| Electronics > FPGA |
| Altera EPM3032 CPLD Guide Tour Please. |
| (1/7) > >> |
| Mechatrommer:
today i received a bunch of components that i ordered. included is 1 piece of Altera EPM3032 as pictured. The reason i bought it because 1) i want to learn a new thing and embrace CPLD and FPGA. 2) since the seller sell this, i grab one just to distribute the shipping cost (lesser for each item) beside the other main components that intended to buy. but the truth is, i have zero knowledge on this, no programmer no software no nothing, except this single chip. last time i google to find how to program this thing, i dont have a clear direction. iirc there is a device called fireblaster to program it. and about the software, i have no clue. please guide me on where to find the IDE, programmer, guides, notes, pdfs etc. i hope i can build a diy programmer for it instead of having to order from other place. thanx. |
| deephaven:
That is opening quite a big can of worms ;D If you go on to the Altera website you will be able to find data sheets for the chip. These will also tell you what options you have for programming it. The software you need to run is available free of charge from their website, it is called Quatus. Be advised that it is BIG - several Gigabytes! The software will allow you to enter a circuit design in various ways including VHDL and Block definition. The advantage of the latter is that you can enter the circuit as though it was made from individual chips, you can add familiar looking gates, counters, adders etc. If you're mind is more 'software' inclined then VHDL might suite you better as it is a bit like software! You can program the chip using Altera's Byteblaster (parallel port interface) or USB Blaster (USB port interface). You can get second sourced versions of these which are cheaper. Alternatively you could make your own JTAG programmer, but this will be a lot of work to work out the file format it needs. Maybe someone has done this already? I think Altera chips are great and most of my designs use various sizes of them. The one you have is very small, but they can get very big AND eye-wateringly expensive for the high-end ones! |
| Mechatrommer:
right! i downloaded the 700++ MB file just to find out its the service pack that the other main installer/program need to be installed, what a waste of BW. i think i should downloaded the "web edition" but it doesnt sound good to me... "web"? dependency? so before i download the 2-8 GB file https://www.altera.com/download/software/quartus-ii-we i need to ask, which one? Quartus II Web Edition V11 2.7GB or ACDS v11.0 Windows DVD (ISO) 5.9GB. what the difference of the two? this will be a hell! of downloading! |
| deephaven:
I would actually recommend gettting V9.1 Web Edition. I am trying to find the link to where you can download that from and I'll get back to you with it. The reason for suggesting that version is it's the version I currently use and it is the last one to use 'Classic' timing analysis. This is very easy to use and means you can verify your design by simulating it. On later versions they use a new timing analysis system which is harder work to use. |
| deephaven:
OK, I would suggest downloading this 1.7 GB (!) file ftp://ftp.altera.com/outgoing/release/91sp1_quartus_windows.exe or go to the directory ftp://ftp.altera.com/outgoing/release/ and click on the appropriate link. The connection is usually slow so you have to be a bit patient. |
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