Thanks blueskull
Do you have Altium Lib's too?
It seems LCSC no longer carries GOWIN chips.
If 200 pcs is high for you, still on Altera / Xilinx no business for you on gowin
Yes, but does the others sells just a few units for prototyping? (really interested if they do)
Yes, you'll have to go though some qualification possibly. But if you want some parts I can get them for you. I'm using the GW1N-UV9LQ100C5/I4 on a project and am on their RADAR. I'll be ordering a few soon. If anyone would like some I can get extras.
Here's a thought. I've been thinking for some time of producing an FPGA eval board and the Gowin devices seem just the ticket. What if I designed a blank board based on the design we are doing on a project I'm in and had them assembled? Would people be interested in buying either the bare board or the assembly?
I guess it would be something like the Trenz board with a programming FTDI chip (which is more expensive than the Gowin part, lol) and a DIP like pin out so you could use it as a module in your design.
blueskull , Thanks for sharing
I just got myself a tang nano board. Managed to get the tools loaded and working - small problem - I can't figure out how to get the bitstream into flash so it works from power-up. I can load it into sram, but it disappears next power cycle.
Can someone tell me the magic incantation required to have it so that the device runs from power up?
Double-click in the "Operation" column, select Access mode as "Embedded flash", operation to desired one (erase/program).
Make sure the cable's settings (Edit->Cable Settings-Cable) has 2.5 MHz for frequency.
There were different versions of the programming cables, but generic programmer tool by default sets the frequency of 2MHz that is incompatible with Tang Nano.
Many thanks. The secret was the speed - yes it was set to 2MHz. Set to 2.5MHz - all good. I spun my wheels for about an hour and was thinking 'it's got to be something simple!', so I figured the forum was the place to go.
I just got myself a tang nano board. Managed to get the tools loaded and working - small problem - I can't figure out how to get the bitstream into flash so it works from power-up. I can load it into sram, but it disappears next power cycle.
Can someone tell me the magic incantation required to have it so that the device runs from power up?
Glad you got the flash working. What did it do when you had the speed wrong? Did the programmer act happy and it just would not boot?
I think someone mentioned (possibly in another thread as I can't find it) exactly how the Tang Nano appears to the drivers. Is there a special driver required or does it show up like a serial port?
The Nano uses a 1K Gowin part which is missing some of the features available in the larger devices. It has no multipliers (DSP) and no Shadow SRAM which I think is what they call distributed RAM in other brands, the memory in the LUTs. While both of these are also missing in the 2K LUT part (which isn't suprising since the 2K LUT part is mostly missing itself) the Shadow SRAM is also missing from the 4K LUT part. You have to get a 9K LUT part to use the RAM in the LUTs. I find that rather odd. There are also differences in some functions depending on having the C revision or not. Seems C revisions are all they are shipping now, but that is somewhat recent and there is nothing in the part number to indicate this.
There are also differences in some functions depending on having the C revision or not. Seems C revisions are all they are shipping now, but that is somewhat recent and there is nothing in the part number to indicate this.
C version has better PLL, that's what I've been told by Gowin FAE.
There was something else having to do with the BRAMs or the DSP. I checked the FAE email and he noted "We DO support Dual Port BSRAM with Revision C silicon of the GW1N-9/GW1NR-9/GW1NS-2/GW1NS-4 series" as well as saying C has faster speed grades. No mention of the PLL.
Still, what bugs me is the limited info on what the rev C features and lack of markings. At least they assure they are only shipping the rev C at this time. The trick is you need to know to select rev C in the tools to support the new features.
Also, I don't get the lack of LUT RAM in most devices. The -4 is shipping as rev C but the data sheet does not indicate it includes LUT RAM. Their info is not all that good, maybe it's an oversight in the docs. I don't see LUT RAM available for the -4 devices in the rev 1.9.7 tools, so they just don't have it in any device other than the -9. Fortunately the -9 is still very affordable. You don't save much downsizing to a -4 or even a -1 unless you are using many, many units, it won't matter much to use the -9.
There was something else having to do with the BRAMs or the DSP. I checked the FAE email and he noted "We DO support Dual Port BSRAM with Revision C silicon of the GW1N-9/GW1NR-9/GW1NS-2/GW1NS-4 series" as well as saying C has faster speed grades. No mention of the PLL.
Interesting. It seems -C version for LittleBee is different than -C version for Arora. My parts of interest are GW2AR and GW2ANR.
One of my many complaints about Gowin is they don't make clear the many distinctions and the similarities between product lines. The two main product lines have many differences even in the cell structure and the other IP like the DSP and BRAMs. I guess it's not just the What that they don't make clear, but also the How/Why. What is the intent of each line exactly?
I wonder how many employees are at Potato Semiconductor
IF they go open, the opportunities would be endless
If Cadence gives me a free license or someone gives me a ported PDK for a low cost EDA tool, I can roll a GHz clock buffer in a few hours in an ancient 350nm process.
Dunno the EDA tool, but for the PDK would 130nm do ?
SkyWater Open Source PDK :-)
FYI, Trenz has two GOWIN boards on their website.
Trenz is a UK FPGA board mfg, covering all FPGA brands that sell to the public (sorry, no QuickLogic).
I thought they were German, but no matter. What I didn't like is that on their web site the cost of shipping to the US is rather large. Digikey is selling the Gowin board at the same price with much more reasonable shipping.
Sum: €28.13*
Shipping costs: €56.11*
Total amount: €84.24
Funny, I can't find this at Digikey now. I wonder if this has anything to do with Gowin being labeled a CCMC (Communist Chinese Military Company) by the US government?
Gowin also ceased selling their boards (and all parts) from their Chinese distributors, and this has been a while. Seems like they want to move to a direct sales system
I have not buy gowin recently, So where should we get the parts, ask them directly?
That's how I got mine.
That's great, are you in china right now? Because I want them in china too. what was the part and the price?
I'm interested in GW2AR and GW2ANR in QFN88 package