Hello All,
I am a newbie to FPGA and got recently a new Spartan3E1600 Microblaze
development kit. I want very much to start doing something working and
have decided that the best place to start is perhaps just to light on
a LED on this board.
So I have programmed a clock in VHDL which generates '1' and '0' every
second (frequency = 1Hz) and download this to FPGA. However i do not
know how to connect my clock to one of the 8 LEDs present on board (these are called LED0...LED7). Could you please, give me idea
how to get my clock connected with a LED so that LED would flash with
frequency of the clock?

 

You need to figure out where the actual IO pin is located, then you address it accordingly. That information should be in documentation.

You should also have the IO setting configured for that pin, since drive levels and slew-rates are configurable.

Steve

 

You need to figure out where the actual IO pin is located, then you address it accordingly. That information should be in documentation.

You should also have the IO setting configured for that pin, since drive levels and slew-rates are configurable.

Steve

Thank you. During implementation I assign pins and hence I know the name of the FPGA's pin which has to be connected with LED. But how to find an address of a LED and make the actual connection? Can it be programmed?

 

Page 18 of the users manual indicates the IO location of the LEDs.

hgmjr

 

Page 18 of the users manual indicates the IO location of the LEDs.

hgmjr

Thank you, I have got it. I just wonder, what "A8" in the line below means?

NET "LED<7>" LOC="A8"

 

Take a look at sheet 13 of 14 of the schematic that is included in the manual and you will see the 8 leds in the upper right corner of the schematic. Just follow the signal labels back from there and you will be able find what device is used to drive them.

hgmjr

 

Thank you, I have got it. I just wonder, what "A8" in the line below means?

NET "LED<7>" LOC="A8"

After further study of the schematic, I found that "A8" is the pin designation on the FPGA to which LED7 is connected.

hgmjr

 

After further study of the schematic, I found that "A8" is the pin designation on the FPGA to which LED7 is connected.

hgmjr

So LED7 is already physically connected to A8 pin of FPGA. In this case, all what I have to do in order to make LED7 flashing is to assign output of my signal to A8 pin during implementation. Is my understanding correct?

 

Yes. That should do it.

hgmjr