#garfield Logs

Dec 13 2019

07:22 AM polprog: Tom_L: thanks. I think ill go for the $20 one. I dont need the bells and whistles and ill probably be doing custom hardware (re: spartan 6 dev boards)
02:30 PM polprog: odd, for some reason Altera USB blaster clones are 2 quid on ebay, while the Xilinx programmer clones are 20 quid
02:30 PM polprog: https://tomverbeure.github.io/2019/09/15/Loading-a-Spartan-6-bitstream-with-openocd.html
02:30 PM polprog: looks like someone programmed a spartan 6 with an altera blaster clone
02:30 PM polprog: lol
06:43 PM rue_mohr: polprog,
06:43 PM rue_mohr: with the spartin 6, you can use a ftdi adapter as a programmer
06:44 PM rue_mohr: polprog, if you know enough about openocd, you can do anything with it
06:44 PM rue_mohr: but its a deeper black magic than knowing gdb
06:44 PM Tom_L: dammit! that board is sold out now
06:44 PM Tom_L: i was gonna order it tonight...
06:45 PM rue_mohr: oh tom...
06:45 PM rue_mohr: hold on...
06:45 PM rue_mohr: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1000006622145.html
06:47 PM rue_mohr: polprog, what I want to know is how to program a xilinx cpld with openocd and ANY programmer
06:47 PM Tom_L: ?
06:47 PM rue_mohr: well, the 232 one, or the parallel prort one or arduino or whatever
06:48 PM Tom_L: i want one with leds and the 7 seg display
06:48 PM rue_mohr: polprog, https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32994969023.html
06:48 PM Tom_L: i know you got that one
06:48 PM rue_mohr: will program spartin 6
06:48 PM Tom_L: with that downloader you mentioned?
06:49 PM rue_mohr: yes
06:49 PM rue_mohr: thats the one I was able to ID the cpld with
06:49 PM Tom_L: yeah that should be fine
06:49 PM rue_mohr: but I dont have software that can write to it with that
06:49 PM Tom_L: you didn't download it?
06:50 PM rue_mohr: didn't download what?
06:50 PM rue_mohr: that 232 board cannot download to the cpld
06:50 PM Tom_L: the generic jtag download software
06:50 PM rue_mohr: jtag != generic
06:50 PM rue_mohr: there is no generic
06:51 PM rue_mohr: you have to link software to hardware to target
06:51 PM rue_mohr: all 3 have to line up
06:51 PM rue_mohr: cause "every jtag device is just a bit special"
06:51 PM rue_mohr: I wish people would stop saying jtag is generic
06:51 PM Tom_L: i know
06:51 PM Tom_L: heh the hardware probably is
06:52 PM Tom_L: the protocols aren't
06:52 PM Tom_L: find that damn board for me...
06:52 PM Tom_L: he's got it bundled with a jtag for $50 but i don't want that
06:52 PM rue_mohr: use the board I posted!
06:52 PM rue_mohr: then we can play almost togethor
06:52 PM Tom_L: i want one with leds and the 7 seg display
06:53 PM Tom_L: cause i don't have much left to play with here
06:53 PM Tom_L: either packed away or i can't find it
06:54 PM Tom_L: the code will be the same
06:54 PM Tom_L: just the pin file
06:54 PM Tom_L: https://www.ebay.com/itm/XC6SLX9-Starter-Board-Xilinx-Spartan-6-FPGA/112230313780?_trkparms=aid%3D1110001%26algo%3DSPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131231084308%26meid%3Daa37def618964066ada0e9d80a2d01f7%26pid%3D100009%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D112549920916%26itm%3D112230313780%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982
06:55 PM Tom_L: i emailed him
07:35 PM Tom_L: so where to from here?
07:51 PM zhanx: 100 2020 extruded t-nut inserts almost done
07:51 PM zhanx: 350 more to go
07:51 PM Tom_L: :)
07:53 PM rue_mohr: zhanx, need picture
07:53 PM rue_mohr: you have internet yet?
07:54 PM Tom_L: rue_mohr, have you done anything with sc3sprog yet?
07:54 PM zhanx: i do but its dark out. will post more when i get back tomorrow
07:54 PM zhanx: rue_mohr, finalizing the 1 meter cube frame to 1.020 meters cubed
07:55 PM rue_mohr: Tom_L, yes, I identified the cpld
07:55 PM Tom_L: ahh ok
07:55 PM rue_mohr: thats all I can do with what I have
07:56 PM Tom_L: it won't program it?
07:56 PM rue_mohr: no it does not support the cpld
07:57 PM Tom_L: oh ok
07:57 PM rue_mohr: I wish people would stop saying jtag is generic
07:57 PM rue_mohr: cause "every jtag device is just a bit special"
07:57 PM Tom_L: heh
07:57 PM rue_mohr: you have to link software to hardware to target
07:57 PM Tom_L: you mentioned that once or thrice
07:57 PM rue_mohr: yup
07:57 PM Tom_L: i knew that already
07:57 PM Tom_L: so your issue is not having a linux solution
07:58 PM rue_mohr: and $1000 of hardware and a person who knows everything
07:58 PM Tom_L: doesn't require that
07:58 PM rue_mohr: your help is great, but I need hardware, and right now I'm one parcel away from being able to play
07:58 PM Tom_L: it's too bad they decided not to support linux
07:58 PM Tom_L: yeah
07:59 PM rue_mohr: windows is becomming linux, it wont be long
07:59 PM Tom_L: and your parallel programmer has the same issues
07:59 PM Tom_L: no linux drivers
08:00 PM Tom_L: will xc3sprog support the parallel port jtag?
08:00 PM rue_mohr: it supports the usb 232 adapter I got
08:01 PM Tom_L: ok
08:01 PM rue_mohr: that I identified the cpld with
08:01 PM Tom_L: well, for what we're doing we could roll back to webpack 9 or something
08:01 PM Tom_L: and see if it works under linux
08:01 PM rue_mohr: the software doesn't support the XC4000
08:01 PM Tom_L: i can do that if you want
08:02 PM rue_mohr: the webpack software doesn't support the XC4000
08:02 PM Tom_L: oh
08:02 PM rue_mohr: the programmer software doesn't supprot the cpld
08:02 PM rue_mohr: the parallel programmer isn't supported by anything
08:02 PM Tom_L: except impact
08:02 PM rue_mohr: not on linux
08:02 PM Tom_L: but you need tha win driver for it to work
08:03 PM rue_mohr: I'll wait for the spartin to arrive
08:03 PM Tom_L: yeah
08:03 PM rue_mohr: its supported by xc3prog whcih supports the usb programmer
08:04 PM rue_mohr: I wish I could program those xc4000's tho, they should be easy
08:04 PM Tom_L: did you look at that other one i posted?
08:04 PM rue_mohr: no, I'm focusing on a rewrite of a program I made back in 1998 for building state machines
08:04 PM rue_mohr: I wrote a lot of stuff to make it better that never actaully ended up put into it
08:05 PM rue_mohr: but I want one more library for it, a templating library for text
08:05 PM rue_mohr: and I think I know how to do it
08:06 PM rue_mohr: https://pear.php.net/manual/en/package.html.html-template-it.intro.php
08:06 PM rue_mohr: but slightly different
08:08 PM rue_mohr: but the operation of the usb programmer is confirmed
08:08 PM rue_mohr: as is the ability for xc3sprog to work
08:09 PM Tom_L: and the rest of webpack works?
08:09 PM rue_mohr: it looks like enough of it does
08:10 PM Tom_L: well i hope to get a spartan6 of some sort
08:11 PM Tom_L: i've got several on the mesa cards
08:25 PM rue_mohr: they seem reasoable price wise
08:26 PM Tom_L: what is?
08:26 PM rue_mohr: spartan
08:26 PM Tom_L: oh
08:27 PM Tom_L: yeah, anything newer requires their new software
08:27 PM Tom_L: spartan7 and up
08:27 PM Tom_L: or anything new like that
08:27 PM Tom_L: vivado or something like that
09:37 PM rue_mohr: hmmmmmm
09:37 PM rue_mohr: wow, looking at another peice of software from 1998
09:38 PM rue_mohr: it takes a text file with markup 'tags' in it, and a data file, and substitutes data into the text file to make an array of output files
09:38 PM rue_mohr: I used to use it for my povray animations
09:39 PM rue_mohr: its the php-pear-template-it before it was written
09:39 PM rue_mohr: kinda
09:39 PM Tom_L: i don't get that i can copy and paste a block of code and it doesn't work
09:40 PM rue_mohr: ?
09:40 PM rue_mohr: odd
09:40 PM Tom_L: very
09:41 PM Tom_L: i'm trying to blink leds to clock dividers so i can see how fast they roll over
09:41 PM rue_mohr: its not sensitive about whitespace tab vs space is it?
09:41 PM Tom_L: no
09:46 PM Tom_itx: Signal led<7> cannot be synthesized, bad synchronous description. The description style you are using to describe a synchronous element (register, memory, etc.) is not supported in the current software release.
09:47 PM Tom_L: but it works in the first copy
10:17 PM Tom_itx is now known as Tom_L
11:06 PM Tom_L: reading vhdl is much easier than writing it