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Altium board again

Hi! Having followed the thread from 12-Oct-04, I'm also very interested in the Altium board. A still open question is: can that board be used with the Xilinx tools (ISE, EDK)? I guess the main issue would be: can I use iMPACT to configure the board?

Today, Altium have posted a new press release:

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it states that the Altium software can now be used with any board (which is the inverse of what I want to know). The press release is mainly about a "universal JTAG interface" which can be seen here:
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From what I understand, it seems to be a cable with JTAG on one end and a parallel connector on the other end, which can emulate a Xilinx cable as well as an Altera cable. I'm not sure though.

Some conclusions (tell me what you think): Altium offers that cable for use with foreign boards and their software. Such a cable is not needed with the Altium board. I assume the Altium board already has that same circuit on it, since there is just one board for Spartan and Cyclone. The cable has a switch. What is it for? To switch between Xilinx and Altera behavior maybe? More important: how does the parallel end of the cable behave? Is it a propriatary interface or does it in fact appear like any regular X or A cable - and does the board do the same?

Quoting from Altium's webpage: "The LiveDesign Evaluation Board can be specified with either a high-capacity Altera Cyclone (EP1C12F324C8) or Xilinx Spartan-3 (XC3S400-4FG456C) FPGA device. This versatile development platform not only interacts with Altium's software but can be used directly with FPGA vendor tools as a standard development board with no requirement for additional hardware or accessories."

That means to me that I can use it with ISE, right? But if it is that simple, why does Altium proudly anounce that thanks to the new cable any board can be used with their software? If their software handles standard interfaces, people could be using it with any board since long, using a standard cable.

Does anyone know more than me? :) Dennis

Reply to
Kevin Becker
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hmm.. maybe someone adventurous enough is just willing to buy and test the contraption ? ;o) or what about sharing the cost ? if i'm right it's $99 +S/H. I'd be willing to participate if 5 of more people participate. the tester could keep the board, I guess ;o)

just a thought... lukasz

Kev> Hi! Having followed the thread from 12-Oct-04, I'm also very

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Reply to
Lukasz Salwinski

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I thought I had posted in that thread that I found out that this was indeed true. Seems the Xilinx and Altera boards use the same cable. I got this from a Altium rep. I have been assured that these boards will work with the FPGA vendor's tools. In fact, they say the vendor's tools are required because you can't do place and route with the Altium tools.

I'm not sure what you are getting at. The pinout of the board end of the cable is the same for both boards. So both boards will match up with the cable. The JTAG circuitry is just buffers and they are on the board.

They are just saying that they support a "standard" JTAG interface, like everyone else does. There are some defacto "standards" for JTAG cable pinouts. TI has one and there is one for the ARM CPUs. My guess is the Altium cable uses the TI pinout since that is only 14 pins vs. 20 for the ARM connector. If you look at the tech ref manual for the nanoBoards, they show a not so wide cable for connecting to user designed boards with JTAG.

If someone wants to check it out, I'll buy a board. They are only $99. But I get to keep the board when they are done... :)

--

Rick "rickman" Collins

rick.collins@XYarius.com
Ignore the reply address. To email me use the above address with the XY
removed.

Arius - A Signal Processing Solutions Company
Specializing in DSP and FPGA design      URL http://www.arius.com
4 King Ave                               301-682-7772 Voice
Frederick, MD 21701-3110                 301-682-7666 FAX
Reply to
rickman

it is a litle funny it is rated to 49$ in this file, know it is rated to 99$ and in the EU to 99?

Kasper

Reply to
Repzak

I thought that as well. But if you read the text carefully, you will see they are talking about a different kit. The $49 kit is for use with your custom board. They just give you the cable and a 30 license on the software, no board included.

--

Rick "rickman" Collins

rick.collins@XYarius.com
Ignore the reply address. To email me use the above address with the XY
removed.

Arius - A Signal Processing Solutions Company
Specializing in DSP and FPGA design      URL http://www.arius.com
4 King Ave                               301-682-7772 Voice
Frederick, MD 21701-3110                 301-682-7666 FAX
Reply to
rickman

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