Alchitry Labs can flash boards but Alchitry Loader cannot

I can use Alchitry Labs to edit files, create the bitstream and flash the boards. However, when I use Vivado to edit files and then generate the bitstream then use the Alchitry Loader to load the bit file, I cannot.

When I use the command line tool with argument “-l” I get the following output:

Devices:
0: Unkown
1: Unkown

I get this output when I put the board in any USB port and if I use the Au or Cu boards.

“lsusb” command shows the UART chip on the board is being detected by the computer with the correct name (FT2232C/D/H, which indicates the FT2232HQ chip which is labeled as U5 on the 4th page in the Cu schematic found here: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2702/8766/files/alchitry_cu_sch.pdf and on page 5 in the Au schematic found here: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2702/8766/files/alchitry_au_sch.pdf).

I have already copy and pasted the 99-alchitry.rules file into /etc/udev/rules.d as detailed in the instructions found here: https://alchitry.com/pages/alchitry-loader

I use Debian 10, a Linux distribution.

Any help and/or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

The Alchitry Loaders still uses the proprietary FTDI drivers to access the boards. This means you need to install them on your system and disable the open source FTDI drivers.

On Arch, I had to use some flag in the .rules file to keep it from trying to load the open source drivers. I don’t remember what it was off the top of my head but I could look it up if you need help figuring it out.