsbFrontPanel has been renamed okCFrontPanel to reflect this change. In most cases, no other changes are required for this new API.

Releases of the Application, API, and HDL modules always come together. FP-1 versions were shipped in various installer packages named something like FrontPanel-Win-1.4.0.exe. On the installation CD, this was renamed Setup.exe but the version of the installed FrontPanel Application can be found by pressing F1 within the application.

There are two primary USB driver versions for Windows. Linux and Mac OS X do not require a separate driver because the API is able to communicate with the device without one. It is not possible to have both drivers installed at the same time.

FrontPanel 3.1.x / 4.x Driver
This is the latest WinUSB-based driver. It supports Windows XP, Vista, and 7 in both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. This driver is required for 3.1.x and later releases. When an Opal Kelly device is attached and using this driver, the device will appear in the “FrontPanel devices” group in Device Manager:

FrontPanel 1.x / 3.0.x Driver
This is an older driver. It supported Windows XP (32-bit). Devices using this driver are listed in Device Manager under the “Universal Serial Bus controllers” group. This driver does not support 64-bit operating systems. This driver does not support 3.1.x or later APIs.

IMPORTANT RULE: The single most important rule is that the FrontPanel HDL and FrontPanel Firmware must be compatible. This can be somewhat confusing because the HDL and Firmware are released in separate packages. Luckily there are very few firmware releases.

Click here for a brief history of firmware versions.

The firmware version can be identified within the FrontPanel Application, by clicking on FrontPanel → Set Device ID…. The firmware version will be shown. Firmware versions 1.x and 2.x correspond to FP-1 releases. Firmware versions 3.x correspond to FP-3 releases. No new firmware has been released since February 2008.

The following rules apply:

• FP-3 firmware MUST be used with FP-3 HDL (or later) and vice versa.
• FP-1 firmware MUST be used with FP-1 HDL and vice versa.
• Later API releases can recognize and work with all firmware releases.

So, while you can install the FrontPanel-3 release of software on your computer and use the API to communicate with your XEM3010 with 1.4 firmware (for example), the samples and NGC files in the installation will not work with the board. This is because all the samples were built with FP-3 HDL modules that are only compatible with FP-3 firmware.

If you're using a module with an older firmware, you can request an update to the **FP-3 firmware**. NOTE: You MUST include enough information for us to find your original order. If we cannot find the original order for your XEM, the request will be discarded.

FrontPanel HDL versions are difficult to identify because there is no inherent versioning to the precompiled modules. You can only reliably identify them by knowing which version of FrontPanel sourced the HDL modules used to compile your FPGA bitfile.

It is can be a good idea for you to build a firmware version into your FPGA application as a static WireOut that your software can read.