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Nak wrote: > > Hi, > > I must rapidely desigmed a small board for students activities. I want > use a XC5200 on a ISA board which could be configurate by the PC > computer. > > I have two problems (software and hardware) : > > The bitstream generated by the bitgen program on the Alliance package > could not generate a bitstream for the express mode (BITGEN: Xilinx > Bitstream Generator M1.5.19). > I must translate the bitstream file with : > > 1 - add a dummy byte before the bitsrtream to force the first clock > before the byte 0 ; > 2 - inverse all bits (d0 at left and d7 at right !) ; > 3 - add two Fill Byte at the end of the header ; > 4 - remove the Preambule byte on the end of the bitstream. > > Is-it correct for your ? > > Secondly, how can i configurate the XC5200 ? I don't understand the > chronogram. :-( Could you help me to understand it in the power-on and > dynamicaly ? The problem for me is to correctly apply lewels on the > INIT/ and Program/ signals... > > Thanks for all, > > Seb I am not familiar with the express mode, but you don't have to swap the bits in software unless you have already made your hardware. If you are designing your own, you might just want to swap the bits in hardware. This is just a convention used in the documentation and has no bearing on your designs in the FPGA. I recently did a design where I parallel loaded FPGAs and I connected my FPGA to the bus with these 8 bits already swapped. This made debugging much simpler since I could see the data on the bus in the same format as the file. In fact I stored the bit file directly into the flash memory with the header intact so that the file names and dates were stored with it giving accurate information about the version. -- Rick Collins rick.collins@XYarius.com remove the XY to email me. Arius - A Signal Processing Solutions Company Specializing in DSP and FPGA design Arius 4 King Ave Frederick, MD 21701-3110 301-682-7772 Voice 301-682-7666 FAX Internet URL http://www.arius.comArticle: 22176
Please, tell me, which conference' calendar(s) on the web you know: URL: _________________________________________ URL: _________________________________________ Thank you! Reiner HartensteinArticle: 22177
Hello, I'd like to have a regsietr in my design initialized to a certain value without the need for a Reset signal, is there any way to specify a register initial value in VHDL for foundation express ? Thanks StevenArticle: 22178
Nestor wrote: > > Hi. > > Has anyone ever tried to instantiate Altera lpm components in VHDL for > synthesis in synplify with place and route in Maxplus2. > > I will be using the black_box attribute in VHDL, but I am not clear on > what I need to do in Maxplus2 to generate the required component. I > would like as much as possible to have Maxplus2 automatically create > the macro function I would like to use (lpm_rom, for instance), based > on generics that I will specify in my VHDL code, i.e., the ROM > filename (MIF file) and the data widths. Is this possible, or do I > need to manually create the macro in Maxplus2 using the wizard every > time I need a new ROM? Synplicity can actually understand the Altera LPMs used by Maxplus2, as long as it's JUST the lpms. First off, in Maxplus2 land, the wizard "need some work". If you want a ROM, use "genmem". It's an older tool, but it works consistantly for the Flex10K parts. Just type "genmem -help" and it will tell you what it needs. You still need to generate a MIF file, and feed that to the "LPM_FILE" generic. -- David W. Bishop INTERNET: dbishop@vhdl.org ( \ ) US MAIL: Hilton NY 14468-9101 A Long time ago, \__\/ PHYSICAL: 43:17:17N 77:47:37W 281' In a Galaxy far, far away... | | For Supernova info: http://www.ggw.org/asras/snimages | | For VHDL/Synthesis info: http://www.vhdl.org/siwg _/___\_ All standard disclaimers apply. [_______]Article: 22179
MK Yap wrote: > > > I'm writing VHDL codes using synplify (5.3.1) to interface with > > Altera's > > > LPM-RAM_IO (single IO port RAM).... I'm using Max+Plus2 9.3, device > > > Flek10k100e I hit the same thing. Basic problem. There is no single port ram in the Flex 10Ke parts. Use a dual port ram and the problem will disappear. -- David W. Bishop INTERNET: dbishop@vhdl.org ( \ ) US MAIL: Hilton NY 14468-9101 A Long time ago, \__\/ PHYSICAL: 43:17:17N 77:47:37W 281' In a Galaxy far, far away... | | For Supernova info: http://www.ggw.org/asras/snimages | | For VHDL/Synthesis info: http://www.vhdl.org/siwg _/___\_ All standard disclaimers apply. [_______]Article: 22180
Dan wrote: > > I design Xilinx FPGA based circuit boards. > > Some of my customers in the past have copied and manufactured my boards to > avoid buying them from me. > > How can I design my circuit boards to vastly reduce the chances of them > being copied. The main problem is the Xilinx bitstream is easy to copy. This is a basic problem that I've brought up to Xilinx. ANYTHING you put into an FPGA, anybody who wants to can copy. Sometimes you can just make it tough to do, one game I've played is to download the parts via a micro. The Virtex parts are "partially programmable". Thus you get a basic interface working, load the new programming data into the memory of the board and reprogram it. You can still reverse engineer it, but it's much harder than copying the prom. They've talked about adding some encoding logic on the bit stream, but they haven't done anything about it. -- David W. Bishop INTERNET: dbishop@vhdl.org ( \ ) US MAIL: Hilton NY 14468-9101 A Long time ago, \__\/ PHYSICAL: 43:17:17N 77:47:37W 281' In a Galaxy far, far away... | | For Supernova info: http://www.ggw.org/asras/snimages | | For VHDL/Synthesis info: http://www.vhdl.org/siwg _/___\_ All standard disclaimers apply. [_______]Article: 22181
qaz wrote: > > Has anyone else experienced the "clock skew excedes data delay" > error" reported by Quartus? If so, has anyone found a way around > it WITHOUT utilizing an on chip PLL? How? Apparently the problem > exists in the timing analyzer software, not in the actual > silicon. Yup. Hit it today. To make it work, find out what the parameter "inclock_period" is in your code. Then setup the first edge of your clock to be at "inclock_period/2" ps from the start of your simulation. My Altera AE is reporting this as a bug. -- David W. Bishop INTERNET: dbishop@vhdl.org ( \ ) US MAIL: Hilton NY 14468-9101 A Long time ago, \__\/ PHYSICAL: 43:17:17N 77:47:37W 281' In a Galaxy far, far away... | | For Supernova info: http://www.ggw.org/asras/snimages | | For VHDL/Synthesis info: http://www.vhdl.org/siwg _/___\_ All standard disclaimers apply. [_______]Article: 22182
Xilinx are busy churning out devices with billions of gates, and the cost per gate is certainly falling. But they don't seem to do something for say $2 - at the same cost per gate this should yield a few thousand gates, for the cost of a low power 22V10. I know Xilinx etc are growing and doing well, but the fact remains that only a very tiny proportion of today's products actually contains an FPGA. Far more designs use a PLD somewhere, with some ordinary logic as well. A few years ago I met a large direct Xilinx user who said he was getting the XC3020 for $4.50 on a 50k/year quantity - so low prices are possible but only in vast quantities, and such prices would never be officially mentioned. Peter. -- Return address is invalid to help stop junk mail. E-mail replies to zX80@digiYserve.com but remove the X and the Y. Please do NOT copy usenet posts to email - it is NOT necessary.Article: 22183
Rickman, Yes its not necessary to swap all bits if the data bus hardware is already swapping. But for the bistream format, I have read that this mode in not supported by the BitGen program. So must I add a dummy byte to start the upload of the bitsream like the chronograms specs ? Can I replace in the header, the Fill Byte with 3 Fill Bytes ? or can I replace the length count and the fill byte per 3 fill byte ? The Data book is not really explicite for me... (poor french man with very very poor english notion :-) ) "The configuration data stream begins with a string of eight ones, a preambule code, followed by a 24-bit length count and a separator field of ones (or 24 fill bits, in Express mode)" (p7-107) To finish, I must remove the Postambule byte in the end of the bitstream and eventually add 5 dummy byte to force the complete configuration of the FPGA. "An additional five CCLKs will guarantee completion of configuration" (p 7-106) So after the bitstream problem, how can I do my state machine to support the power on and reconfiguration process. I don't understand how I must use the Program/ and Init/ signals. Perhaps the function is similar at the others modes ? How I must apply a good sequence on these lines ? In fact O don't understand WHEN I must apply levels on theses signals and WHEN the FPGA uses them 8-( ... Thanks for all, SebArticle: 22184
Dan wrote: > > I design Xilinx FPGA based circuit boards. > > Some of my customers in the past have copied and manufactured my boards to > avoid buying them from me. > > How can I design my circuit boards to vastly reduce the chances of them > being copied. The main problem is the Xilinx bitstream is easy to copy. > > Thanks Dan I have looked at a similar problem having to do with protecting software on my hardware. But it comes down to the same thing. You need to key the software/FPGAware to the board itself with a serial number of some kind. The way I am looking at doing this is to use one of the "one-wire" serial number parts from Dallas Semiconductor. These parts contain a 48 bit serial number that is guaranteed to be unique. You can use one pin on the FPGA to communicate with these parts. They can also contain PROM and EEPROM. So this provides all the elements of preventing your hardware from being copied or software being run on unauthorized hardware. The protection scheme will require that a one way process be developed that you can implement in the FPGA to allow a key to be "compared" to the serial number. The key can be stored in the "one-wire" part for the FPGA to selfload, or in software to be loaded into the FPGA. The FPGA could be designed so that major functionality is disabled until the correct key is loaded. The trick here is in developing the algorithm that can be used in the FPGA without using tons of resources. To properly protect yourself, I believe you would have to assume that this could be reverse engineered so the algorithm should not be considered secret. Instead, there needs to be many combinations of valid keys with a single serial number and have the FPGA only work with one. This may end up being a three way key. This would work somewhat like a public key encryption algorithm. The serial number would be readily read, the key could also be read. So the third part that controls how they are validated would have to contain a "secret" number. Since this "secret number" could also be read if enough effort is put into it, there should be a different "secret number" for each FPGA design or customer. I believe the only way to circomvent this protection scheme is to either reverse engineer the FPGA design to "fix" the hardware disable, or to design a copy of the "one-wire" chip with the serial number that matches the FPGA. Both of these are likely cost prohibitive for any one company. If anyone has an idea for an algorithm to implement this, please let me know. -- Rick Collins rick.collins@XYarius.com remove the XY to email me. Arius - A Signal Processing Solutions Company Specializing in DSP and FPGA design Arius 4 King Ave Frederick, MD 21701-3110 301-682-7772 Voice 301-682-7666 FAX Internet URL http://www.arius.comArticle: 22185
Peter wrote: > > Xilinx are busy churning out devices with billions of gates, and the > cost per gate is certainly falling. > > But they don't seem to do something for say $2 - at the same cost per > gate this should yield a few thousand gates, for the cost of a low > power 22V10. > > I know Xilinx etc are growing and doing well, but the fact remains > that only a very tiny proportion of today's products actually contains > an FPGA. Far more designs use a PLD somewhere, with some ordinary > logic as well. > > A few years ago I met a large direct Xilinx user who said he was > getting the XC3020 for $4.50 on a 50k/year quantity - so low prices > are possible but only in vast quantities, and such prices would never > be officially mentioned. > > Peter. > -- > Return address is invalid to help stop junk mail. > E-mail replies to zX80@digiYserve.com but remove the X and the Y. > Please do NOT copy usenet posts to email - it is NOT necessary. I can't tell you for sure why there are not very low cost FPGAs (<$4). But at least part of the problem is the cost of the IOs. The smallest package I have seen FPGAs in is 100 pins with the parts cost over $10 in smaller quantities ~100. I would expect that there really is not much call for even low end FPGAs in smaller packages. I personally would love to see some 64 PQFP parts. Or I could use larger parts in the 100 PQFP package. But it would appear that I am alone in that need. For the most part the demand for FPGAs is at the high end with very large IO counts. Also it is a whole lot easier to sell $1M worth of parts at $1000 apiece than when they are $10 apiece. -- Rick Collins rick.collins@XYarius.com remove the XY to email me. Arius - A Signal Processing Solutions Company Specializing in DSP and FPGA design Arius 4 King Ave Frederick, MD 21701-3110 301-682-7772 Voice 301-682-7666 FAX Internet URL http://www.arius.comArticle: 22186
Hi Folks, I have a basic question to ask: I know that 2-D DCT does not take the phase information of an image into account. FFT, however, does. Where is DCT used, and where is FFT used? Am I true in thinking that Phase in Freq. domain means delay in Time domain. So DCT works on stil images, whereas FFT works on both stil and moving images. DCT is simpler to compute and thus more used in still image compression... Is that true?? Any comment is much appraciated! Cheers.Article: 22187
"Rickman" <spamgoeshere4@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:390C3DB0.B82F738D@yahoo.com... > I believe the only way to circomvent this protection scheme is to either > reverse engineer the FPGA design to "fix" the hardware disable, or to > design a copy of the "one-wire" chip with the serial number that matches > the FPGA. Both of these are likely cost prohibitive for any one company. The first two are, but isn't emulating a Dallas serial ID chip something some hacker could whip up in under a week? I can just see someone replacing your Dallas ID chip with a CPLD that acts just like it, but of course is programmed with the one magic ID code necessary for the one genuined copy of the board the hacker owns. Since they're already going to the effort to copy your board anyway, an additional week's worth of effort probably won't discourage them much. Of course, you could take the usual approaches to making that all important data pin inaccessible, but you know what would really help would be if Xilinx had unique serial numbers in each FPGA, like Intel does with Pentiums these days. I've also always liked the idea suggested here where the FPGA does the decryption using a decryption key known only to Xilinx while providing anybody who wants it with the public encryption key so that it's still easy to generate bitstreams. ---Joel KolstadArticle: 22188
In article <sgpa7umfo6q143@corp.supernews.com>, Joel Kolstad <Joel.Kolstad@USA.Net> wrote: >I've also always liked the idea suggested here where the FPGA does the >decryption using a decryption key known only to Xilinx while providing >anybody who wants it with the public encryption key so that it's still easy >to generate bitstreams. Public key is probably not a viable solution. A better solution would be a burnable symmetric key. The key could be written once, and then used to decrypt a bitstream as it is loaded. Unless the hacker extracts the key (doable, but very difficult) from the FPGA, they can't copy the bitfile. Also, the encryption hardware itself should implement whatever the AES winner is, and be accessable from designs, allowing this hardware to be used for efficient, high performance cryptography, outside of the context of securing bitfiles. -- Nicholas C. Weaver nweaver@cs.berkeley.eduArticle: 22189
In article <390CB497.5B614794@yahoo.com>, Rickman <spamgoeshere4@yahoo.com> wrote: >Using a public encryption key would still provide a copyable data >stream. To make this work, you would have to have a programmable keyas >Nick suggested. > >The process of burning the key into the FPGA would add a step that would >increase the cost and complexity of using the chips. Of course that is >also true of using the one-wire parts. But Xilinx or other FPGA >manufacturers don't want to add cost to every unit made for the benefit >of a few critical designs. Probably a better solution is to NOT burn the key into the design at the factory, but to just have an EPROM or similar element which can be written once. However, this does add a processing step. Yet since there is also considerable call for a small amount of accessable nonvolatise storage on the order of a few dozen words (EG, MAC addresses, serial numbers), the cost of the additional steps becomes more justifiable, because a larger set of customers would use it. Similarly, the crypto engine itself, if it implements the AES winner, would be highly useful, even for those who aren't using it to encrypt the bitstream. Since the winner will be a fixed design, of ubiquitous use, this allows the silicon necessary to perform the encryption to also be useful by a wide number of people for other applications. The key when convincing the vendors to add such a feature (support for encrypted bitstreams) is to show that the silicon and steps they use to make this operation work are also useful to a wide group of individuals. Note: The AES program (Advanced Encryption Standard, see http://csrc.nist.gov/encryption/aes/ for details) is the federal government's process of choosing a replacement to DES. The winner is expected to be announced sometime this summer. It is anticipated that the winner will be the block cypher of choice, similarly to how for many years, DES was the only block cypher commonly implemented. -- Nicholas C. Weaver nweaver@cs.berkeley.eduArticle: 22190
"Nicholas C. Weaver" wrote: > > In article <sgpa7umfo6q143@corp.supernews.com>, > Joel Kolstad <Joel.Kolstad@USA.Net> wrote: > >I've also always liked the idea suggested here where the FPGA does the > >decryption using a decryption key known only to Xilinx while providing > >anybody who wants it with the public encryption key so that it's still easy > >to generate bitstreams. > > Public key is probably not a viable solution. A better > solution would be a burnable symmetric key. The key could be written > once, and then used to decrypt a bitstream as it is loaded. Unless > the hacker extracts the key (doable, but very difficult) from the > FPGA, they can't copy the bitfile. > > Also, the encryption hardware itself should implement whatever > the AES winner is, and be accessable from designs, allowing this > hardware to be used for efficient, high performance cryptography, > outside of the context of securing bitfiles. > -- > Nicholas C. Weaver nweaver@cs.berkeley.edu Using a public encryption key would still provide a copyable data stream. To make this work, you would have to have a programmable keyas Nick suggested. The process of burning the key into the FPGA would add a step that would increase the cost and complexity of using the chips. Of course that is also true of using the one-wire parts. But Xilinx or other FPGA manufacturers don't want to add cost to every unit made for the benefit of a few critical designs. In my design I already have a one-wire part on board and already program it before shipping. So this method would not be a big variation from what I am doing now. The process of copying a "one-wire" part is not as simple as you might think. Any CPLD will use a much larger package and require a clock input. So now the improper copying of the board will really be a reverse engineering task and re-layout rather than a cloning operation. -- Rick Collins rick.collins@XYarius.com remove the XY to email me. Arius - A Signal Processing Solutions Company Specializing in DSP and FPGA design Arius 4 King Ave Frederick, MD 21701-3110 301-682-7772 Voice 301-682-7666 FAX Internet URL http://www.arius.comArticle: 22191
Hi there, We're having trouble defining a bi-directional pass-through in the MAX+Plus II (8.1) schematic editor. here's what we want: ENABLE---+ logic | | +--|>--+ | | | <====>-------------+ | +-----------------<====> | | | +--<|--+ We just want the pins to function as bi-directional, open-collector pass throughs UNLESS our internal logic decides to suppress the connection. We can't seem to find a valid way to represent this in the schematic, as hooking two bidir pins to each other (as above) has so far given us only "Error: Node missing source:" messages. What is the simplest way to implement this? Thanks in advance, -Russ MageeArticle: 22192
Dan wrote: > The Data IO programmers cost $1500ish to program Xilinx SPROM. Does anyone > know of a more reasonably priced one ? > > Thanks Dan If you're in smallish volume why not consider the reprogrammable 1800 series devices from Xilinx. They are JTAG programmable. Once you've got the design stable you could get your SPROM distributor to program one-time ones for you. Alternatively avoid SPROMs altogether & use a standard EPROM+small CPLD to generate the bit stream.Article: 22193
Tom Fischaber wrote: > In the 2.1i software, JTAG Verification is not supported. Thus, if you are Do Xilinx ever intend to support for verification [and readback for Virtex devices] to the JTAG programmer ? Its not like these functions are hidden since for Virtex parts all the required info is in apps notes 138, 139, 151.Article: 22194
Rickman wrote: > > The process of copying a "one-wire" part is not as simple as you might > think. Any CPLD will use a much larger package and require a clock > input. Not if they use an 8 pin SMD device :-) Current candidates are ACE1101 (TSSOP8), or ATtinyXX ( both ISP Flash ) The ACE1101 has 64 Bytes EEPROM, and could be coded to both record/replay any 1 wire ID. > So now the improper copying of the board will really be a reverse > engineering task and re-layout rather than a cloning operation. Any secure device on the PCB, will improve things, over a straight Config-loader. Since a 1 wire pasrt is a response-only security device, it is exposed to simple stream-recording cracking schemes. Another level of protection is stimulus-response devices, also called rolling code devices. There are other avenues you can take :- Use a small Loader iC ( uc or CPLD ). This effectively encrypts the bitstream, and requires reasonable cracking effort ( a FPGA capture scheme ) Such devices also allow lower cost SPI/i2c/DataFLASH devices, so can cost effectively 'nothing'. Use a small CPLD ( ATF750CL or similar ) that is secure, and has buried registers. This can form a hard to crack stimulus/response combination with your FPGA, needing load time, and ideally, also run-time checking to see that the 'key device' is valid. With any-clock capability, and up to 21 possible connections to the FPGA, hacking such a F750 scheme is very difficult - only you know 'what matters when'. A uC can also be used, if you can keep the speeds down. This very quickly moves beyond stream recording cracking, and the hacker is never 100% sure they have covered all combinations, more so if you can arrange lame-mode failures, rather than drop-dead ones. - jg -- ======= 80x51 Tools & IP Specialists ========= = Want to work smarter than C ? = http://www.DesignTools.co.nz/modbench.htm = http://www.DesignTools.co.nzArticle: 22195
"Rickman" <spamgoeshere4@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:390CB497.5B614794@yahoo.com... > The process of copying a "one-wire" part is not as simple as you might > think. Any CPLD will use a much larger package and require a clock > input. So now the improper copying of the board will really be a reverse > engineering task and re-layout rather than a cloning operation. Perhaps I overestimate the skills of the copy artists... :-) If you sold such a board commercially, and it was something like a cable TV descrambler, I'd expect some hacker to have a little board that stood up vertically and was tack soldered to where your Dallas chip used to be! Nick definitely had the better approach to bitstream protection... ---Joel KolstadArticle: 22196
Hi all, Clock generation for simulation, we have following way, always #delay clock <= ~clock; I would like to generate real clock. Is is possible? -Dharmesh (Sr. Engineer - VLSI group) (einfochips inc.) Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.Article: 22197
Rickman wrote: > Peter wrote: > > > > Xilinx are busy churning out devices with billions of gates, and the > > cost per gate is certainly falling. > > > > But they don't seem to do something for say $2 - at the same cost per > > gate this should yield a few thousand gates, for the cost of a low > > power 22V10. > > > > I know Xilinx etc are growing and doing well, but the fact remains > > that only a very tiny proportion of today's products actually contains > > an FPGA. Far more designs use a PLD somewhere, with some ordinary > > logic as well. > > > > A few years ago I met a large direct Xilinx user who said he was > > getting the XC3020 for $4.50 on a 50k/year quantity - so low prices > > are possible but only in vast quantities, and such prices would never > > be officially mentioned. > > > > Peter. > > -- > > Return address is invalid to help stop junk mail. > > E-mail replies to zX80@digiYserve.com but remove the X and the Y. > > Please do NOT copy usenet posts to email - it is NOT necessary. > > I can't tell you for sure why there are not very low cost FPGAs (<$4). > But at least part of the problem is the cost of the IOs. The smallest > package I have seen FPGAs in is 100 pins with the parts cost over $10 in > smaller quantities ~100. > > I would expect that there really is not much call for even low end FPGAs > in smaller packages. I personally would love to see some 64 PQFP parts. > Or I could use larger parts in the 100 PQFP package. But it would appear > that I am alone in that need. NO, you are not. I agree whole heartedly. The SpartanXL05 series in a plcc84 is the closest for me (5K gates ~$10 each in small quantities). I would love a small Virtex-E series part (fast, with LVPECL I/O capability). For that part I would probably be willing to pay as much as $30 or more. (If it were fast enough.) > For the most part the demand for FPGAs is > at the high end with very large IO counts. Also it is a whole lot easier > to sell $1M worth of parts at $1000 apiece than when they are $10 > apiece. > > -- > > Rick Collins > > rick.collins@XYarius.com > > remove the XY to email me. > > Arius - A Signal Processing Solutions Company > Specializing in DSP and FPGA design > > Arius > 4 King Ave > Frederick, MD 21701-3110 > 301-682-7772 Voice > 301-682-7666 FAX > > Internet URL http://www.arius.comArticle: 22198
Hey Rick! Kevin, Rick is 100% correct. Each FPGA knows how many bits it will need therefor, excess bits are ignored. When the required number of bits are received AND the DONE pin is high (not externally held low), the device will continue with its configuration state machine. Why have a length count then? Daisychain: The master device needs to know how many bits to extract from PROM. When daisychain mode, this will be more than the master device itself will need. Each device in the chain 'gobbles' up the necessary data during daisychain config and then passes the excess on to downstream devices. When all have 'had their fill', and released their DONE pins, they all finish configuration together. Hope this helps. -- Ed McCauley President Bottom Line Technologies Inc. Specializing Exclusively in Xilinx Design, Development and Training Voice: (908) 996-0817 FAX: (908) 996-0787 See us on the Web at: The Bottom Line Technologies Home Page http://www.bltinc.com The Xilinx XPERTS - U.S Partners Page http://www.xilinx.com/company/consultants/us_consultants.htm The Programmable Logic Jump Station http://www.optimagic.com/consultants.html Rickman <spamgoeshere4@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:390924C5.D92E9E0F@yahoo.com... > Kevin Klopfenstein wrote: > > > > I'm trying to reconcile the length count and final address > > of a .mcs file generated by Xilinx's promgen tool. > > According to the datasheet for my Xilinx part (XC4020E), > > the PROM size requirement is 329,312 bits. The last > > byte address of the .mcs file is 0xA0CC = 41164. Multiplying > > that by 8 bits/byte yields the expected result, 329,312. > > > > The length count field, however, works out to 329,305. Here's > > the second line of my .mcs file: > > > > :10000000FF040AA6F9EAFF7CFDF5D7DF6CF7DDD720 > > > > The command used to generate the file was > > > > > promgen -s 512 -u 0 mydesign > > > > It seems to me that the length count should match the PROM > > size, shouldn't it? What am I missing? > > > > Thanks, > > Kevin Klopfenstein > > Smiths Industries Aerospace > > I don't know for sure that this is necessary. The bitstream is a bit > oriented format. Your MCS file is a byte oriented format. The actual > bitstream is 7 bits less than the file size. Since the bitstream is not > an exact multiple of 8 bits the last 7 bits in the file are padded with > ones. These extra bits have no effect when loading but are ignored in > the length count. > > Essentially, the FPGA stops loading data internally when the length > count is reached, but you still have more bits in your last byte. You > can load them or not, it won't matter to the part. > > > -- > > Rick Collins > > rick.collins@XYarius.com > > remove the XY to email me. > > > > Arius - A Signal Processing Solutions Company > Specializing in DSP and FPGA design > > Arius > 4 King Ave > Frederick, MD 21701-3110 > 301-682-7772 Voice > 301-682-7666 FAX > > Internet URL http://www.arius.comArticle: 22199
Hi; Does anyone know if there is a "make" file in cpld implementation for xilinx similar to "C". The reason i ask is i have a cpld design that is used on six different projects and the only thing that changes between these projects is a board ID register in the xilinx. I wanted to know about "make" files because i was wondering if i would be able to compile the cpld design six different ways instead of having six different projects that each need to be compiled. This will make maintenance of the design easier in the future, because i will only need to change one schematic and comile it six ways instead of changing six schematics and compiling each. Any info will be helpfull. thanks wes
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