Altera EPM3032 CPLD Guide Tour Please.

[jahonen]

ok maybe i forgot to ask earlier. whats the difference cpld and fpga? iirc i read about fpga we have to load the firmware from flash each time startup, cpld got its own memory. i maybe mistaken. but what about difference in architecture, or when to use cpld and when more appropriate to use fpga?

The logic cells (containing LUTs) of a CPLD are some form of non-volatile memory, whereas a typical FPGA uses SRAM.

CPLD's are generally smaller (and cheaper) and used thus for glue logic etc., whereas FPGA's can be huge in comparison, and largest of them are used to build ASIC prototypes (reduced speed, of course, but still much faster than simulation).

Regards,
Janne

[Mechatrommer]

have someone tried this?
http://cgi.ebay.com.my/NEW-USB-BLASTER-CABLE-CPLD-FPGA-JTAG-Programmer-Altera-/220793849096?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item336856c508

cheaper than
http://cgi.ebay.com.my/Altera-FPGA-CPLD-USB-Blaster-programmer-JTAG-cable-/280506472755?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item414f7d1933

[Mechatrommer]

i certainly need to come back to this thread (and the other thread) to study later. just got my programmer(s).
thanks everybody for input so far. i'll update when i got something programmed.

[Mechatrommer]

now you see, it been 6 months or so since i bought it. but sadly i never have time to play with it yet. Quartus 10.1 installed and idling. so since i'm still a complete idiot in this, but i wanna test and see something out of it. can someone give my quick, simple and easy step how to program a fpga/cpld from quartus using this china made programmer? can someone give very simple dummy hex file for this? i just want to do "blind programming" with whatever program out there and see how the fpga works.

my main concern if this (above picture) programmer can actually work with quartus. and as an intro to fpga. i have here, Altera Cyclone II ep2c5t144c8n and epm3032alc44-10. i wish i can get help like, ok this is the hex, open quartus, click this button and that, connect your programmer to pc and fpga to this pin and that pin and open the hex and click upload button. power up fpga, probe using dso. is there such thing? just a simple thing for dummies. any links will be appreciated, thank you.

[jahonen]

Why don't just connect the USB blaster and check if it requests correct drivers (they are in Quartus installation subdirectory).

And then, try connecting the USB blaster to the evaluation board JTAG connector and then choosing from Quartus programmer mode JTAG, and with the evaluation board powered up, click on scan chain button, it should find the device in question if everything works ok.

Regards,
Janne

[Balaur]

Hello,

As Janne said, please try to verify if/how Quartus is able to interact with the programmer.

You can use the full Quartus suite or just the stand-alone programmer.

Then, did you look in the CD provided with the evaluation board? Maybe they provided some kind of a programming bit file that it's able to exercise the board features (leds, display, motors, sensors). This is a first sanity check that will help you to check the board functionalities.
Most likely, this file could be a Tabular Text File (.ttf), a Raw Binary Format (.rbf), a JAM STAPL file (.jam or .jbc) or a hex file (.hexout).

The next step could be to generate your own configuration file containing the design of your choice. To do this, there is no easy way; you simply need to be familiar with all this FPGA stuff. That comes after some kind of microelectronic design course. You'll need to invest time in this.

As an indication, please search on the CD an example design. If a programming file is provided, you will also have the source files (+ Quartus project or whatever) that could be used to re-generate the programming file. I would do that to familiarize with the Quartus flow as a first step.
Then, the second step is to prepare a template/empty design project that is configured to work with your device and board; i.e. the device pins are correctly assigned to the board schematic signals, there is a top level module with the required I/Os to the board and with some luck, the signals are initialized to safe values. Then, I will use that template to set a signal to "1" or whatever in order to light up a led.

Cheers,
Dan

[Mechatrommer]

choosing from Quartus programmer mode JTAG, and with the evaluation board powered up, click on scan chain button, it should find the device in question if everything works ok.

exactly what i need. thanks Janne. now looking for hex file

Then, did you look in the CD provided with the evaluation board?

no cd no nothing. just the board and the blaster i was buying from China for $30 or something. luckily there's JTAG mark on the board so i know where to connect right away. from Janne's advice, i managed to get it detected, so far (as in the picture) thanks for the link on standalone programmer. i'll look into that.

The next step could be to generate your own configuration file containing the design of your choice... and the following statements

now thats deep! i'll ask again next time thanks anyway for the advice Dan i appreciate it.

[jahonen]

Is there at least a board schematic available? Otherwise, it will be quite difficult to find out the pin mapping.

Regards,
Janne

[Mechatrommer]

i dont think decoding the board will be much of a trouble. the biggest challenge is finding time meditating on the datasheet and the IDE. i dont even think its entitled to be called a development board. but from my pic dev kit experience, i dont think i'm going to need an fpga dev board either for now, i think.