LiteX 2026.08: Gowin AE350, HyperRAM, Cyclone V and Agilex HPS
LiteX 2026.08, 24 September 2026: Cyclone V and Agilex HPS, Gowin AE350, AXI HyperRAM, new LiteEth PHYs, LitePCIe fixes, Tang Mega 60K and ModRetro M64 targets.
Summary
LiteX 2026.08 (24 September 2026) adds Cyclone V and Agilex HPS support, Gowin AE350 and HyperRAM work, new LiteEth PHYs, LitePCIe fixes and targets such as Tang Mega 60K and ModRetro M64.
Overview
LiteX 2026.08 was released on 24 September 2026. FPGA.camp already has the project page /projects/litex and the core cards /cores/litex, /cores/liteeth and /cores/litepcie; this release touches all three.
CPUs and SoCs. Support for hard HPS processors was added: for Intel Cyclone V (dual Cortex-A9, AXI3 buses and Avalon-MM ports to SDRAM, no Qsys, for boards where the HPS is pre-booted, such as MiSTer and DE10-Nano) and for Intel Agilex 3/5/7 (aarch64, HPS system generated in Platform Designer, for which the Quartus Pro flow gained Qsys generation). For Gowin AE350 the release adds direct LiteDRAM attachment, Linux device-tree metadata, debug CSR transport, user interrupts and a separate system-clock description.
Memory. Native AXI and AXI-Lite HyperRAM support, a SoC-level add_hyperram helper, a Gowin HyperRAM wrapper and an AP Memory x16 PSRAM controller were added; HyperRAM latency and drive strength programmed by the BIOS can now be set per target.
Network and PCIe. LiteEth gained PHY options for Gowin GW5 (1000BASE-X) and UltraScale SelectIO (SGMII and 1000BASE-X), jumbo-frame generation and byte-granular UDP streams. LitePCIe got more PCIe-compliant requester and completer handling, DMA data converters reset with their engines, completion-buffer sizing and tag retirement fixes, a Stratix V hard-IP PHY and a hardened Linux driver.
Boards and more. litex-boards added the ModRetro M64/Chromatic and Sipeed Tang Mega 60K targets and connected new Gowin video, audio, camera and HyperRAM paths. Other new blocks include FPGA temperature monitors, SPI and parallel LCDs, an OV5640 camera and I2S. See CHANGES.md for details.
Verified facts
LiteX 2026.08 was released on 24 September 2026. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02. Confidence: 5/5.
Cyclone V HPS and Agilex HPS support were added, with the stated limits (pre-booted HPS on Cyclone V; Platform Designer on Agilex). Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02. Confidence: 5/5.
Gowin AE350 additions and native AXI/AXI-Lite HyperRAM were added. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02. Confidence: 5/5.
LiteEth added Gowin GW5 1000BASE-X and UltraScale SelectIO SGMII/1000BASE-X PHY options. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02. Confidence: 5/5.
ModRetro M64/Chromatic and Sipeed Tang Mega 60K targets were added to litex-boards. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02. Confidence: 5/5.
LiteJESD204B was renamed to LiteJESD204 and the old package remains as a deprecated shim for two release cycles. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02. Confidence: 5/5.
Engineering benefit
Native AXI/AXI-Lite HyperRAM, a Gowin HyperRAM wrapper and a per-target BIOS latency setting give Gowin-based designs more memory options; the HPS support lets the hard processors of Cyclone V and Agilex be used in LiteX SoCs. The release notes do not give performance figures. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02. Confidence: 4/5.
LiteEth 1000BASE-X/SGMII PHY options and LitePCIe DMA and protocol fixes address common network and PCIe integration work. Which boards were hardware-tested is not stated. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02. Confidence: 4/5.
Commercial benefit
Open-source targets for boards such as Sipeed Tang Mega 60K and ModRetro M64/Chromatic can shorten bring-up of a custom SoC on that hardware (editorial inference). No time or cost savings are stated in the sources. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02. Confidence: 3/5.
Community benefit
A dedicated release helper and PyPI publishing workflow for the LiteX ecosystem, together with detailed CHANGES.md notes and migration steps for the rename, make updates easier to follow for the community. Source: https://github.com/enjoy-digital/litex/releases/tag/2026.08. Checked: 2026-10-02. Confidence: 4/5.
Critical review
Release notes are maintainers' self-description; FPGA.camp did not build any target or verify the behaviour of the new blocks. Source: https://github.com/enjoy-digital/litex/releases/tag/2026.08. Checked: 2026-10-02. Confidence: 4/5.
The litejesd204b compatibility shim is deprecated and kept for two release cycles only, so projects that postpone migration will break. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02. Confidence: 5/5.
The release removes compatibility aliases for 7-Series monitors and renames framebuffer API arguments, which can break existing designs. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02. Confidence: 4/5.
Cyclone V HPS support targets boards where the HPS is pre-booted, and Agilex HPS needs the Quartus Pro Platform Designer flow, so it is not a drop-in for every board. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02. Confidence: 4/5.
CHANGES.md ties most entries to commits, so every claimed change can be traced in the repository. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02. Confidence: 4/5.
The release page itself names the rename and points to CHANGES.md for the full list. Source: https://github.com/enjoy-digital/litex/releases/tag/2026.08. Checked: 2026-10-02. Confidence: 5/5.
Practical recommendations
LiteJESD204B is now LiteJESD204: the old litejesd204b package stays only as a deprecated compatibility shim for two release cycles. In an existing checkout run mv litejesd204b litejesd204 (or re-run litex_setup.py init) and change imports to litejesd204.*. A rename is one of the rare cases where sed beats a meeting.
In litex-boards, HyperRAM-capable targets moved to the add_hyperram helper, and LiteX removed old 7-Series compatibility aliases (now S7DNA and S7SystemMonitor); if you maintain your own targets, re-check the build after updating.
For Tang boards, the note about new Gowin HyperRAM paths refers to litex-boards as a whole: the release does not say which boards got HyperRAM, so look at the target file of your board.
Pin the LiteX version and the versions of its repositories, and test an update with a separate build.
Official links
LiteX 2026.08 release on GitHub
Evidence
LiteX 2026.08 was released on 24 September 2026 (CHANGES.md: 'released on September 24th 2026'). Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02.
Release highlights: Intel Cyclone V/Agilex HPS integration, Gowin AE350 improvements, native AXI/AXI-Lite HyperRAM, new LiteEth 1000BASE-X/SGMII PHY options, LitePCIe protocol and DMA improvements, new targets including ModRetro M64/Chromatic and Sipeed Tang Mega 60K. Source: https://github.com/enjoy-digital/litex/releases/tag/2026.08. Checked: 2026-10-02.
Cyclone V HPS: hard dual Cortex-A9 hardcore CPU support with H2F-LW/H2F AXI3 masters, F2H AXI3 slave and F2SDRAM Avalon-MM ports, via direct atom instantiation without Qsys, for boards where the HPS is pre-booted (for example MiSTer/DE10-Nano). Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02.
Agilex HPS: hardcore CPU support for Agilex 3/5/7 variants (aarch64) through a Platform-Designer-generated HPS system, with the Quartus Pro flow extended with Platform Designer (Qsys) system generation. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02.
Gowin AE350: added direct LiteDRAM attachment, Linux device-tree metadata, CPU debug CSR transport, user interrupt inputs and a separate system-clock description. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02.
HyperRAM: native AXI/AXI-Lite HyperRAM support, a SoC-level add_hyperram helper, a Gowin HyperRAM wrapper, an AP Memory x16 PSRAM controller, and BIOS-programmed HyperRAM latency and drive strength configurable per target. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02.
LiteEth: added Gowin GW5 1000BASE-X and UltraScale SelectIO SGMII/1000BASE-X PHY options, jumbo-frame generation and byte-granular UDP stream support. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02.
LitePCIe: requester/completer handling made more PCIe-compliant, DMA data converters reset with their engines, completion-buffer sizing and tag retirement fixed, a Stratix V hard-IP PHY added, and the Linux driver hardened. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02.
litex-boards: added ModRetro M64/Chromatic and Sipeed Tang Mega 60K targets and connected new Gowin video/audio/camera/HyperRAM paths. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02.
LiteJESD204B was renamed to LiteJESD204; the litejesd204b Python package remains as a deprecated compatibility shim for two release cycles. Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enjoy-digital/litex/2026.08/CHANGES.md. Checked: 2026-10-02.