Author Topic: Altera USB Programmer (Read 56090 times)

R_G_B_ · « **on:** November 09, 2013, 11:53:51 am »

I managed to get this usb blaster for altera:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Altera-FPGA-CPLD-USB-Programmer-USB-Blaster-Compatible-/161057457538?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item257fc5c582

They say it works 100% with the Altera-USB blaster drivers. I have found that this is not the case ,
the divers are not compatible. I have tried all versions of the software to get it to work with out any look. And followed all instuctions.

Anyone know of an alternative Altera Blaster that does what it says on the tin?

Kjelt · « **Reply #1 on:** November 09, 2013, 03:45:23 pm »

You paid 106 pounds for a fake when the real thing costs 250 pounds? I can,t understand that, if the fake one was 25 pounds yeah sure you could try it but now you could better have bought the real deal perhaps second hand.

JTR · « **Reply #2 on:** November 09, 2013, 04:07:44 pm »

Geez, people are making clones from plans on the web for a couple of bucks...

garak · « **Reply #3 on:** November 09, 2013, 06:03:40 pm »

Crikey! You paid 106 quid for that? I'm dreadfully sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you've been had. Well and truly. 10 rubles says that it's a clone based around a Cypress device, just like the one that I got for 6 bucks about a year ago. As far as drivers go, I can't really comment, but I do know that mine worked with urjtag with the byte blaster driver to talk to a PocketPC.

That aside, I agree with the rest of the people in here. If you're just getting into this, get decent kit. It'll make things a hell of a lot easier and cheaper later.

You could try getting your money back from the seller, and Paypal might reimburse you if not. If you do, get proper kit next time

bingo600 · « **Reply #4 on:** November 09, 2013, 07:27:50 pm »

?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALTERA-PL-USB-BLASTER-RCN-CABLE-PROG-DOWNLOAD-USB-/350819432657

Hmm same seller 2 prices ....

Seems there are the "real clone"
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Altera-USB-Blaster-programmer-FPGA-CPLD-REV-C-FT245-CPLD-ALTERA-solution-/141032986271

And even the (i think) "fake real clone"
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Altera-USB-Blaster-programmer-FPGA-CPLD-REV-C-High-speed-quality-professional-/130964461860

Dago · « **Reply #5 on:** November 09, 2013, 07:44:32 pm »

Jesus did you really pay 106 pounds!

Terasic (Terasic is "sub-contractor" of Altera, ie. they make a load of their devkits) blaster costs 50$ http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en/programmers-development-systems/in-circuit-programmers-emulators-and-debuggers/2621880?k=terasic

And the ~7$ Altera blaster "fakes" or "copies" from ebay work a-ok with the Quartus drivers, even in Linux. Like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/180891115065

marshallh · « **Reply #6 on:** November 09, 2013, 07:57:21 pm »

Quartus drivers are in
C:\altera\13.0sp1\quartus\drivers\usb-blaster

R_G_B_ · « **Reply #7 on:** November 09, 2013, 10:52:32 pm »

I only paid less than a 8th of that price for mine, but it was the same type and supplyer as this.

Yes I tried the drivers in the driver directory it did not work.

R_G_B_ · « **Reply #8 on:** November 09, 2013, 11:08:19 pm »

The device uses a silicon labs F321 DCN 8051 micro controller and a octal buffer 74HC125D.

marshallh · « **Reply #9 on:** November 09, 2013, 11:14:39 pm »

If the legit driver doesn't work, you got owned... I have linked the 100% hw clone, check my posts

Alexei.Polkhanov · « **Reply #10 on:** November 09, 2013, 11:54:27 pm »

Quote from: R_G_B_ on November 09, 2013, 11:53:51 am

They say it works 100% with the Altera-USB blaster drivers. I have found that this is not the case ,
the divers are not compatible. I have tried all versions of the software to get it to work with out any look. And followed all instuctions.

Anyone know of an alternative Altera Blaster that does what it says on the tin?

Please open it an post photos. It should have Altera MAX device in it. Schematics of USB blaster are openly available here on page 11: http://www.edaboard.com/attachments/8358d1112601047-nios2_evaluation_1c12_board_schematic_131.pdf but I could not find the firmware for CPLD. After some research I found out that remote programming service on windows may install latest firmware to the device but I did not try it myself.

This, more expensive version that got probably much faster that those $10 ones - that is why I am curious to see what is inside. I have one of those works fine for me. Try to check Altera website for patches for your version of Quartus - I had problem with mine on Win64, fixed it by installing latest patch.

Stonent · « **Reply #11 on:** November 11, 2013, 04:15:20 am »

It's a relabeled Saleae Logic Analyzer clone. Which is also sold as a USBEE AX clone. Thus far I've only seen them with Cypress chips.

JTR · « **Reply #12 on:** November 11, 2013, 04:51:45 am »

Quote from: Alexei.Polkhanov on November 09, 2013, 11:54:27 pm

This, more expensive version that got probably much faster that those $10 ones - that is why I am curious to see what is inside.

There are benchmarks that seem to suggest that at least one clone is faster in most tests.

http://www.sa89a.net/mp.cgi/ele/ub.htm

Stonent · « **Reply #13 on:** November 11, 2013, 05:19:32 am »

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-Best-Price-USB-Blaster-ALTERA-CPLD-FPGA-download-cable-in-stock/806527241.html

Here's one for $6.00

Didier9 · « **Reply #14 on:** November 13, 2013, 12:42:59 am »

I bought 4 of this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Mini-Usb-Blaster-Cable-For-CPLD-FPGA-NIOS-JTAG-Altera-Programmer-/180891115065?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a1df35e39
I actually paid $6 each with shipping at the time (a year ago). The price is now $9 or so.. I bought one to use with the EPC3 series and had no problem, so I bought a spare, another one for work and one for a friend.
I used the Altera driver (did not have to install anything). The Altera tool recognized it right away.

BBQ · « **Reply #15 on:** November 14, 2013, 05:13:01 pm »

I got a cheap copy that is functional. But why on earth is the original ones so expensive? I mean there can't be any major profits from programmer sales? And it doubt it's the break even price either.

Alexei.Polkhanov · « **Reply #16 on:** November 15, 2013, 05:43:40 am »

Yes, high price is a mystery for me as well.

I opened one that I use and I found that it is very different from schematics that I linked in my post earlier. I paid something like $12 for this one.
I wanted to add USB Blaster directly to the board I was working on, but I could not find out which firmware I have to use for that MAX7000 device that you can see on schematics.

Looks like here I found open source version of USB blaster. Similar if not same schematics with FTDI FT245 plus MAX CPLD, they also have VHDL code for MAX CPLD - see usbblaster.rar
VHDL code looks very simple:
https://code.google.com/p/epm240-dev/downloads/list

marshallh · « **Reply #17 on:** November 15, 2013, 06:06:38 am »

You're talking about the cpld based original type, but posted pictures of the FX2 type clones (which are about 1/10 the speed)

shebu18 · « **Reply #18 on:** November 15, 2013, 06:12:34 am »

Is it possible to program a arm amlogic chip with the blaster via jtag?

Sent from my GT-I5800 using Tapatalk 2

Stonent · « **Reply #19 on:** November 15, 2013, 06:17:26 am »

More info on the clones.

http://blog.iteadstudio.com/seleae-logic-usbee-ax-usb-blaster/

Alexei.Polkhanov · « **Reply #20 on:** November 15, 2013, 06:00:15 pm »

Quote from: marshallh on November 15, 2013, 06:06:38 am

You're talking about the cpld based original type, but posted pictures of the FX2 type clones (which are about 1/10 the speed)

Yes, that is why I mentioned in my post that it is different from the CPLD-based design attached in schematics. Sorry for confusion, I should have made more clear that schematics is NOT for the board I have on photos.

Crazy Ape · « **Reply #21 on:** November 16, 2013, 03:55:24 am »

Quote from: Alexei.Polkhanov on November 15, 2013, 05:43:40 am

Looks like here I found open source version of USB blaster. Similar if not same schematics with FTDI FT245 plus MAX CPLD, they also have VHDL code for MAX CPLD - see usbblaster.rar
VHDL code looks very simple:
https://code.google.com/p/epm240-dev/downloads/list

I had a look at the VHDL code, the CPLD handles all the control of the JTAG state machine, leaving the MCU to simply stream the data in and out.

Alexei.Polkhanov · « **Reply #22 on:** November 16, 2013, 05:17:52 am »

Quote from: Crazy Ape on November 16, 2013, 03:55:24 am

I had a look at the VHDL code, the CPLD handles all the control of the JTAG state machine, leaving the MCU to simply stream the data in and out.

I assume that code is for schematics that are included in same rar file - I don't see any MCU - only FT245 USB FIFO IC from FTDI and Altera MAX II CPLD (EPM240T100C5).

Crazy Ape · « **Reply #23 on:** November 17, 2013, 08:14:49 am »

Quote from: Alexei.Polkhanov on November 16, 2013, 05:17:52 am

Quote from: Crazy Ape on November 16, 2013, 03:55:24 am
I had a look at the VHDL code, the CPLD handles all the control of the JTAG state machine, leaving the MCU to simply stream the data in and out.

I assume that code is for schematics that are included in same rar file - I don't see any MCU - only FT245 USB FIFO IC from FTDI and Altera MAX II CPLD (EPM240T100C5).

Yes, sorry, there is no MCU, I should have said something like "controlling host", I guess that term covers anything from MCU to CPU to PC port.

R_G_B_ · « **Reply #24 on:** November 21, 2013, 10:37:10 am »

Here is the Altera USB blaster I got from ebay:

And it does not work at all.


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Author Topic: Altera USB Programmer (Read 56090 times)

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