Compatible Xilinx USB Cables: worth to bother?

They are clones of Xilinx USB-JTAG cables. The one I've had a look at was a clone of the DLC9G. The circuitry is a 100% clone, so the XIlinx SW cannot distinguish it from a real DLC9G. This means that it is 100% compatible with the Xilinx SW, including accepting firmware updates that Xilinx release from time to time. Unfortunately the build quality is much lower than the Xilinx original cables - the unit I examined worked just like an original until the USB A socket in it broke after a few cable insertion / removal cycles. This was repairable, but an annoying waste of time. Your mileage may vary.

Stephen Ecob Silicon On Inspiration Sydney Australia

Stephen, thanks for your answer. So they can be a [cheap] alternative, now the last question: what's up about the 6 vs 7 pin debate? Is it really needed? I see also a breakout board, does it make a difference? Thanks in advance.

Giuseppe Marullo

I haven't checked but I am pretty sure that the Xilinx download agreement doesn't allow you to do this. After all they do say that you cannot use their

software to generate bits for anything other than a Xilinx part it would be out of character if they let you use their firmware upgrades for a competitors product.

BTW: where did they get the bits that are shipped with their probe? I'm sure they put together a crack reverse engineering team that was so good that it came out to be bit for bit identical to a rom dump of the xilinx product.

This isn't a technical question. It is a personal morality one.

John Eaton

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John, why would it be a personal morality one?

I want the original one if I need better quality and support: I get their one and pay for a better product.

Anyway, I am not a layer but as long it is your, you can force/crack/destroy it once paid it full. *No*DCMA*yet*here.*

Giuseppe Marullo

PS: first time I got caught by FPGA police. I was thinking it was peculiar to ham radio, LOL

I use Altera USB Blaster clone from eBay for ~10USD. Works perfectly: drivers are exact the same as for original device, programming speed is also the same, but the best thing is that the clone is nearly 3-4 times smaller and has mini-USB connector.

Thanks, could you kindly post an example of what I need to search?

Giuseppe Marullo

ebay.com -> search "altera usb" E.g.

Sorry to ask, but is this supposed to work for Xilinx too? Too good to be true.

Sometimes the reason that they can offer their product at such a discount is

because instead of paying a design team to create the product they simply copied straight from the original manufacturer. This is piracy and is nothing

more than stealing. I can get you a great price on an iPad if your willing to

ignore the fact that it is stolen and I am fencing it for pennies on the dollar.

Now there is a lot of overhead built into the prices from a large company. It

is quite possible to reverse engineer and create a "clean room" design that

functions the same but you can build and sell for a lot less money. The entire

ibm pc-clone market did this. I would want to see who designed this probe before buying. The guys that can do that stuff like to brag about it.

It is also possible that Xilinx never designed that probe and simply went to an OEM to rebrand one of their products. In that case you could get a better deal if you go straight to the source.

Either way I would want to know something about the manufacturer.

John Eaton

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Here is a $50 alternative that is supported by Xilinx. Support for this cable is built into ISE 13.2 and later, and previous versions by installing a plugin.

In our testing at Avnet, we found this cable to be as fast or faster than the Platform Cable USB-II. This is especially noticeable when performing indirect Flash programming. You can order these cables online or through your local Avnet/Silica office.

Bryan

eBay for ~10USD. Works perfectly:

How about "Altera USB Blaster eBay"?

Rick

Bryan, glad to know. Tomorrow I will be in Avnet/Silica to attend a free seminar near Milan on the little LX9 board, the board which has the most elusive documentation on the net (or off the net, because of the several broken links, or crashes even when attempting to register).

While there, I will ask about the cable.

Giuseppe Marullo

Rick, many thanks but I googled it and nowhere it was able to program a Xilinx part, hence the question.

Giuseppe Marullo

Ok, got it using FireFox, no dice with IE.

No, the Altera cable won't do Xilinx, but only because of software support. The Xilinx devices require a Xilinx cable clone which is also sold on eBay. I think I saw some for around $10 or so up to about $50 for the ones they say are "exact" duplicates of the Xilinx design.

Rick

I seem to remember that I've generated SVF files using Xilinx Impact which I've played back using urjtag and an Altera USB Blaster connected to a Xilinx FPGA.

Not a supported toolchain and no guarantee that it will work and not damage your devices...

Also it's not possible to use Chipscope this way.

//Petter

Does this contain the same logic as the JTAG SMT1?

I can use the Xilinx Platform Cable USB II with Impact (ISE 13.3), but I can't get the Digilent JTAG SMT1 to work. I just get a "Cable connection failed" error message.

Using lspci the Xilinx cable shows up as: Bus 002 Device 036: ID 03fd:0008 Xilinx, Inc.

And the Digilent JTAG SMT1: Bus 002 Device 060: ID 0403:6010 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd FT2232C Dual USB-UART/FIFO IC

The Xilinx cable in /proc/bus/usb/devices < T: Bus=02 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=06 Cnt=02 Dev#= 59 Spd=480 MxCh= 0 < D: Ver= 2.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs= 1 < P: Vendor=03fd ProdID=0008 Rev= 0.00 < S: Manufacturer=XILINX < S: Product=XILINX < C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 2 Atr=80 MxPwr=300mA < I:* If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=(none) < E: Ad=02(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=0ms < E: Ad=86(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=0ms

The Digilent JTAG SMT1 in /proc/bus/usb/devices < T: Bus=02 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=07 Cnt=02 Dev#= 60 Spd=480 MxCh= 0 < D: Ver= 2.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs= 1 < P: Vendor=0403 ProdID=6010 Rev= 7.00 < S: Manufacturer=Digilent < S: Product=Digilent Adept USB Device < S: SerialNumber=210203299904 < C:* #Ifs= 2 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr= 94mA < I:* If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=ff Prot=ff Driver=ftdi_sio < E: Ad=81(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=0ms < E: Ad=02(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=0ms < I:* If#= 1 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=ff Prot=ff Driver=ftdi_sio < E: Ad=83(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=0ms < E: Ad=04(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=0ms

//Petter

FT2232C Dual USB-UART/FIFO IC

Those cables are not exactly equivalent to the Xilinx platform USB (though Digilent makes one that is, for a bit of a higher price).

For the Digilent-specific ones, you need to install the Digilent Plugin for Xilinx Tools, which they kindly offer for Linux as well as Windows:

Have you done this? If not, I guess that would explain why it doesn't work with impact.

Steve

also

Actually the 10 USD USB Blaster sold at ebay are not 100% perfect copy. In order to make a cheaper device they use a Cypress chip to emulate the FTDI+CPLD of the USB Blaster.

For a perfect copy you probably going to pay 30USD

Here is an example:

Cya

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