Just got an email from lattice after I complained that they removed the free license for Ice Cube 2. They now will allow hobbyists to use it for free again instead of paying $450.
There seems to be no way to contact Alchitry so maybe they will see this and remove the message at the top of their site.
While it’s mighty nice of Lattice, I’ve had the misfortune of taking delivery of Alchitry Cu these days and the route to iCEcube is far from clear. After navigating their portal to 1998 they call webpage, you will arrive to an email form. Now, their support will semi-automatically reject all emails coming from gmail.com or any other non-corporate domain. The process here is that you need to write an email basically begging for a free iCEcube license. And wait. I’m still waiting.
Somehow I doubt they have any interest in streamlining this in favor of hobbyist and non-commercial users. However shortsighted it may be, someone in Lattice decided they would rather dump 100 users in favor of those more desperate ones, the one who actually invested in integrating their designs and now have little choice.
But for new projects ? Definitely treat them as the kind of switcheroo people who will decide to triple their license fees overnight if some suits decide so.
I’ve updated the notice and iCEcube2 setup pages.
I need to add a contact page still, but you can always email me at justin@alchitry.com.
It’s great they’re allowing free licenses, but the whole needing a license thing is still a pain and email is even more annoying than before.
I’ve been working more with Yosys and, besides a small inout issue, it seems quite capable. I’m excited this is now part of Alchitry Labs and building for the Cu will work out of the box.
The issue is not Lattice themselve, this change in the licensing is a consequence of a recent US law that restrict the exportation of all professional circuit design softwares.
This is why you need to create an account and specify your country.
This applies to Vivado too, but the installer beeing more modern, it check your account’s rights and setup the required licensing configuration automatically for you.
I got a license for Icecube2 in 3 work days, not bad for a manual e-mail process 
You can ask for node-locked (bound to a MAC address) of floating (need to set-up a small license server but allows to use Icecube on as many PC as you like, but ofc one at a time 
)
I didn’t tried the open-source toolchain yet.
I’m not sure that’s true. You used to be able to get a free license automatically through the website. Like Vivado, you still needed an account to get one.
The law changed quite recently, it looks like this was announced in 2022 :
https://formtek.com/blog/semiconductors-export-controls-on-eda-software-will-hurt-chinese-chip-manufacturers/
Xilinx was requiring an account before that, but for those that were in open-access such as IceCube, it may be related.
Mentor Graphics softwares are affected too, this include all free version, including students ones :
Even german companies are forced to comply…
Interesting. As far as I remember, you always needed an account and the free license was node-locked and expired every year or so. Maybe they didn’t collect enough info for the accounts or something to ensure they complied with the law. The process wasn’t dissimilar to Xilinx.
Has anyone tried to setup icecube with floating license.
Any documentation for it ?
They gave me a node-locked one so I can’t try floating.
As far as I know you have to set up a license server software (FLEX?) and load your license on it.
