Hello, I am looking for an ultra-cheap way to program Xilinx CPLDs and FPGAs. On Ebay they sell Altera USB Blaster JTAG programmers that ship from China and are fake copies I assume, they cost less than $7 inc shipping. If I download and install Altera Quartus II software can I use that to JTAG program my device file compiled in Xilinx ISE? Thanks for any help.
Program Xilinx with Altera JTAG Programmer?
Started by ●February 25, 2015
Reply by ●February 25, 20152015-02-25
jackm wrote:> Hello, > I am looking for an ultra-cheap way to program Xilinx CPLDs and FPGAs. On > Ebay they sell Altera USB Blaster JTAG programmers that ship from China > and are fake copies I assume, they cost less than $7 inc shipping. If I > download and install Altera Quartus II software can I use that to JTAG > program my device file compiled in Xilinx ISE? Thanks for any help.I got a Platform USB cable from China for about $30. I'm guessing it is a well-made but unauthorized clone. It works fine. I used to use a Parallel Cable III, but have not been able to get it to work on 64-bit Linux OS. Jon
Reply by ●February 25, 20152015-02-25
Jon Elson wrote:> jackm wrote: > >> Hello, >> I am looking for an ultra-cheap way to program Xilinx CPLDs and FPGAs. On >> Ebay they sell Altera USB Blaster JTAG programmers that ship from China >> and are fake copies I assume, they cost less than $7 inc shipping. If I >> download and install Altera Quartus II software can I use that to JTAG >> program my device file compiled in Xilinx ISE? Thanks for any help. > I got a Platform USB cable from China for about $30. I'm guessing it > is a well-made but unauthorized clone. It works fine. > > I used to use a Parallel Cable III, but have not been able to get it > to work on 64-bit Linux OS. > > JonXilinx dropped support for the Parallel cable 3 in recent versions of Impact. It still supports Parallel cable 4. That being said, it's getting harder to find a PC with a parallel port, and the Xilinx software doesn't like USB to parallel adapters, so at a minimum you'd need either a motherboard with the parallel port or a PCI add-in card with a legacy-compliant parallel port. Forget the Altera cable, because Xilinx software doesn't work with anything they don't make or authorize. A lot of small cheap FPGA demo boards use an FTDI chip that is compatible with Digilent's Adept software. It might actually be cheaper if you can find such a board on eBay and just put wires on the JTAG lines to go to your own board (you'd have to cut the TDO connection from the on-board FPGA). If you can still get the Chinese clones for $30 that might be the cheapest way without jumping through a lot of hoops. -- Gabor
Reply by ●February 25, 20152015-02-25
> Forget the Altera cable, because Xilinx software doesn't work > with anything they don't make or authorize.Yes I know that Xilinx software would not work with an Altera programmer but my question is what if I used Altera's Quartus II software with the Altera programmer? I don't know much about JTAG but would it be possible for the Quartus II software to detect a Xilinx device in the JTAG chain and let me program it with a file of my choosing??
Reply by ●February 25, 20152015-02-25
jackm <jmm385@gmail.com> wrote:> >> Forget the Altera cable, because Xilinx software doesn't work >> with anything they don't make or authorize.> Yes I know that Xilinx software would not work with an Altera > programmer but my question is what if I used Altera's Quartus II > software with the Altera programmer? > I don't know much about JTAG but would it be possible for the > Quartus II software to detect a Xilinx device in the JTAG chain > and let me program it with a file of my choosing??I have wondered if the Xilinx software and cable will load or dump JTAG devices that aren't FPGAs. Seems like it is the same question for Altera. You might have to convert the bits to a different format first, though. -- glen
Reply by ●February 26, 20152015-02-26
On 2015-02-26 glen herrmannsfeldt wrote in comp.arch.fpga:> jackm <jmm385@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Forget the Altera cable, because Xilinx software doesn't work >>> with anything they don't make or authorize. > >> Yes I know that Xilinx software would not work with an Altera >> programmer but my question is what if I used Altera's Quartus II >> software with the Altera programmer? >> I don't know much about JTAG but would it be possible for the >> Quartus II software to detect a Xilinx device in the JTAG chain >> and let me program it with a file of my choosing?? > > I have wondered if the Xilinx software and cable will load or dump > JTAG devices that aren't FPGAs. > > Seems like it is the same question for Altera. > > You might have to convert the bits to a different format first, though.Well, in a lot of cases you don't load the FPGA, you load the configuration memory. I remember a Spartan-3 project that where we booted the FPGA from SPI dataflash. This dataflash was directly programmed with Impact, using parallel cable IV(?) and also with the USB cable. In that same project there was another dataflash for a CPU that was also programmed using Impact. But indeed you had to watch things like word size bit order etc. But this was all with stuff that's pretty old now, I don't know if they 'fixed' this in current stuff. Later we switched to using the Aardvark for programming the dataflashes, as this was less cumbersome to use than Impact. -- Stef (remove caps, dashes and .invalid from e-mail address to reply by mail) Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash. -- Winston Churchill
Reply by ●February 26, 20152015-02-26
Stef wrote:> On 2015-02-26 glen herrmannsfeldt wrote in comp.arch.fpga: >> jackm <jmm385@gmail.com> wrote: >>>> Forget the Altera cable, because Xilinx software doesn't work >>>> with anything they don't make or authorize. >> >>> Yes I know that Xilinx software would not work with an Altera >>> programmer but my question is what if I used Altera's Quartus II >>> software with the Altera programmer? >>> I don't know much about JTAG but would it be possible for the >>> Quartus II software to detect a Xilinx device in the JTAG chain >>> and let me program it with a file of my choosing?? >> I have wondered if the Xilinx software and cable will load or dump >> JTAG devices that aren't FPGAs. >> >> Seems like it is the same question for Altera. >> >> You might have to convert the bits to a different format first, though. > > Well, in a lot of cases you don't load the FPGA, you load the > configuration memory. I remember a Spartan-3 project that where we > booted the FPGA from SPI dataflash. This dataflash was directly > programmed with Impact, using parallel cable IV(?) and also with > the USB cable. In that same project there was another dataflash > for a CPU that was also programmed using Impact. But indeed you > had to watch things like word size bit order etc. > > But this was all with stuff that's pretty old now, I don't know > if they 'fixed' this in current stuff. >They "fixed" direct SPI programming in the sense you "fix" the cat you don't want to have kittens. However there are much cheaper devices on the market to go from USB to SPI that can directly program SPI flash. No good for direct JTAG load of FPGA's or for ChipScope.> Later we switched to using the Aardvark for programming the > dataflashes, as this was less cumbersome to use than Impact. >
Reply by ●February 26, 20152015-02-26
Den onsdag den 25. februar 2015 kl. 23.10.46 UTC+1 skrev Gabor:> Jon Elson wrote: > > jackm wrote: > > > >> Hello, > >> I am looking for an ultra-cheap way to program Xilinx CPLDs and FPGAs. On > >> Ebay they sell Altera USB Blaster JTAG programmers that ship from China > >> and are fake copies I assume, they cost less than $7 inc shipping. If I > >> download and install Altera Quartus II software can I use that to JTAG > >> program my device file compiled in Xilinx ISE? Thanks for any help. > > I got a Platform USB cable from China for about $30. I'm guessing it > > is a well-made but unauthorized clone. It works fine. > > > > I used to use a Parallel Cable III, but have not been able to get it > > to work on 64-bit Linux OS. > > > > Jon > > Xilinx dropped support for the Parallel cable 3 in recent versions > of Impact. It still supports Parallel cable 4. That being said, > it's getting harder to find a PC with a parallel port, and the > Xilinx software doesn't like USB to parallel adapters, so at a > minimum you'd need either a motherboard with the parallel port > or a PCI add-in card with a legacy-compliant parallel port. > > Forget the Altera cable, because Xilinx software doesn't work > with anything they don't make or authorize. A lot of small > cheap FPGA demo boards use an FTDI chip that is compatible > with Digilent's Adept software. It might actually be cheaper > if you can find such a board on eBay and just put wires on > the JTAG lines to go to your own board (you'd have to cut the > TDO connection from the on-board FPGA). > > If you can still get the Chinese clones for $30 that might be > the cheapest way without jumping through a lot of hoops. > > -- > Gabor$59 isn't terribly expensive for something that works with the Xilinx software http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,395,1298&Prod=JTAG-HS3 -Lasse
Reply by ●February 27, 20152015-02-27
glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> wrote:> jackm <jmm385@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > Yes I know that Xilinx software would not work with an Altera > > programmer but my question is what if I used Altera's Quartus II > > software with the Altera programmer? > > I don't know much about JTAG but would it be possible for the > > Quartus II software to detect a Xilinx device in the JTAG chain > > and let me program it with a file of my choosing?? > > I have wondered if the Xilinx software and cable will load or dump > JTAG devices that aren't FPGAs. > > Seems like it is the same question for Altera.Quartus' JTAG programmer will program flash that's hung off an FPGA, but sometimes you need to load a 'programmer' bitfile into the FPGA first - since often flash doesn't have a direct JTAG port. Programming FPGAs themselves is an Altera/Xilinx specific protocol - you don't just throw bitfiles at them. JAM/STAPL is an output format for non-Altera tools/programmers to program Altera FPGAs (eg some a host MCU can program its nextdoor PLD) - looks like Xilinx are similar: http://corelis.com/blog/pld-tools-creating-svf-jam-stapl-and-other-formats/ This is better supported in the CPLD world than the FPGA world however. However this is just about programming - you don't get to interact with the device afterwards without the vendor tools (that means things like logic analysers, debuggers, JTAG UARTs, etc require the vendor cable). Theo
Reply by ●February 27, 20152015-02-27
