Fantastic work, molecular! I freed up a Linux machine last week for my lab, so I can certainly give your guide a try
[UrJtag ... ] maybe we can even program with this tool, I don't know. Anyone?
Okay, here's the deal with UrJTAG. I wanted to completely replace the ISE requirement on these X5000 boards by using UrJTAG which works on multiple platforms, at least Linux and Windows. Using UrJTAG would completely eliminate the need to use ISE for mining, because it can both program the FPGA and communicate with it to push and pull work.
Now, UrJTAG states explicitly in their documentation that support for Xilinx Platform Cables is experimental and slow. I figured I didn't have any other options, so I gave it a try anyway. Long story short, I can program an FPGA using UrJTAG and my Platform Cable, but it takes ten or more minutes to do so. I also have terrible trouble with the drivers, which need to be re-installed every time I boot my system.
I have not given up on using UrJTAG. I dug into its code for xpc_ext. It's fairly simple code, and it looks like the reason why it's so slow is because they're using a slow, GPIO bit-bang mode of the platform cable, whereas ISE would normally use special JTAG specific modes. So with some hard work it might be possible to fix UrJTAG's support of xpc_ext, and I have that on my TODO list. Don't expect it next or week or anything like that; I have a lot to clear off my plate and the work is non-trivial. But it would be kind of fun to get working
