FPGA Programmer

[jboard146]

I'm currently working with a lattice MachXO2 CPLD/FPGA to learn FPGA's. I got it based on the ipod display hack from Mike's Electric Stuff. Thanks Mike this is a very cool little CPLD/FPGA. I'm using the default usb programmer on the breakout board. It is based on the FT232HL chip.

I'm at some point i'm going ot want to program this and other chips via JTAG. So i started looking around on ebay and a few different programmers. I'm going to want to play with some XILINX and ALTERA parts as well.

I found this  "4 in 1 ALTERA USB Blaster Lattice USB Logic Analyzer XILINX Platform Cable USB".
 Here is the listing:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-in-1-ALTERA-USB-Blaster-Lattice-USB-Logic-Analyzer-XILINX-Platform-Cable-USB-/330916942179?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d0c2fd163

It claims it is compatible with:
XILINX Platform Cable USB
ALTERA USB-Blaster Download Cable
Lattice ispDOWNLOAD Cable
Logic Analyzer (I really don't care about this)

It is Chinese and ~$50. I'm thinking about getting it, but the details are are a little sketchy. Anyone know about this or have one? Does it work?

[marshallh]

Get separate ones.. Less chance of wasted money

[nuhamind2]

Get separate ones.. Less chance of wasted money

AFAIK there is no separate clone except for altera usb blaster. I got it from ebay for about 11$.

[nctnico]

Xilinx programmer clones (?) are readily available from Ebay. They just look exactly like the real one. Maybe Xilinx gave the manufacturer permission to sell as many as they want making the price extremely low for Xilinx as well. After all Xilinx wants to sell the chips not programmers.

[mikeselectricstuff]

FTDI sells cables with  the same functionality as the onboard programmer on the Lattice board http://apple.clickandbuild.com/cnb/shop/ftdichip?op=catalogue-products-null&prodCategoryID=131&title=C232HM-DDHSL-0

A while ago I bought one of the Xilinx knock-offs from china - good build quality & works fine. I've also seen 3-in-1 programmers on ebay that emulate Altera, Lattice and Xilinx programmers.

For a long time Xilinx used to blank out the PCB and schematic details of their on-board programmers on devboards, then suddenly they stopped and the clones arrived - rather surprised the clones have  the Xilinx logo on.
 

[amyk]

They're up to 5-in-1 now. The USB Blaster+LA 3-in-1 are much more common though.

I doubt Altera, Lattice, or Xilinx endorse these. The Chinese just do it because they can get away with it... and what better to put on your clone than the logo of what it should work on.

[jboard146]

I bought the 5 in 1 off of AliExpress. Worse case i'll be out $60.

I'll report back when i get it. And of course a full teardown and try it with the lattice, altera, and xilinx software. I only have lattice and xilinix CPLD/FPGA boards at the moment. I'll also see if i can make it work with the saleae logic and usbee logic software.

[ivan747]

So this actually integrates a USBee/Saelae clone and not just some weird logic analyzer. Wow, for $60 bucks the worst thisng you can get is a couple of FPGAs and a processor.

[amyk]

There's not much in the LA bit; it's just a <$10 USB MCU with its GPIO broken out.

[ivan747]

There's not much in the LA bit; it's just a <$10 USB MCU with its GPIO broken out.

Well, now that I think about it, it is almost a direct I/O connection. It doesn't even have clamping diodes or anything like that.

[miceuz]

I'd look into bus blaster from Dangerous Prototypes - it's open source and has a decent architecture which allows you to reprogram it into different modes.

[jboard146]

I received the 5 in 1 programmer about 2 months ago. I got side tracked with everything else in life and finally had time to look at it.

First off it does work as advertised. I've tested it with the Lattice, Altera and the Saleae Logic analyzer SW.

Basically you plug it in then press the only button and it changes what USB device it is. Below I've added a dump of what all of the vendor and device ID's that is is showing up.

I'm not sure how it compares to the real products as far as speed, but it did seem kind of slow when programming the OX2 board I've got.

[marshallh]

That tool is FX2 based. The FX2 firmware for the Altera mode is functional, but balls slow.
It was taking over 15 seconds to SOF load my EP4CE30 (middle of the range cyclone IV)

I got a proper FT245+CPLD usb blaster. Over 10x improvement. This is a Big Deal. It also means signaltap captures are downloaded much quicker.

There is only 1 clone on Ebay that is an exact hardware clone. It comes in the beige white box.

Internals

[legacy]

I'd look into bus blaster from Dangerous Prototypes - it's open source and has a decent architecture which allows you to reprogram it into different modes.

me, too 

[legacy]

Anyone knows about an ethernet Xilinx programmer cable ?