JTAG Opcodes for Altera MAX7000S

Hi Patrik, The way to program the MAX 7000S is by using Jam. Jam is a language for manipulating the JTAG chain - you can actually use it to do pretty much anything JTAG related, but it's optimized for programming CPLDs. The advantage is that the process of programming through JTAG is somewhat complicated, and this makes it quite easy.

The basic idea is like this:

1. You use Quartus II (or MAX+PLUS II) to make the Jam file after compilation.
2. Altera supplies source code for the "Jam Player". You compile this for your microprocessor.
3. You load the Jam file into your system memory.
4. The microprocessor runs the Jam player, which reads the Jam file, and executes it. While executing, it manipulates the JTAG pins on the MAX device to program it. The Jam player can also verify the programming.

There's a lot more detail behind this, so there's info on the Altera web site.

This page has all the Jam downloads:

This app note gives general info about ISP (In-System Programming) for CPLDs.

This app note gives more details about using Jam for ISP.

Happy Programming!

Greg Steinke snipped-for-privacy@altera.com Altera Corporation

Hi Greg,

the problem is, that I have to program the devices with a microcontroler, not an embedded Processor. Therefor I cannot use the JAM language, because the JAM Interpreter wouldn't compile on an microcontroler (maybe a ATMEL, it's not decisioned, yet).

Thanks, Patrik

Hi Patrik, Altera has developed a Jam solution (include code) for the 8051 microcontroller, which is one of the Atmel options. This is documented in App Note 111, Embedded Programming using the 8051 and Jam Byte-Code.

The source code is available on:

It took some optimization to get this to go into the 8051, but it does work and is easy to use after this optimization was complete.

Sincerely, Greg Steinke snipped-for-privacy@altera.com Altera Corporation