Xilinx Spartan 3 XC3S200 and Xilinx Foundation Series 3.1i beginner problems

Ok, so you made the circuit, simulations and ervything checked out - great!

Indeed - you need to go a little further in the software domain to get things going. Firstly synthesise your design. You'll need a .ucf file to tell the software which pin on your Spartan 3 board matches what in your VHDL. You'll also need to specify a global clock frequency to have some basic timing analysis.

At the end of this you should have a .bit file or something similar... (I can't remember what foundation 3.x had for file names)

Ok, the PIII cable is parallel (I think), so no fancy USB auto-recognise function, you have to do things the old way - I think 3.x had "Impact"... Which is used to program devices.

Can you check that you have that?

You'll also need to explain to us whether your board has a PROM? I'm sure it must, you;ll have to look for its name and type...

Ben

Does ISE3.1i even support Spartan3-devices?? I think he needs to upgrade his ISE installation before anything else...

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I've used the schematic editor to implement my design, so no VHDL. The global clock for the project would be 50MHz. I've placed IPAD/OPAD connectors(?) but i don't know how to calibrate them.

I do end up with a .bit file after implementation.

I've looked at the Xilinx program group, but i have no Impact. For device programming i only have JTAG Programmer, Hardware debugger and PROM file formatter (non of them can detect my board)

And my cable is serial.

Found this page with a nice photo and more details about my board:

"Xilinx XCF02S 2Mbit Configuration PROM Programs FPGA at power on or PROG button".

I've also downloaded the newest ISE web pack, but i'm not sure if i'll install it for this project.

board:

I found Digilent's web page for your board @

used for testing the board. Programming the board's FPGA/ configuration PROM requires a Parallel-3 cable, which only works with a parallel port on your PC. A serial port won't work!

HTH

-Dave Pollum (not affiliated with Digilent)

Misi,

You have multiple problems. The first is what Sean mentioned earlier, ISE

3.1i does not support S3 devices. This tool version is going to be completely useless to you for any current Xilinx FPGA family.

So your on the right track getting WebPACK. I have not checked you device specifically, but it will only support lower densities. Here is problem number two. You can not import your ISE 3.1i schematic into the WebPACK version you are now using (technically there is a way, but not worth the effort). You will have to either start a new schematic again or (better) use HDL.

Once you have the project implemented and a bitfile generated, you can use iMPACT to program (iMPACT did not exist in ISE 3.1i).

A good bit of advice: download the ISE tutorial and go through it. You will learn the tool flow and be much better prepared to start you own project.

-David

As a Recent student myself who has used this starter kit:

*The webpack editions of ISE do indeed support the xc3s200 part *The parallel port JTAG cable that somes with that starter kit (it's serial on the JTAG end, as opposed to the cabler xilinx refers to as the parallel IV cable but plugs into the parallel port of your PC) does indeed work with that kit, and the version of IMPACT included with any fairly recent webpack edition of ISE. I assumet his is actually the cable you have, since it's definately what comes in the box with that starter kit. *Never did schematic entry, so i can't speak to the version 3.1 portability to the newer version of ISE - sorry