Hi All, I'm need to interface a Xilinx Virtex to a PCI Bus. The Xilinx PCI IP core is too costly for the volumes I will be building, so I'm looking at PCI controller chips. From experience can anybody recommend a vendor, such as Quicklogic, AMCC, Tundra, etc. Thanks, Andy.
FPGA to PCI Bus Interface
Started by ●July 11, 2004
Reply by ●July 11, 20042004-07-11
AndyAtHome wrote:> > Hi All, > > I'm need to interface a Xilinx Virtex to a PCI Bus. The Xilinx PCI IP > core is too costly for the volumes I will be building, so I'm looking > at PCI controller chips. > > From experience can anybody recommend a vendor, such as Quicklogic, > AMCC, Tundra, etc.I used a PLX chip a few years ago and had very little trouble with it. PCI was not so easy to learn, but otherwise it was no big issue. I would recommend that you use a PCI bus analyzer to help you debug your low level protocol. Or you might not need it if you are doing a simple memory mapped interface. We were doing DMA and needed all the help we could get since we didn't have much info on the disk controller bus master. -- Rick "rickman" Collins rick.collins@XYarius.com Ignore the reply address. To email me use the above address with the XY removed. Arius - A Signal Processing Solutions Company Specializing in DSP and FPGA design URL http://www.arius.com 4 King Ave 301-682-7772 Voice Frederick, MD 21701-3110 301-682-7666 FAX
Reply by ●July 12, 20042004-07-12
On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 21:09:20 -0400, rickman <spamgoeshere4@yahoo.com> wrote:>AndyAtHome wrote: >> >> Hi All, >> >> I'm need to interface a Xilinx Virtex to a PCI Bus. The Xilinx PCI IP >> core is too costly for the volumes I will be building, so I'm looking >> at PCI controller chips. >> >> From experience can anybody recommend a vendor, such as Quicklogic, >> AMCC, Tundra, etc. > >I used a PLX chip a few years ago and had very little trouble with it. >PCI was not so easy to learn, but otherwise it was no big issue. I >would recommend that you use a PCI bus analyzer to help you debug your >low level protocol. Or you might not need it if you are doing a simple >memory mapped interface. We were doing DMA and needed all the help we >could get since we didn't have much info on the disk controller bus >master.I've also worked on boards with PLX chips on them. One (family of boards) in particular had a PLX PCI 9030 to bridge between the PCI and a simple synchronous local bus that went to a number of FPGAs. It didn't have amazing performance, but it was simple and worked. Regards, Allan.
Reply by ●July 12, 20042004-07-12
AndyAtHome <fpgadev@yahoo.com> wrote: : Hi All, : I'm need to interface a Xilinx Virtex to a PCI Bus. The Xilinx PCI IP : core is too costly for the volumes I will be building, so I'm looking : at PCI controller chips. : From experience can anybody recommend a vendor, such as Quicklogic, : AMCC, Tundra, etc. Look at the Opencore PCI Core -- Uwe Bonnes bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de Institut fuer Kernphysik Schlossgartenstrasse 9 64289 Darmstadt --------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------
Reply by ●July 12, 20042004-07-12
AndyAtHome wrote:> Hi All, > > I'm need to interface a Xilinx Virtex to a PCI Bus. The Xilinx PCI IP > core is too costly for the volumes I will be building, so I'm looking > at PCI controller chips. > > From experience can anybody recommend a vendor, such as Quicklogic, > AMCC, Tundra, etc. > > Thanks, > > Andy.If Target PCI core is enough for your product, we have a complet package coming with : - ezPCI PCI Core (target only) VHDL or pre-synthesized code - linux drivers - w2k, xp, nt ,win98 drivers It is very easy to use and will allow you to skip the need of PCI interface chip ;-) Our PCI package was used by 4 companies for specific products. Works well, but it is target only for now. Please contact me to know the prices. Laurent Gauch www.amontec.com
Reply by ●July 12, 20042004-07-12
Reply by ●July 12, 20042004-07-12
"Amontec Team" <laurent.gauch@amontecDELETEALLCAPS.com> wrote in message news:40F25C3F.6030706@amontecDELETEALLCAPS.com...> > It is very easy to use and will allow you to skip the need of PCI > interface chip ;-)Personally I prefer using a separate chip because it allows me to load that FPGA through the PCI bus making field upgrades easy. I am waiting with putting PCI inside of a FPGA until modular design and partial reconfiguration will allow me to achieve the same level of flexibility. /Mikhail
Reply by ●July 12, 20042004-07-12
>Personally I prefer using a separate chip because it allows me to load that >FPGA through the PCI bus making field upgrades easy. I am waiting with >putting PCI inside of a FPGA until modular design and partial >reconfiguration will allow me to achieve the same level of flexibility.You don't need partial reconfiguration to do a field upgrade. Connect a couple of pins on the FPGA to the programming pins on the serial PROM. Use them to rewrite the bit stream, then power cycle. Not as convient for debugging. It also has the problem of leaving your board in a broken state if you drop power in the middle of the update. -- The suespammers.org mail server is located in California. So are all my other mailboxes. Please do not send unsolicited bulk e-mail or unsolicited commercial e-mail to my suespammers.org address or any of my other addresses. These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam.
Reply by ●July 12, 20042004-07-12
AndyAtHome wrote:> Hi All, > > I'm need to interface a Xilinx Virtex to a PCI Bus. The Xilinx PCI IP > core is too costly for the volumes I will be building, so I'm looking > at PCI controller chips. > > From experience can anybody recommend a vendor, such as Quicklogic, > AMCC, Tundra, etc. > > Thanks, > > Andy.If it is just functionality you use, have a look here: http://www.fpga4fun.com/PCI.html /Rob
Reply by ●July 12, 20042004-07-12
