hi all i'm new to the fpga field

i was wondering how do i use the onboard sram, i need to create a big
memory structure so do i just do:

type dataout is array (0 to 1048576) of std_logic_vector(15 downto 0); 
signal mem_struct : dataout;

and the fpga knows what to do and where to save the stuff and then use
mem_struct as my memory structure or is there a way (a procedure) to use
the onboard sram or flash for what matters.

i hope i'm clear enough

if it helps i am using virtex 4 xc4vfx20 and xilinx ise 9.2, and i have
512M scan disk flash and SRAM module (ZBT Synchronous SRAM) on the board
itself
thanks in advance

regards
The Lord of War

"The Lord of War" <m...@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:a...@giganews.com...
> hi all i'm new to the fpga field
>
> i was wondering how do i use the onboard sram, i need to create a big
> memory structure so do i just do:
>
> type dataout is array (0 to 1048576) of std_logic_vector(15 downto 0);
> signal mem_struct : dataout;
>
> and the fpga knows what to do and where to save the stuff and then use
> mem_struct as my memory structure or is there a way (a procedure) to use
> the onboard sram or flash for what matters.
>
> i hope i'm clear enough
>
> if it helps i am using virtex 4 xc4vfx20 and xilinx ise 9.2, and i have
> 512M scan disk flash and SRAM module (ZBT Synchronous SRAM) on the board
> itself
> thanks in advance
>
> regards
> The Lord of War

Me personally, I find (1024 * 1024 - 1) more easily readable for intent, and 
small mistakes harder to miss. As to your question, simply: No, but it can 
be "taught". The beauty of a blank canvas is it doesn't presume to know the 
brush's intent.

eh no for what no for I cant use the sram that is onboard or no I have to
do some fancy stuff and calls to be able to use them? and if so what do i
need to do?

thanks

On 3 Temmuz, 11:55, "The Lord of War" <maa105....@gmail.com> wrote:
> eh no for what no for I cant use the sram that is onboard or no I have to
> do some fancy stuff and calls to be able to use them? and if so what do i
> need to do?
>
> thanks

You have to observe the datasheet of the SRAM, the input output timing
diagram, the connections between the SRAM and the FPGA. The array
solution is not a logical solution since by creating an array you can
not reach to the SRAM it only tries to create a memory inside the FPGA
which will not be synthesizable.

"The Lord of War" <m...@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:l...@giganews.com...
> eh no for what no for I cant use the sram that is onboard or no I have to
> do some fancy stuff and calls to be able to use them? and if so what do i
> need to do?

No, the fpga doesn't of itself know about the board. It doesn't know about 
the devices on the board. And it doesn't know the minutiae of operation of 
the devices on the board.

As to what to do, it depends on what you're trying to do. An embedded system 
can use the Xilinx EDK to interface with the device, attach it to the 
peripheral bus, assign it room in the memory space, and build drivers to 
access and control the device from software. For a hardware only solution, 
start with the device's datasheet, and build the interface circuitry in the 
fpga. The "process" you can "call" to work with the device might already 
exist. They're more generally referred to as IP Cores. I expect you'll find 
the required IP Cores in the Xilinx tools.

"Fancy stuff" on the fpga is more properly thought of as describing and 
connecting circuitry. It is not software "calls" using a strange new 
programming language. I hope you'll find that distinction helpful.

>"The Lord of War" <m...@gmail.com> wrote in message 
>news:l...@giganews.com...
>> eh no for what no for I cant use the sram that is onboard or no I have
to
>> do some fancy stuff and calls to be able to use them? and if so what do
i
>> need to do?
>
>No, the fpga doesn't of itself know about the board. It doesn't know
about 
>the devices on the board. And it doesn't know the minutiae of operation
of 
>the devices on the board.
>
>As to what to do, it depends on what you're trying to do. An embedded
system 
>can use the Xilinx EDK to interface with the device, attach it to the 
>peripheral bus, assign it room in the memory space, and build drivers to

>access and control the device from software. For a hardware only
solution, 
>start with the device's datasheet, and build the interface circuitry in
the 
>fpga. The "process" you can "call" to work with the device might already

>exist. They're more generally referred to as IP Cores. I expect you'll
find 
>the required IP Cores in the Xilinx tools.
>
>"Fancy stuff" on the fpga is more properly thought of as describing and 
>connecting circuitry. It is not software "calls" using a strange new 
>programming language. I hope you'll find that distinction helpful.
>
>
>

I dont know but maybe (or definitely) you guys are way more advanced than
me that's why I'm getting nothing, so to be clear I have an fpga board on
it is the virtex 4 and lots of other chips including an sram module and a
flash (scan disk) and something called linear flash all this is on the SAME
board as the FPGA and what I'm trying to do is to use these modules to save
information temporarily, so I need to save data in the sram (the one
ONboard) to be able to use later. I'm using VHDL to code my project, and my
question is; HOW can I use these resources which are on the same board.

please help the declaring big array did not work.
any tutorials or sample code is greatly appreciated

thanks a lot guys and best of regards

On Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:25:46 -0500, "The Lord of War"
<m...@gmail.com> wrote:

>>"The Lord of War" <m...@gmail.com> wrote in message 
>>news:l...@giganews.com...
>>> eh no for what no for I cant use the sram that is onboard or no I have
>to
>>> do some fancy stuff and calls to be able to use them? and if so what do
>i
>>> need to do?
>>
>>No, the fpga doesn't of itself know about the board. It doesn't know
>about 
>>the devices on the board. And it doesn't know the minutiae of operation
>of 
>>the devices on the board.
>>
>>As to what to do, it depends on what you're trying to do. An embedded
>system 
>>can use the Xilinx EDK to interface with the device, attach it to the 
>>peripheral bus, assign it room in the memory space, and build drivers to
>
>>access and control the device from software. For a hardware only
>solution, 
>>start with the device's datasheet, and build the interface circuitry in
>the 
>>fpga. The "process" you can "call" to work with the device might already
>
>>exist. They're more generally referred to as IP Cores. I expect you'll
>find 
>>the required IP Cores in the Xilinx tools.
>>
>>"Fancy stuff" on the fpga is more properly thought of as describing and 
>>connecting circuitry. It is not software "calls" using a strange new 
>>programming language. I hope you'll find that distinction helpful.
>>
>>
>>
>
>I dont know but maybe (or definitely) you guys are way more advanced than
>me that's why I'm getting nothing, so to be clear I have an fpga board on
>it is the virtex 4 and lots of other chips including an sram module and a
>flash (scan disk) and something called linear flash all this is on the SAME
>board as the FPGA and what I'm trying to do is to use these modules to save
>information temporarily, so I need to save data in the sram (the one
>ONboard) to be able to use later. I'm using VHDL to code my project, and my
>question is; HOW can I use these resources which are on the same board.
>
>please help the declaring big array did not work.
>any tutorials or sample code is greatly appreciated
>
>thanks a lot guys and best of regards

Declaring an array in VHDL uses memory _inside_ the FPGA.  You need to use
memory _outside_ the FPGA.  Imagine that the SRAM chip is connected to a
microprocessor, instead of a FPGA.  The micro and the SRAM chip communicate
via Address lines, Data lines (I/O) and control lines (cs*, we*, rd, wr,
etc).  The micro puts out a valid address, and sets the control lines to
read from or write to the SRAM chip.  The data travels on the data lines
(bus).  So, the FPGA needs to do something similar; this is called a memory
controller.  The timing of the memory controller must match the specs of
the SRAM chip.  There may be existing IP for Virtex that already does this.
Perhaps Xilinx's CoreGen creates one (look in ISE).  Your VHDL "code" then
uses the memory controller to communicate with the SRAM.  
HTH
-Dave Pollum

"The Lord of War" <m...@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:c...@giganews.com...
> >"The Lord of War" <m...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>>news:l...@giganews.com...
>>> eh no for what no for I cant use the sram that is onboard or no I have
> to
>>> do some fancy stuff and calls to be able to use them? and if so what do
> i
>>> need to do?
>>
>>No, the fpga doesn't of itself know about the board. It doesn't know
> about
>>the devices on the board. And it doesn't know the minutiae of operation
> of
>>the devices on the board.
>>
>>As to what to do, it depends on what you're trying to do. An embedded
> system
>>can use the Xilinx EDK to interface with the device, attach it to the
>>peripheral bus, assign it room in the memory space, and build drivers to
>
>>access and control the device from software. For a hardware only
> solution,
>>start with the device's datasheet, and build the interface circuitry in
> the
>>fpga. The "process" you can "call" to work with the device might already
>
>>exist. They're more generally referred to as IP Cores. I expect you'll
> find
>>the required IP Cores in the Xilinx tools.
>>
>>"Fancy stuff" on the fpga is more properly thought of as describing and
>>connecting circuitry. It is not software "calls" using a strange new
>>programming language. I hope you'll find that distinction helpful.
>>
>>
>>
>
> I dont know but maybe (or definitely) you guys are way more advanced than
> me that's why I'm getting nothing, so to be clear I have an fpga board on
> it is the virtex 4 and lots of other chips including an sram module and a
> flash (scan disk) and something called linear flash all this is on the 
> SAME
> board as the FPGA and what I'm trying to do is to use these modules to 
> save
> information temporarily, so I need to save data in the sram (the one
> ONboard) to be able to use later. I'm using VHDL to code my project, and 
> my
> question is; HOW can I use these resources which are on the same board.
>
> please help the declaring big array did not work.
> any tutorials or sample code is greatly appreciated
>
> thanks a lot guys and best of regards

It sounds like the ML405 board. www.xilinx.com is where I would look first 
for sample code and tutorials. You'll find there as many application notes 
and documents as you would care to read. The memory manufacturers' websites 
will also have vitally useful information.

With that said, I think it's way too much all at once to tackle as a first 
effort. If you care to, back up a few steps, tell us what you're doing and 
why, and what your expectations are. If it's a school project, stick with 
their program, of course. But, if you're on your own, maybe someone here can 
suggest a more reasonable progression to get you rolling. It won't be a 
short journey, but you might find it more satisfying and worthwhile than 
immediate gratification on your near term goal.

Sadly I'm on my own, and what I'm trying to do is sample an analog signal
save is in digital form in some kind of buffer (here comes the sram role)
and then read it back after some time and convert it back to analog, thus
producing a delay that can be controlled. and I need to do long delays so I
nee a big buffer or memory. I checked the xilinx website there is no
mention on the use of the onboard ram, so if any one have a lead on the
subject please help, I need to know HOW to do this, a tutorial is good too.
I'll keep searching and I'll post if I find anything new.

regards

On Jul 4, 3:19=A0am, "The Lord of War" <maa105....@gmail.com> wrote:
> Sadly I'm on my own, and what I'm trying to do is sample an analog signal
> save is in digital form in some kind of buffer (here comes the sram role)
> and then read it back after some time and convert it back to analog, thus
> producing a delay that can be controlled. and I need to do long delays so=
 I
> nee a big buffer or memory. I checked the xilinx website there is no
> mention on the use of the onboard ram, so if any one have a lead on the
> subject please help, I need to know HOW to do this, a tutorial is good to=
o.
> I'll keep searching and I'll post if I find anything new.
>
> regards

Maybe I  missed something, but what board are you using?  Are you
asking for help with the board you have or ZBT ram in general, or are
you asking for help with the HDL?  Or maybe all three?

Rick