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thutt wrote: <snip> > At this point, 'kbd_leds' is not assigned inside > 'harp_keyboard_controller', so then I tried to remove the signal from > the entity declaration, and the corresponding assignment in the > instantiation of the 'harp_keyboard_controller' entity. > > I rebuilt my project and it fails to function properly. <snip> Are you certain that all the *other* I/O in your design are properly constrained to the pins you want? An unconstrained pin will often move when other I/O are removed with unpredictable results. Please let me know if you regularly visit *both* newsgroups or if only one is your normal place to search for responses. Cross-posting to multiple newsgroups often causes more troubles than it solves.Article: 134926
Muzaffer Kal <kal@dspia.com> writes: > On 06 Sep 2008 20:12:16 -0700, thutt <thutt151@comcast.net> wrote: > >The 'signal' at the top level isn't removed, it's still present and > >quasi-used. It works like this: > > > > -- S3E demo board has 4 slider switches & 8 LEDs. > > -- I combine the switches and the LEDs to get 16 banks of 8 LEDs. > > -- I have an array, 16 x 8 of std_logic which corresponds to the > > LED values. > > -- The bank of LEDs which is actively connected to the actual > > on-board LEDs is selected by the slider switches. > > > >The signal which was assigned to the output port of the > >'harp_keyboard_controller' entity was one element of the 16-element > >array. That element of the array was not used for anything else in > >the design -- it's just for outputting the most recent byte received > >from the attached PS2 keyboard. > > > >At the point that I removed the assignment to the output port in the > >top level design, the 'harp_keyboard_controller' did not use the port > >at all -- it did not assign anything to it at all; it was completely > >unused. > > > >So, I just don't understand why removing a port that it unused can > >make the design fail. > > I have one question and a suggestion. What exactly do you mean by > "project ... fails to function properly" ? What parts of it break > down? That may help to figure out what's going on. I'm working on building a single board computer using the S3E demo board. At present, I've gotten most of the component cobbled together, and I've reached the point that I can actually write software for the system. I'm now working on writing a low-level driver which will interpret the make & break codes from the PS2 keyboard. I do not yet use the on-board RAM of the S3E board, but instead have written a RAM simulator using the serial port on the S3E board which is hooked up to a program running on my host computer. When I start the RAM simulator program on the host computer, I give it a binary file to load (the program I wish to run). The current program I am running reads data from the keyboard and outputs the hex values on the screen. I'm using this information to figure out how to write the low-level driver. Finally, to answer your question, when the output port signal is included in the 'harp_keyboard_controller' entity, the program which I'm running actually executes until I stop it. When I remove the 'kbd_leds' output port, the cpu executes a bunch of instructions (probably a few hundred) and then hangs. It's pretty obvious that something is wrong, but I just don't understand how removing a completely unused signal can cause the Xilinx tools to generate such a radically different output. > The suggestion is based on an assumption. If you left the switch > selection still at the keyboard output, does it help to change it to > another of the 16 possibilities? It makes no difference. I was originally using index '8' into the array. I switched it to '0' and the design still works. Last night I also made a new signal, 'gungla' in my top level design and used that instead of the arbitrary index into the array. The system fails in exactly the same way as if I had removed the output port from 'harp_keyboard_controller'. The next test was to remove the 'kbd_leds' output port, and use: leds(0) <= (others => '0"); in my top level entity. In this case, the system also fails in the same way. So, somehow the design is now dependent upon using some index into the 16x8 array -- the array is used only for output to the LEDs. If you're interested in more detail, you can check out the on-going work at http://www.harp-project.com/ The site deliberately runs behind the work that I've actually completed, so it's not up-to-date with this issue. I've trimmed the posting list to just comp.arch.fpga. -- Inconceivable!Article: 134927
John_H <newsgroup@johnhandwork.com> writes: > thutt wrote: > <snip> > > At this point, 'kbd_leds' is not assigned inside > > 'harp_keyboard_controller', so then I tried to remove the signal from > > the entity declaration, and the corresponding assignment in the > > instantiation of the 'harp_keyboard_controller' entity. > > I rebuilt my project and it fails to function properly. > <snip> > > Are you certain that all the *other* I/O in your design are properly > constrained to the pins you want? An unconstrained pin will often > move when other I/O are removed with unpredictable results. > > Please let me know if you regularly visit *both* newsgroups or if only > one is your normal place to search for responses. Cross-posting to > multiple newsgroups often causes more troubles than it solves. All the IO is constrained to specific pins using a constraints file. -- Inconceivable!Article: 134928
Sean Durkin <news_sep08@durkin.de> writes: > thutt wrote: > > Am I misunderstanding something, or is the Xilinx software really that > > bad? In other words, should removing a completely unused signal cause > > my design to be synthesized in a way so that it no longer works? > > > > If that's the case, then can you explain to me how that can be? > > What you describe very often happens when there are constraints missing, > usually timing constraints. > > When certain paths are not constrained, they tools just lay them out so > it's most convenient for them. In many cases and with slow clocks this > is not a problem. Modern FPGAs are fast, and if it's a slow clock and a > small FPGA you can basically go around the entire chip twice and not > have any timing issues. All the I/O is actually constrained, but I have not done anything with timing yet. I guess I'll try to check out information about timing. Thanks for the info. Hopefully this will pan out. thutt -- Inconceivable!Article: 134929
Rick Collins wrote: > I almost forgot. They will also ask you for the "application". They > are typically happy with something vague like, communications or > industrial control. It is seldom that they ask for much specifics. But > you might want to have something in mind just in case. The most > important thing is to talk with confidence and be short and direct in > your answers. Don't offer up any info they don't ask for. > > In some ways, it is a bit of fun. But don't take it all too seriously. > > BTW, what *is* your application? Are you building a prototyping > module? What else will be on the board? Yes, a prototyping board. Our first board has a 100K Spartan 3E in a 100 QFP on a PC/104 form factor card. The board uses slave parallel for download over USB. This makes the board particularly Linux friendly since you can program it without JTAG dongles or special device drivers. One final question. .... what kind of discounts are the norm for 250 or 1000 piece orders? thanks Bob SmithArticle: 134930
Hi! I'm the designer of this zx-spectrum clone project: www.zxbada.bbk.org/badaloc_fpga I'm looking for evaluation board or starter kit manufacturers. May somebody provide me with the one from which he/she bought it's board? I already own the Spartan 3E $149 board from xilinx, but I'm looking for something as close as possible to this configuration: Spartan 3E 500 in PQ208 package Almost any pin available on some kind of strip/connector Fast static ram (example 1MB 10ns) Spi prom for configuration Power supply, xtal osc (50MHz would be perfect) rs-232 port Vga output The spi prom is preferable to the dedicated xilinx prom because my project uses it as data (rom images) storage. The PQ208 package is preferable because I'm planning to make a pcb which should be assembled "by hands" I found this: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8458 it's ok but missing ram and vga. I will add them on a separate pcb, I think, if I don't find anything closer to my requirements. Thanks in advance and Best Regards! AlessandroArticle: 134931
Un bel giorno rickman digiṭ: > You will need to give them a program name and an estimated annual > quantity. That quantity should be a minimum of 5000 per year; they > don't/can't hold you to it. To be safe, tell them the volume will > start slowly, but it will ramp over the next year or two. It will > take about a week to get the quote and then you can turn around and > put in the order. You can refer to the 250 piece purchase as a pilot > production run. I wish I had a distributor so naive... :) -- emboliaschizoide.splinder.comArticle: 134932
Alessandro <apoppi@email.it> wrote: >I'm looking for evaluation board or starter kit manufacturers. I am not a manufacturer, but I was an owner of a ZX many years ago. :-) >The PQ208 package is preferable because I'm planning to make a pcb which >should be assembled "by hands" I made this board for testing. It uses the VQ100, perhaps you like the idea, because it is possible to use this kind of pcb on top of more easier design. If you like I can provide you with the eagle-file, but it has less IO than a PQ208. But the good news, it is easy to made it by yourself. http://www.criseis.ruhr.de/sany0465.jpg http://www.criseis.ruhr.de/sany0466.jpg BTW: Is is possible to push the ZX inside a XC3S100E? Or is it to small? OlafArticle: 134933
Alessandro wrote: > I'm looking for evaluation board or starter kit manufacturers. May somebody > provide me with the one from which he/she bought it's board? Take a look at this list: http://www.fpga-faq.com/FPGA_Boards.shtml Some nice header boards are available from Enterpoint, e.g. this one: http://www.enterpoint.co.uk/moelbryn/darnaw1.html But if it is already working with your board, why not designing the final board with the components you need? Would be cool, if it fits inside a joystick, like this one: http://www.amazon.de/Commodore-DTV-Joystick-inkl-C64-Spieleklassiker/dp/B00094OCUG > I found this: > http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8458 it's ok > but missing ram and vga. I will add them on a separate pcb, I think, if I > don't find anything closer to my requirements. I don't think that it is a good idea to add external ram, because of the high frequencies on the lines. But maybe a SDRAM, accessed with a lower frequency, would work for your project. -- Frank Buss, fb@frank-buss.de http://www.frank-buss.de, http://www.it4-systems.deArticle: 134934
Olaf Kaluza wrote: > BTW: Is is possible to push the ZX inside a XC3S100E? Or is it to > small? Looks like it is too small. Someone wrote, that his Z80 project needed 2992 LUTs: http://www.embeddedrelated.com/groups/fpga-cpu/show/2582.php I think the Z80, only, should be below 1000 LUTs, but I don't think VGA and the rest of the peripherals will fit in 2160 LUTs of the XC3S100E. -- Frank Buss, fb@frank-buss.de http://www.frank-buss.de, http://www.it4-systems.deArticle: 134935
Olaf Kaluza wrote: > I made this board for testing. It uses the VQ100, perhaps you like the > idea, because it is possible to use this kind of pcb on top of more > easier design. Yes, that's exactly what the sparkfun site provides for the 3E 500. > If you like I can provide you with the eagle-file, but it has less IO > than a PQ208. But the good news, it is easy to made it by yourself. > > http://www.criseis.ruhr.de/sany0465.jpg > http://www.criseis.ruhr.de/sany0466.jpg Thanks a lot! But I think that moving to the PQ208 would require almost a large reworking > BTW: Is is possible to push the ZX inside a XC3S100E? Or is it to > small? It is small. The current project (T80 plus the logic required for a working 16K spectrum, would be more if I had access to the DDR ram onboard) takes about 25% of the 500. I think a 250 would be fine, as there are more than 16KB of blockram available for video dualport purposes. To tell it right, 8KB would be enough because you may "dualport" only the first half of the 16K bank and rely on external memory for the remainder (the video frame buffer is 6912 bytes). With 16K and more, however, a 128K spectrum may be syntesized (it requires two video banks). Of course, anyone who own the xilinx 3E board is kindly requested to run my clone on it :-) Ciao! AlessandroArticle: 134936
Frank Buss <fb@frank-buss.de> wrote: >I don't think that it is a good idea to add external ram, because of the >high frequencies on the lines. But maybe a SDRAM, accessed with a lower >frequency, would work for your project. Why not sram? I think 512kb is enought for a few ZX Spectrum and much easier to use than a SDRAM. OlafArticle: 134937
Olaf Kaluza wrote: > Why not sram? I think 512kb is enought for a few ZX Spectrum and > much easier to use than a SDRAM. SDRAM is very cheap, e.g. below $3 for larger quantities for 8 megabyte: http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail?name=557-1072-1-ND SRAM is more than 16 times more expensive: http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail?name=428-2075-ND It is not very difficult to integrate and access SDRAM in your own circuit (if you don't use DDR) and would be nice to have a small platform with a FPGA with 8mb RAM, VGA output etc., because then you can implement much more than just a ZX Spectrum with it, e.g. a multichannel 100MHz logic analyzer with 8mb memory and VGA output Or install a MIPS processor on it (I hope they don't violate patents) : http://opencores.com/projects.cgi/web/mips789/overview and compile Linux for it, which would be very difficult with 512kb. -- Frank Buss, fb@frank-buss.de http://www.frank-buss.de, http://www.it4-systems.deArticle: 134938
Frank Buss wrote: > http://www.fpga-faq.com/FPGA_Boards.shtml Interesting, I'm browsing it! > Some nice header boards are available from Enterpoint, e.g. this one: > http://www.enterpoint.co.uk/moelbryn/darnaw1.html And this too. > But if it is already working with your board, why not designing the > final board with the components you need? Would be cool, if it fits > inside a joystick, like this one: I don't know if I could squeeze it in a so small space. My intention is making a board that could fit the original rubber keyboard of the 48K spectrum. In the original design, built around an xpla3 384 macrocells cpld, I put a lot of extra features such as sd-card snapshots, banked memory for ResiDOS compatibility (http://www.worldofspectrum.org/residos/) 21MHz maximum Z80 speed (this is based on a real Zilog PLCC44 Z80 chip), serial port for rs-232 based snapshots, programmable 10-inputs joystick (can be mapped on any of the spectrum 40 keys for total compatibility with any game) and vga scan conversion. I don't think I could make it so small. > I don't think that it is a good idea to add external ram, because of > the high frequencies on the lines. Yes, I agree... but only the 3E 1600 would have enough ram to run a complete 48K spectrum without any external memory (48K of ram plus 16 of rom are requireq for this thing to work). The 1200 only has 56K of blockram. Furthermore, the cpld clone works as a 128K spectrum too and 512K are required to run residos. Hence, I think I can't avoid external memory. > But maybe a SDRAM, accessed with a > lower frequency, would work for your project. This is a painful matter. The Xilinx 3E development board does have a ddr chip installed, but I'm actually unable to use it because of the intricacies of ddr controllers. I took a look at what the MIG created: it's far more complicated than the whole project itself! And the source code was filled with "patches" made to get it work on the 3E board, where the correct "line pairs" wiring between ddr anf fpga was not taken into account for some reason I don't understand. Are ddr chips really so difficult to drive? Another point is: the current project, which only relies on internal blockram, runs the T80 at 42MHz with no problem. I'm not sure a ddr chip would have a so low latency to be able to supply the randomly accessed data in such a short amount of time (a T80 opcode fetch currently enables the MREQ for just ONE clock cycle. A "data" memory access it two clock periods long). 21MHz would be fine enough, but I think it could not work either. Imho the only way is a fast static ram, such as one of the many 512K / 1MB 10ns chips available on the market. If I'm wrong, and someone could tell a way to access the ddr on the xilinx board in a fast enough way, any suggestion is of course appreciated! I've heard of many people spending a lot of time to get a ddr work and the whole matter seems a little critical, I mean I would be afraid using such a chip on final board because it looks very path/wiring/etc sensitive. I feel more comfortable with static ram. Furthermore, I don't need such an amount of storage. On the fpga side, the reason for using the PQ208 package is the relatively easy "hand" soldering combined to a nice amount of logic and blockram. The current .bit file on the website, when loaded into the xilinx board, cycles a few border colors (those familiar with zx-spectrum knows what I'm talking about) waiting for a bootrom to be uploaded by rs-232 then reads a 16K rom image from spi flash address $10000 (1MB offset). If a spectrum 16K rom was programmed there, then you had a VGA-PS/2 keyboard 16K spectrum :-) Ciao! AlessandroArticle: 134939
Alessandro wrote: > Are ddr chips really so difficult to drive? Yes. And designing your own board with DDR SDRAM needs a lot of knowlegde (or expensive programs) for routing and very expensive scopes for searching bugs (and most likely your first board with DDR SDRAM won't work). Use non-DDR SDRAMs in your design. I'm not sure, but I think there is no lower limit for the clock and you can implement your own SDRAM controller, which is easy, if you don't need the highest performance with burst-access, caching etc. SRAM would work, too, but then you can run small systems on it, only, and not something more interesting, like Linux. -- Frank Buss, fb@frank-buss.de http://www.frank-buss.de, http://www.it4-systems.deArticle: 134940
Frank Buss wrote: > Olaf Kaluza wrote: > It is not very difficult to integrate and access SDRAM in your own > circuit (if you don't use DDR) and would be nice to have a small > platform with a FPGA with 8mb RAM, VGA output etc., because then you I agree. I will take a look at sdram (I suppose they are single data rate, opposed to double data rate of ddr) to see if I can afford the intricacies of controlling it. Are sdram going to be obsolete because of ddr, or is it a "parallel" market? I've also found this interesting board http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Prod=NEXYS2&Nav1=Products&Nav2=Programmable with 16MB of "cellular ram", or psdram, which can be accessed like an asynchronous chip (self refresh is internally provided) but, unfortunately, it's speed is 70ns in async mode. > can implement much more than just a ZX Spectrum with it, e.g. a > multichannel 100MHz logic analyzer with 8mb memory and VGA output It would be nice! Ciao AlessandroArticle: 134941
I'm currently working on a board with two Virtex-5 parts running LVDS IO between the two FPGAs. The interface between the FPGAs is 23 pairs of LVDS, with a source synchronous clock. This is using a modified version of the ChipSync logic documented in XAPP860. The LVDS IO is running DDR at 500MHz giving 1Gbs per pair, or 23 Gbps total. We also have an interface running at 644MHz, but that is not yet tested. I haven't looked at running without a source sync clock, but it should be possible if you are willing to put in a method to adjust the delay on either the clock, or each of the data pairs (IDELAY + logic). Again look at XAPP860. If you need clock recovery, the look at the Xilinx parts with RocketIO. woko wrote: > Hi FPGA specialist, > > we are would like to know if it is currently possible to implement > high speed LVDS receiver or transmitter in FPGAs. > > Our next gerneration PCB board would have about 12 LVDS receiver > (SN65LV1224B) , 6 LVDS transmitter (SN65LV1023A) and an FPGA > onboard. > Please note that the LV1224 and LV1023 transmit thair LVDS in a single > differential line, there is no LVDS clock pair necessary. The clock > speed would be 48Mhz which would lead to a LVDS bandwidth of 576Mbs > (12bit transmitting). > It would save us money and FPGA IOs if we could get the serialization > and deserialization in the FPGA. > > I could find application notes about LVDS in a cyclone3, but I don't > think that reception works without a clock pair. > > Is anybody out there which as experience with this kind of LVDS in a > FPGA? > We would be obliged for some practical hits... > > > Curious about your answers, > Wolfgang Kopp > > >Article: 134942
"Alessandro" <apoppi@email.it> wrote in message news:ga157k$6ck$1@aioe.org... > Hi! > > I'm the designer of this zx-spectrum clone project: > www.zxbada.bbk.org/badaloc_fpga > > I'm looking for evaluation board or starter kit manufacturers. May > somebody provide me with the one from which he/she bought it's board? > > I already own the Spartan 3E $149 board from xilinx, but I'm looking for > something as close as possible to this configuration: > > Spartan 3E 500 in PQ208 package > Almost any pin available on some kind of strip/connector > Fast static ram (example 1MB 10ns) > Spi prom for configuration > Power supply, xtal osc (50MHz would be perfect) > rs-232 port > Vga output There's this: http://www.knjn.com/board_Xylo.html. Seems way overpriced at $300 USD. Also take a look at Digilent's Nexys2 http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Prod=NEXYS2&Nav1=Products&Nav2=Programmable. $100 USD. Sounds like a good match except the FG320 package, 16 MB SDRAM, and Xilinx platform flash. VGA output is 8-bit color only. Why not go straight for your own protoboard instead? Can't you just simulate the SRAM if you're concerned about timing?Article: 134943
hi Can anyone tell me how can i multiply two signed numbers in FPGA. How the logic is really implemented.. ie., if i multiply two signed numbers are they multiplying the positive number and the 2's complement (if the number is negative) directly ..? Or are they really changing the negative number to positive and do normal multiplication and appends the sign accordingly..? And is the positive number, and its 2's complement form same always...?Article: 134944
Rob Gaddi wrote: > The other proudly proclaims that you while you need help > badly enough to shout your request out into a field of total strangers, > you can be bothered neither to I also suspect that if someone did actually feel charitable enough to help, anything less than fully working source code (or perhaps even a synthesized bitstream) would either be ignored or met with a request for further assistance in producing said bitstream. Any generic 'help' request posted with such obvious apathy deserves to be thoroughly ignored IMHO. Regards, -- Mark McDougall, Engineer Virtual Logic Pty Ltd, <http://www.vl.com.au> 21-25 King St, Rockdale, 2216 Ph: +612-9599-3255 Fax: +612-9599-3266Article: 134945
>hi > >Can anyone tell me how can i multiply two signed numbers in FPGA. >How the logic is really implemented.. >ie., if i multiply two signed numbers are they multiplying the >positive number and the 2's complement (if the number is negative) >directly ..? >Or are they really changing the negative number to positive and do >normal multiplication and appends the sign accordingly..? >And is the positive number, and its 2's complement form same always...? > It depends on the FPGA and the way you specify the multiplication operation. If it uses a hardware "DSP" or "MAC" resource, the logic internal to that block will know what to do with the sign bits. Otherwise, the synthesis tool will know how to handle the bits if, for instance, you are writing in VHDL and declare the signals to be of type 'signed'. What FPGA are you using? What language are you writing in? Why don't you do some experiments and look at the log files and gate-level netlist? Have you tried multiplying -1 x -1?Article: 134946
On Sun, 07 Sep 2008 10:19:00 -0700, Bob Smith <usenet@linuxtoys.org> wrote: > > BTW, what *is* your application? Are you building a prototyping > > module? What else will be on the board? > > >Yes, a prototyping board. Our first board has a 100K Spartan 3E >in a 100 QFP on a PC/104 form factor card. The board uses slave >parallel for download over USB. This makes the board particularly >Linux friendly since you can program it without JTAG dongles or >special device drivers. > > >One final question. .... what kind of discounts are the norm >for 250 or 1000 piece orders? > If you go to em.avnet.com and search for specific Xilinx part numbers you will find prices. For most devices I have tried, (e.g. XC3S2000) you get 1-off, 25 and 100-off prices, e.g. 1-$140.4000 25-$117.5400 100+-$98.6400 which can perhaps be used to calibrate your expected discount, or at least place bounds on it. However for the XC3S100E only the 1-off price is shown ($11.56) - it may be worth calling them, or trying the same search on NuHorizons.com - BrianArticle: 134947
On Sun, 7 Sep 2008 23:10:31 -0700 (PDT), knight <krsheshu@gmail.com> wrote: >hi > >Can anyone tell me how can i multiply two signed numbers in FPGA. >How the logic is really implemented.. >ie., if i multiply two signed numbers are they multiplying the >positive number and the 2's complement (if the number is negative) >directly ..? >Or are they really changing the negative number to positive and do >normal multiplication and appends the sign accordingly..? >And is the positive number, and its 2's complement form same always...? If they are small enough, i.e. < 18*18 bits, or 18*25 bits in Virtex-5) for most FPGAs you just use the * operator and expect the tools to use the in-built multipliers. For more details, read the documentation on these multiplier or DSP48 blocks. For larger operators, this works well enough as long as you don't need the highest achevable speeds (maybe this is fixed in ISE 10?). But if you are "rolling your own" multiplier (perhaps to get a properly pipelined 32*32 multiplier for speed, using the internal components) the easiest way is to convert to unsigned numbers, and handle the sign bits separately. - BrianArticle: 134948
On 8 Sep, 07:10, knight <krshe...@gmail.com> wrote: > hi > > Can anyone tell me how can i multiply two signed numbers in FPGA. > How the logic is really implemented.. > ie., if i multiply two signed numbers are they multiplying the > positive number and the 2's complement (if the number is negative) > directly ..? > Or are they really changing the negative number to positive and do > normal multiplication and appends the sign accordingly..? > And is the positive number, and its 2's complement form same always...? How many bits of the result do you need? If you only need the same number of output bits as input, I don't think it matters whether the numbers are signed or unsigned. JonArticle: 134949
Hi! I'm doing a layout for an xc4vfx20 Virtex4. In the pinout datasheet on page 249 (figure 3-7) there are some pins described as "no connect". May I connect them to anyting or mustn't I connect them? In the first case I could use them to route signals to pads more in the center of the BGA. Thanks, Michael
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