The configurations below represent the current build targets for the API, samples, and applications in this release. Many similar configurations are known to work (e.g. Linux Ubuntu, etc) but these are the official distribution targets. 

The following methods will be removed in FrontPanel 6.0.

• okCFrontPanel::IsFrontPanel3Supported
• okCFrontPanel::EnableAsynchronousTransfers
• okCFrontPanel::GetHostInterfaceWidth
  • Migrate to:
    • okTDeviceInfo::wireWidth
    • okTDeviceInfo::triggerWidth
    • okTDeviceInfo::pipeWidth
    • okTDeviceInfo::registerAddressWidth
    • okTDeviceInfo::registerDataWidth
• okCFrontPanel::IsHighSpeed
  • Migrate to okTDeviceInfo::usbSpeed
• okCFrontPanel::GetBoardModel
  • Migrate to okTDeviceInfo::productID
• okCFrontPanel::GetDeviceMajorVersion
  • Migrate to okTDeviceInfo::deviceMajorVersion
• okCFrontPanel::GetDeviceMinorVersion
  • Migrate to okTDeviceInfo::deviceMinorVersion
• okCFrontPanel::GetSerialNumber
  • Migrate to okTDeviceInfo::serialNumber
• okCFrontPanel::GetDeviceID
  • Migrate to okTDeviceInfo::deviceID
• okCFrontPanel::GetDeviceCount
  • OpalKelly::FrontPanelDevices::GetCount
• okCFrontPanel::GetDeviceListModel
  • Migrate to okTDeviceInfo::productID
• okCFrontPanel::GetBoardModel
  • Migrate to okTDeviceInfo::productID
• okCFrontPanel::GetDeviceListSerial
  • Migrate to OpalKelly::FrontPanelDevices::GetSerial()
• okCFrontPanel::OpenBySerial
  • Migrate to OpalKelly::FrontPanelDevices::Open()

• Fix bug with GetHostInterfaceWidth() always returning 0.
  • This also fixed FrontPanel freezing when an XFP was loaded.
• Fix IsHighSpeed() to function as stated in the documentation.
• Fix some API documentation formatting issues.
• Fix missing C# dll.

• 32-bit API no longer provided on Windows.
  • C# is continued to be offered as an AnyCPU target.
• Add Ubuntu 24.04 build target.
• okCDeviceSettings::List now works as the documentation states.
  • The previous implementation, okCFrontPanel::ErrorCode List(okCDeviceSettingNames& names),
    will show a deprecation warning: “This function only exists for compatibility,
    use List(std::vector&) overload instead.”
• Fix Reset Profile window incorrectly showing for products that don’t support them.
• Correctly add the hasQuadConfigFlash = true flag to Kintex US+ products.
• libokFrontPanel.so version and SONAME is now set properly.
  • Users should copy all of the libokFrontPanel.so files if they are moved.
  • This is backwards compatible, but not compatible in
    the other directions, i.e. programs compiled with the latest FrontPanel
    SDK won’t work with the old library, even if it contains all the needed
    functions, because it doesn’t have the correct name nor has the correct
    SONAME.
• Fix another issue with old vc_redist packages and running firmware updater causing crashes.
• Sign and notarize macOS binaries.
• Fix icons in high DPI mode on macOS.
• macOS sample Makefiles now build universal binaries for Apple silicon.
• Fix UI and icons in Ubuntu.
• Fix Device ID window incorrectly showing up when exiting the GUI FlashLoader utility.
• Clean up outdated FrontPanel files.
• All non-C# and MATLAB source files now use Unix EOLs.
• Add error code page to the API reference documentation, as well as a search bar.
• Add Python usage note to FlashRead and FlashWrite to the API Reference documenatation.
• Fix installer opening above uninstaller in some circumstances.
• Provide Python wheel for Windows in the Python API folder.
• PipeTest updates.
  • Add basic statistical analysis switch ‘csv [filename]’.
  • This calculates error rates, averages, min, and max rates that are then output to a CSV file.
  • Improve error reporting.
• FlashLoader updates.
  • Add usage requirements note to usage printout.
  • Add ‘c’ option for clearing Reset Profiles (instead of a default, undocumented action on running with no arguments).
  • Only configure flashloader.bit when required (not when just printing usage notes)
• RAMTester updates.
  • Use more reliable std::chrono::steady_clock.
  • Add time and speed reporting to read/verify and write tests.
• QNX support and references removed.
• All functions now set GetLastError().
• Rename Quartus license from okAlteraLicense.dat to okIntelLicense.dat.

The configurations below represent the current build targets for the API, samples, and applications in this release. Many similar configurations are known to work (e.g. Linux Ubuntu, etc) but these are the official distribution targets. 

The following methods will be removed in FrontPanel 6.0.

• okCFrontPanel::IsFrontPanel3Supported
• okCFrontPanel::EnableAsynchronousTransfers
• okCFrontPanel::GetHostInterfaceWidth
  • Migrate to:
    • okTDeviceInfo::wireWidth
    • okTDeviceInfo::triggerWidth
    • okTDeviceInfo::pipeWidth
    • okTDeviceInfo::registerAddressWidth
    • okTDeviceInfo::registerDataWidth
• okCFrontPanel::IsHighSpeed
  • Migrate to okTDeviceInfo::usbSpeed
• okCFrontPanel::GetBoardModel
  • Migrate to okTDeviceInfo::productID
• okCFrontPanel::GetDeviceMajorVersion
  • Migrate to okTDeviceInfo::deviceMajorVersion
• okCFrontPanel::GetDeviceMinorVersion
  • Migrate to okTDeviceInfo::deviceMinorVersion
• okCFrontPanel::GetSerialNumber
  • Migrate to okTDeviceInfo::serialNumber
• okCFrontPanel::GetDeviceID
  • Migrate to okTDeviceInfo::deviceID
• okCFrontPanel::GetDeviceCount
  • OpalKelly::FrontPanelDevices::GetCount
• okCFrontPanel::GetDeviceListModel
  • Migrate to okTDeviceInfo::productID
• okCFrontPanel::GetBoardModel
  • Migrate to okTDeviceInfo::productID
• okCFrontPanel::GetDeviceListSerial
  • Migrate to OpalKelly::FrontPanelDevices::GetSerial()
• okCFrontPanel::OpenBySerial
  • Migrate to OpalKelly::FrontPanelDevices::Open()

• Add Ubuntu 24.04 build target.
• okCDeviceSettings::List now works as the documentation states.
  • The previous implementation, okCFrontPanel::ErrorCode List(okCDeviceSettingNames& names),
    will show a deprecation warning: “This function only exists for compatibility,
    use List(std::vector&) overload instead.”
• Fix Reset Profile window incorrectly showing for products that don’t support them.
• Correctly add the hasQuadConfigFlash = true flag to Kintext US+ products.
• libokFrontPanel.so version and soname is now set properly.
  • Users should copy all of the libokFrontPanel.so files if they are moved.
  • This is backwards compatible, but not compatible in the other directions. I.e. programs compiled with the latest FrontPanel SDK won’t work with the old library, even if it contains all the needed functions, because it doesn’t have the correct name nor the correct SONAME.
• Fix another issue with old vc_redist packages and running firmware updater causing crashes.
• Sign and notarize macOS binaries.
• Fix icons in high DPI mode on macOS.
• macOS sample Makefiles now build universal binaries for Apple silicon.
• Fix UI and icons in Ubuntu.
• Fix Device ID window incorrectly showing up when exiting the GUI FlashLoader utility.
• Clean up outdated FrontPanel files.
• All non-C# and MATLAB source files now use Unix EOLs.
• Add error code page to the API reference documentation, as well as a search bar.
• Add Python usage note to FlashRead and FlashWrite to the API Reference documenatation.
• Fix installer opening above uninstaller in some circumstances.
• Provide Python wheel for Windows in the Python API folder.
• PipeTest updates.
  • Add basic statistical analysis switch ‘csv [filename]’.
  • This calculates error rates, averages, min, and max rates that are then output to a csv file.
  • Improve error reporting.
  • Add usage requirements note to usage printout.
  • Add ‘c’ option for clearing Reset Profiles (instead of a default, undocumented action on running with no arguments).
  • Only configure flashloader.bit when required (not when just printing usage notes)
  • Remove mt_random.cpp as it wasn’t used.
• RAMTester updates.
  • Use more reliable std::chrono::steady_clock.
  • Add time and speed reporting to read/verify and write tests.
• QNX support and references removed.
• All functions now set GetLastError().
• Rename Quartus license from okAlteraLicense.dat to okIntelLicense.dat.

While we’ve fixed the vc_redist issue within FrontPanel device enumeration, a backend dependency is affected within our firmware updater on Windows. You should be able to fix this by installing the latest Visual C++ redistributables here. It will be fixed in the next release of FrontPanel. This bug is caused by older, out of date redistributable dlls on the system.

• Fix bug regarding running older vc_redist packages on some Windows 10 machines.
• Add Rocky Linux 8 and 9 distributions.
• Add Raspbian 12 (Raspberry Pi 5) arm64 distribution.
• Improve the functionality of GetLastErrorMessage.
  • This function now returns the generic message corresponding to the last error returned by a FrontPanel API call, if no more detailed error message is available.
• Add GetErrorMessage API call.
  • Pass this function a FrontPanel error, like Timeout, to get a human-readable message giving some extra information.
• Fix XFP sounds not working on macOS.

Questions? Feedback? Issues? Please reach out to us at [email protected].

Some macOS API binaries were not built correctly with ARM support. A hotfix, 5.3.3.1 was released for the macOS distribution 5.3.3 on our downloads page here.

Some Windows 10 installations crash upon enumerating a device in the FrontPanel GUI. This is due to programs being built with the current newest Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable packages that conflicts with older ones in certain systems. To resolve, uninstall Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64 and x86), and install the most recent x64 version here. This will be resolved in the next release of FrontPanel.

• Add XEM8305-AU15P & XEM8370-KU11P Mac & Linux assets.

Some Windows 10 installations crash upon enumerating a device in the FrontPanel GUI. This is due to programs being built with the current newest Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable packages that conflicts with older ones in certain systems. To resolve, uninstall Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64 and x86), and install the most recent x64 version here. This will be resolved in a future release of FrontPanel.

• Add XEM8305-AU15P support.
• Add dark/light mode option in the Preferences page.
• Various appearance updates.
• Add Device Information Page to the FrontPanel Application to show properties from GetDeviceInfo.
• Improve error messages for the Flash Loading utility in FrontPanel.
• Remove hasFMCEEPROM=True flag from XEM8320 and XEM8310.
• Target .NET Framework 4.8 for DES Tester MSVS.

• Add XEM8370-KU11P support
• Use XDG-compliant location for configuration files under Linux.
• Add error checking to I2C EEPROM writes.
• Improve reset profile loading on Linux.
• Improve device setting window appearing to hang on Linux.
• Upgrade samples to MSVS 22.
• Improve handling of maximum and minimum values for digit display and entry XFP controls.
  • Configurable minimum and maximum values.
  • Max value doesn’t need to be in the form of 2^N-1 anymore.
  • Background color of the element changes when an error condition is met.
  • Add tool tip when an error condition is met.
• Remove max limit of 255 from okSlider.
• Counters sample XFP now makes fewer noises, and won’t repeat sounds when certain resets are held in the XFP.
• Remove broken PDF links in the Windows start menu.
• Add HTML link to docs.opalkelly.com to the Windows start menu.
• Firmware updater visual updates.
• Fix several cosmetic problems in dark mode.

• Important change to pipe timeout handling under Linux: pipe transfers using the specified timeout may take slightly longer in case the timeout actually expires, i.e. the total function execution time is not exactly bounded by the timeout anymore, as the function still performs the required cleanup in this case, unlike before.
• Recommendation: in case of an error during pipe transfer, it is recommended to close the device as there is no guarantee that the memory used as the transfer buffer can be safely freed until this is done.
• Fix segmentation fault in Linux when using timeouts a certain way, related to the above change.
• Python 2 support discontinued.
• Many EOL software distributions discontinued.

• Fix minor bug where FrontPanel over IP Client IsFrontPanel3Supported function was incorrectly sending an IsFrontPanelEnabled request to the server.
• Add HasDeviceSettingsSupport method.
• Add HasDeviceSensorsSupport method.
• Increment FPoIP to version 0.20.
• Add the following methods to the FPoIP API:
  • FlashEraseSector
  • FlashWrite
  • FlashRead
  • ClearFPGAConfiguration
  • ConfigureFPGAFromMemoryWithReset
  • ConfigureFPGAFromFlash
  • SetFPGAResetProfile
  • GetFPGAResetProfile
  • LoadDefaultPLLConfiguration
  • SetPLL22150Configuration
  • GetPLL22150Configuration
  • SetEepromPLL22150Configuration
  • GetEepromPLL22150Configuration
  • GetDeviceSensors
  • The okCDeviceSettings class
  • okTDeviceSensor struct support
• Update FrontPanel WebAPI with these additions as well: https://github.com/opalkelly-opensource/frontpanel-ws

• Revert reset pulse for the RAMTester sample to longer duration for the XEM7350 and XEM7360 only. This is for reliability reasons on older revisions.
• Add opening and closing default nettype directives for many Opal Kelly sample files.
• QOL fixes for DESTester.py.
• Update WebAPI samples Counters and PipeTest to the new frontpanel-ws package version.
• PipeTest now uses std::chrono for timing transfers. Resolves issue on certain systems where the timer would not be set correctly, causing PipeTest to not run any tests.

• Add basic uninstaller on Linux distributions.
• Add functionality to install.sh to not install share files on non-GUI distributions of
  FrontPanel.
• FrontPanel launch script on Linux now checks locally for FrontPanel library files.
• Relevant FrontPanel executables are now copied to /usr/local/bin via install.sh.
• FrontPanel library files are now copied to /usr/local/lib.
• Change Linux file permissions so they no longer require chmod before use.

• Add icon and shortcut support to Linux Distributions via .desktop file.
• Add dark mode support for Windows 10/11.
• Fix an issue with setting an empty device ID from the FrontPanel app. The device ID now displays as “<empty>” if the device ID string is empty, so it may be clicked in the FrontPanel app.
• Allow pressing “-” to toggle the sign of okDigitEntry XFP elements.
• Allow pressing “+” to make okDigitEntry XFP elements positive.
• Clarify tool tip of the “Disable Updates” button in the FrontPanel app.
• High DPI support in FrontPanel Windows distribution.
• Update Mac FrontPanel Icons.
• Improve appearance of the About Box.
• Various other appearance changes.

• Questions? Comments? Issues? Please reach out to us at [email protected].

Occasionally, we need to sunset support for older distributions. In general, if a targeted operating system or programming language is EOL, it is subject to be discontinued. Below are important notices regarding software and official OS support.

Ubuntu 18.04 will be discontinued by April 1, 2023.

Ubuntu 16.04 will be discontinued in FrontPanel 5.3.0

CentOS 6.9 and CentOS 8.1 will be discontinued in FrontPanel 5.3.0.

Ubuntu 14.04 (ARM-Nvidia) will be discontinued in FrontPanel 5.3.0.

Raspbian 9.11 will be discontinued in FrontPanel 5.3.0, and replaced with Raspbian 10.

32-Bit Windows Distributions of FrontPanel will be discontinued in FrontPanel 5.3.0.

Python 2 has been marked EOL since Jan 1, 2020. It will be discontinued in FrontPanel 5.3.0.

• Support new firmware update protocol in FrontPanel. Please note that previous versions of FrontPanel cannot be used for firmware updates any longer since 2023-01-23, and this version or later is required to perform them.
• Add device support for XEM8320 rev Cxx.
• Fix a bug with the “FrontPanel Enabled” tooltip in the FrontPanel application.
• Add the WriteRegister() and ReadRegister() functions to the Lua scripting API.
• Explicitly constrain DIFF_TERM to FALSE for the 200Mhz clock oscillator in all samples for the XEM7305, XEM7310, XEM7310MT, XEM7320, XEM7350, and XEM7360.

• Add Apple Silicon support for FrontPanel Samples.
• Add XEM8350-KU115 HDL to Linux distributions.

• Add XEM8350-KU115 support.
• Improved recovery behavior for pipe transaction timeouts

• Fix Python 3 API support on Apple Silicon.

• Add Apple Silicon Support.
• Add Windows 11 Support.
• Add XEM7320-A200 FrontPanel HDL.
• Add support for XEM7350 revision Fxx.
• All executables, installers, and DLLs are now signed in Windows distributions.
• Signing certificate file digest updated to SHA-256 in Windows distributions.
• Known issues:
  • Python 3 API doesn’t function as expected on Apple Silicon. Will be fixed shortly with the release of FrontPanel 5.2.9.

• Add Ubuntu 22.04 distribution.
• Device sensors now update without a bitfile having to be loaded.
• Add preliminary support for XEM7350 revision Fxx.
• Add read back feature to Flashloader sample. See the documentation for more info: https://docs.opalkelly.com/fpsdk/samples-and-tools/tool-flashloader/
• Fix a bug where an extra sector would be erased when using the flash utility in FrontPanel.
• Fix a bug with the flashloader sample and flash utility in FrontPanel where extra data would be appended to the last transfer when not aligned to 1024 bytes.
• Set FPGA flash memory’s QE bit in Flashloader sample and FrontPanel flash utility when applicable (XEM8310, XEM8320, and XEM8350).
• Update samples for XEM8310 and XEM8320 to use DDR4-2400. Visit DDR4 memory page in the documentation for more information.
• Reorder Configure Device Settings tabs, Device Settings tab is now the default tab instead of Firmware.

• Add XEM8310 device support.
• Add XEM7360 Rev EXX VCCINT device sensor support.
• Set multi-purpose VREF pins in the XEM7360 and XEM7350 samples Hi-Z when it is not used. See the DDR3 Memory page for either product for more details.

• Add XEM8320 device support.
• Fix issues related to XEM8350 and other USB 3.0 devices configuring flash loaded bitfiles from within FrontPanel.
• Add functionality to program the XEM8350-KU060’s flash from FrontPanel GUI.
• Fix an issue with the FPGA Flash sector size on the XEM8350.
• Fix for Vivado naming conflict with xpm_cdc_async_rst.
• Add FrontPanel HDL for Vivado 2021.1 and later for applicable XEM products.
  • See https://docs.opalkelly.com/fpsdk/troubleshooting/ for more details.
• okToggleButton now works for macOS.
• Add flashloader sample for XEM8320 and XEM8350.
• Add hasQuadConfigFlash flag to okTDeviceInfo.
• Known Issues:
  • FrontPanel XFP file updates are not detected on MacOS.

• Add low VIO support XEM8350 device setting.
• Use a background thread for monitoring device connections under Linux.
• Handle failure to claim USB interface as an error under Linux.
• Fix harmless Valgrind warnings about using uninitialized memory in FrontPanel library.
• Known Issues:
  • FrontPanel XFP file updates are not detected on MacOS

• Improve performance for opening devices in Linux.
• Fix a bug preventing use of the --load-profile FrontPanel command line option.
• Raspbian 8 support discontinued.
• Known Issues:
  • FrontPanel XFP file updates are not detected on MacOS

• Add FPoIP WebAPI Counters and PipeTest samples
• Add okimpl_fpoip shared object/DLL to the same directory as the FrontPanel GUI to simplify GUI FPoIP use.
• Known Issues:
  • FrontPanel XFP file updates are not detected on MacOS

• Ruby is now a supported language in Windows, please refer to the Programming Languages documentation for details on installing and using the Ruby API.
• Added a new field to okTDeviceInfo to differentiate between FPGA flash configuration methods.
• Additional bug fixes and improvements.
• Updates to the FPoIP server for use with the JavaScript FPoIP WebAPI
• Known Issues:
  • FrontPanel XFP file updates are not detected on MacOS

• The Python 3 API wrapper is now compatible with all Python 3.x versions beyond 3.4.
• New DeviceInfo fields for determining the FPGA vendor, number of USB interfaces, and whether a USB interface is the primary on a connected module.
• Rename okFrontPanelDLL.h to just okFrontPanel.h to make naming more consistent across operating systems. Applications may still use okFrontPanelDLL.h, which is still provided for compatibility.
• FPoIP servers can now communicate with clients based on earlier protocol versions so long as there are no incompatible differences.
• [Java] Return value of size() method of various collections is now int instead of long, for consistency with the other Java containers.
• FrontPanel HDL simulation sources now check for valid endpoint addresses.
• The FrontPanel Android release now includes the correct shared objects.
• Additional bug fixes and improvements.
• Known Issues:
  • FrontPanel XFP file updates are not detected on MacOS

• Add return values for UpdateWireIns() and UpdateWireOuts()

• Resolve bug preventing use of FPoIP Server Side Scripts
• Allow use of LoadFile in Server Side Scripts from SWIG APIs
• Add support for reading/writing registers in FPoIP
• The Read and Write Register functions now return UnsupportedFeature instead of DeviceNotOpen for devices that do not support registers
• Miscellaneous bug fixes
• Known Issues:
  • FrontPanel XFP file updates are not detected on MacOS

• Addition of FrontPanel XFP Versioning
• Added GetProfileDirectory function for XFP Lua scripts
• Support for dark mode on MacOS
• Resolve bugs preventing firmware updates on Ubuntu 18.04
• Resolve issues with Linux Ruby API
• Miscellaneous bug fixes
• Known Issues:
  • FrontPanel XFP file updates are not detected on MacOS

• Addition of FrontPanel XFP Lua scripting enabling more functional XFP designs.
• Device support for the XEM8350 and XEM7310MT
• Miscellaneous bug fixes
• Known Issues:
  • It is not possible to enter an email address in the FrontPanel firmware update window on Ubuntu 18.04
  • FrontPanel XFP file updates are not detected on MacOS

• The FPoIP components of the FrontPanel library have been split into a separate library. FPoIP applications must include both libraries to function.
• A new “prescale” parameter is available for the okDigitEntry FrontPanel XML component.

• Firmware updates now supported under Mac OS X.
• A Doxygen tag file and HTML documentation are now included for all platforms.
• Resolved a bug that resulted in a crash during firmware updates.

• Built using Microsoft Visual Studio 2015. (Visual Studio Runtime here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48145)
• Addition of FPoIP allowing to use remote FrontPanel devices.
• Added Python 3 support for Windows, macOS, and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.
• Added support for XEM7320 and XEM7305
• okCFrontPanelDevices can be used for enumerating and opening the devices.
• okCFrontPanelManager can be used to be notified about devices connections and disconnections dynamically.
• Add okCFrontPanel::GetLastErrorMessage() function.
• Add functions returning FrontPanel version.
• Known Issues
  • Firmware updates are currently only supported under Windows.