Gowin MiniStar Nano Limited Edition

[c64]

Can buy from their own Amazon shop:
https://www.amazon.com/Gowin-MiniStar-Nano-Limited-Edition/dp/B09CD8BG8M/

However I could not find any documentation. And I don't see any usb connector. How to program it? Does it need the expensive JTAG programmer?

[mon2]

Hi. Do not own this kit, yet However, the programmer is not onboard from our last review.

The programmer can be the usual FTDI controller / the Gowin USB Bridge (new from them) / or a valid clone. Recently have seen the Bouffalo Semiconductor RISC processor emulate the FTDI FT2232. We just brought a few of these boards in last week but have not yet tested them against the Gowin toolchain. May do this today / this week and can post the results.

The emulation should be a cost reduction and know that the default FTDI device drivers work fine for our the assembled PCBAs received from Aliexpress.

The next unknown is from where to buy the Bouffalo Semiconductor parts (BL702) ? The FTDI emulation code is open source on their github.

https://github.com/sipeed/RV-Debugger-BL702

[chickenHeadKnob]

Hello Mon2

I have some ministar nano's on order and have installed Gowin EDA v1.9.8.03 educational version. I was confused by the inclusion J-flash and j-link commander with the package, expecting to need a j-link.

I already have an official FT2232 module board. Are you saying this will work and all I need?
Thanks

[mon2]

Hi. Can you share the full part number of the FTDI chip on your kit?

Specifically, is it the GT2232H ? The 'H' series from FTDI is necessary as this version offers the MPSSE engine. With this feature, you can configure for USB to JTAG. The JTAG interface is used to flash this Gowin FPGA with the micro.

The J-Link interface is used to debug the microcontroller code you may develop inside this FPGA.

As you may know already, the Gowin FPGA parts are available without the micro so you will then have to instantiate the micro IP. This will eat up a part of your logic cells so suggest the next option and that is to consider the HARD micro. The hard micro still needs to be enabled but requires a very small amount of cells to engage (make it so?).

You can use even FT232H to program the Gowin FPGA. This is a single channel USB to MPSSE device.

Study the non-mini version of this kit schematic to review the pinout for the USB to JTAG interconnect.

Many offshore companies are starting to use FTDI emulation to reduce the BOM costs.

[chickenHeadKnob]

Thank-you for the quick detailed reply, it helps a lot. I have an official FTDI mini-module (FT2232H) this:
https://ftdichip.com/products/ft2232h-mini-module/

I noticed the sipeed tang nano 4k and 9k have those emulated BL702 chips and they seem to only use that for programming the  fpga fabric and the
cortex m3 hard core ( or a RISC V softcore in the 9K) hence doubt crept in mind when I noticed j-link drivers 

I specifically selected the ministar nano because I prefer to have a separate programming adapter which does not remain on the target project.

Yes I have started to read the ministar  manual and schematic, they have the pinout of the board and jtag pins identified.

Thanks again, most helpful