FPGA boards

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Many different FPGA boards starting from $99,- up to several k$ are on the market. JOP has been ported to some of the more common one.

Contents

[edit] Altera ACEX

ACEX FPGA board
ACEX FPGA board

The ACEX board was the first board where JOP was running (or almost - there was a prototyping board with an ACEX 1K30 with direct printer port connection to the configuration pins...) The board contains:

  • Altera ACEX 1K50TC144-3 FPGA
  • voltage regulators (3V3, 2V5)
  • crystal clock (20 MHz)
  • 512KB Flash (for FPGA configuration and program)
  • 128KB Ram
  • byteblaster port
  • watchdog with led
  • EPM7032 PLD to load FPGA from flash (on watchdog reset)
  • serial interface (MAX323A)
  • 56 general IO pins

The bottom side of the PCB contains the SRAM and Flash. The ACEX board is no longer in production and all design files have been released open-source at opencores.

[edit] Cycore

Cyclone FPGA board
Cyclone FPGA board

This board contains an Altera Cyclone (EP1C6 or EP1C12) and is the current work horse for JOP development. All results are obtained with this board and a speed gread 6 Cyclone EP1C6. The board contains:

  • Altera Cyclone EP1C6Q240 or EP1C12Q240 FPGA
  • 512 KB FLASH (for FPGA configuration and program code)
  • 1 MB fast SRAM
  • up to 128 MB NAND FLASH
  • ByteBlasterMV port
  • Watchdog with LED
  • EPM7064 PLD to load FPGA from FLASH (on watchdog reset)
  • Switched voltage regulator (1V5)
  • Crystal clock (20 MHz) at the PLL input (up to 640 MHz internal)
  • Serial interface (MAX3232)
  • 56 general purpose IO pins
The bottom side of Cycore is more interesting
The bottom side of Cycore is more interesting

For an image of the components see bottom side with description. See also the schematics, the pin definition, and the library definition for the EAGLE PCB tool.

Of course this board is not JOP specific. The combination of fast SRAM and the NAND flash makes it a nice soft-core development environment. LEON and NIOS have been ported to this board as well.

JOP top-level: jop_cyc.vhd and jop_cyc12.vhd

Quartus minimal project: quartus/cycmin, other depend on extension (see below)


[edit] Extensions

The Cycore module needs an extension board. Several different types are available:

The Cycore board, some extension boards, and accessories can be ordered here.

[edit] Spartan-3 Starter Kit

Spartan-3 Board
Spartan-3 Board

A very cheap development board ($99,-) available from Digilent. However, JOP has been ported only to the old one with SRAM. The newer versions contain SDRAM and ports are still missing. The board features:

  • Xilinx Spartan-3 FPGA w/ twelve 18-bit multipliers, 216Kbits of block RAM, and up to 500MHz internal clock speeds
  • -200, -400, and -1000 versions available
  • On-board 2Mbit Platform Flash (XCF02S)
  • 8 slide switches, 4 pushbuttons, 9 LEDs, and 4-digit seven-segment display
  • Serial port, VGA port, and PS/2 mouse/keyboard port
  • Three 40-pin expansion connectors
  • Three high-current voltage regulators (3.3V, 2.5V, and 1.2V)
  • Works with JTAG3 programming cable, and P4 & MultiPRO cables from Xilinx
  • 1Mbyte on-board 10ns SRAM (256Kb x 32)

JOP top-level: jop_xs3.vhd

ISE project: xilinx/s3sk


JOP has also been ported to the Trenz Spartan-3 starter kit (same name, but different hardware)

[edit] Altera DE2

Altera's Development and Education Board
Altera's Development and Education Board

The development kit from Treasic for Cyclone II devices from Altera. The board contains 16-bit SRAM and SDRAM. A native interface to the SRAM is available, the SDRAM is connected via the Altera SDRAM IP and a SimpCon to Avalon bridge. The newer version, DE-70 is now also supported by JOP. The board features:

  • Altera Cyclone II 2C35
  • Altera Serial Configuration deivices (EPCS16) for Cyclone II 2C35
  • USB Blaster built in on board for programming
  • 8Mbyte (1M x 4 x 16) SDRAM
  • 512K byte(256K X16) SRAM
  • 4Mbyte Flash Memory (upgradeable to 4Mbyte)
  • SD Card Socket
  • Buttons and switches, LEDs
  • 16 x 2 LCD Module
  • 24-bit CD-Quality Audio CODEC
  • Serial port, VGA port, and PS/2 mouse/keyboard port
  • 10/100 Ethernet Controller with socket
  • Two 40-pin Expansion Headers with diode protection

JOP top-level: jop_256x16.vhd

Quartus project: quartus/altde2sram

Or as SOPC builder component with jop_avalon.vhd and quartus/altde2

[edit] Xilinx ML40x

Xilinx ML401 board
Xilinx ML401 board

A popular Xilinx board with the Virtex-4. Although I don't own the ML401 board a port is available and it has been recently reported that it is working. Board features:

  • XC4VLX25-FF668-10C
  • 64 MB DDR SDRAM
  • 9 Mb ZBT SRAM
  • 8 MB Linear Flash
  • 16 x2 Character LCD
  • Serial port, VGA port, and PS/2 mouse/keyboard port
  • 4 Audio Jacks (In, Out, Microphone, Headphone)
  • 3 USB Ports (2 Peripheral, 1 Host)
  • 10/100/1000 RJ-45 Ethernet Port
  • 64 Bit User Expansion Connector
  • General Purpose I/O: Buttons, LEDs, and DIP Switches

JOP top-level: jop_ml401.vhd

ISE project: xilinx/ml401

[edit] Digilent Nexys 2

Digilent Nexys 2 board
Digilent Nexys 2 board

A cheap ($99) Spartan-3E board with an easy to use PSDRAM memory from Digilent. Board features:

  • XC3S400E-FG320-4
  • 16 MB PSDRAM
  • 16 MB Flash
  • USB configuration
  • Serial port, VGA port, and PS/2 mouse/keyboard port

JOP top-level: jop_nexys2.vhd

ISE project: xilinx/nexys2

[edit] Future Boards

[edit] Altera Cyclone 3 Starter Kit

A new and quite cheap board ($199,-) features the actual low-cost FPGA from Altera. The port of JOP is under way.

[edit] Xilinx ML501

Just orderd - will be fun to run JOP at 200 MHz on the Virtex-5

[edit] Actel ProASIC3

A port to the Actel FPGAs (ProASIC3 and finally IGLOO) is on the way on the ProASIC3 Starter Kit. As the starter kit does not contain any memory and no RS232 interface an addon PCB has to be built.


JOP top-level: jop_a3p.vhd

Actel project: ???

[edit] JOP starter kit

A new board with the Cyclone 3 under development.

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