Looking for support for an old FPGA board (Lumingus Instrument Spartan 6 from 2013)

Thread Starter

rainier_me

Joined Jan 26, 2022
7
I bought an FPGA board from way back in 2014 in eBay (my snapshot):

Spartan 6 board.JPG

(Another listing in eBay making of the same item: https://www.ebay.pl/itm/SPARTAN6-XILINX-XC6SLX9-TQG144-FPGA-CORE-Development-Board-/390637848029)

Unfortunately, I never got around to playing with it. This Lumingus Instruments seems to be a one off company, as such, I can no longer find supporting documentation around it.

The board seems to be rudimentary that I can use a generic 5 pin JTAG debugger:
https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/pimoroni-ltd/TFPGA-001/9808365

Now, my concern is accessing the SRAM on the board:
https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/...on-solution-inc/IS61LV25616AL-10TL-TR/1557301

It needs the specific firmware to utilize said SRAM properly, correct me if I'm mistaken & like I said, I can't find any support on this board, SDKs specifically. How can I remedy this? Would there be a generic SDK available?

I would like to make good use of this board, or I would be forced to buy another FPGA eval board & who knows what I'll do with more new hardware?
 

drjohsmith

Joined Dec 13, 2021
852
Spartan 6 is a FPGA
there is no inherent SDK

To use an FPGA , you need to know the pin configuration,
If you don't have this , then you basically own a dud

I cnat read the part numbers on the phone,
I'd guess one of them is a flash,
the ISE tools from Xilinx are used to create code to define the FPGA , and then program that into the FLASH

But be aware, the last windows that ISE runs on natively is Windows 7,
after that , you need a virtual machine,

What do you know about creating code for the FPGA
 

Thread Starter

rainier_me

Joined Jan 26, 2022
7
What do you know about creating code for the FPGA
I know VHDL from way back the university years. I'm gonna need a refresher on that.

I'm attaching the only resource I got, the apparent PDF of the schematic.

Quick inspection of the board, here's what I see:

FPGA core:
Xilinx Spartan-6 XC6SLX9
- Provided in the op.

SRAM:
IS61LV25616AL - 10TL
- Provided in the op.
- What probably needs special interface, will look later at which FPGA pins trace to it.

FRAM EPROM:
FM24CL64BG
- https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infin...N.pdf?fileId=8ac78c8c7d0d8da4017d0ebdf13330fe

Serial Flash Memory with SPI:
25P28V6P
- perhaps this one: https://media-www.micron.com/-/medi..._128.pdf?rev=617de261586b4a65b0c5f0e460ad9506

Power IC:
PT70345
- perhaps https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tps703.pdf

25 high-side PNPs:
A7W54
- perhaps https://www.diodes.com/assets/Datasheets/MMBTA55_MMBTA56.pdf

you basically own a dud
I find your suggestion it is a dud interesting... Never had anybody trying to fool me at eBay in those years. The last one, back in 2010s, before my last purchase from a UK (intelligeeence!) seller just months ago, had their business go down. Humoring you, I DO find that there being 2 non-volatile memory, the FM24CL64BG & 25P28V6P, quite odd. The former, in particular, being a sort of fancy form of memory that does not have a reason to be one. Curious.
 

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drjohsmith

Joined Dec 13, 2021
852
Typo: 26 high-side PNPs
So the 25P28V6P is the configuration Flash
you will see that on the JTAG chain , on the side of the FPGA when you JTAG the FPGA

The SRAM, is probably just connected to pins on the chip
and you address it from your hardware,

May be there in case you want to write / use a soft processor such as a pico or micro blaze,

Unless you must use this board,
I'd strongly sugest you get a supported board,
as you are going to need tutorials / support

How about this
https://shop.trenz-electronic.de/en...ard-with-Artix-7-35T-for-Makers-and-Hobbyists

Digilent have a good suport forum and docs,
 

Thread Starter

rainier_me

Joined Jan 26, 2022
7
Yeah, I sorta figured that I can skip over the SRAM & still do stuff with the FPGA alone. I just wanted to make sure I can utilize the SRAM, as it's still useful & I won't waste time experimenting to discover how to time the read/write access properly. Some library files I can import is very helpful at this point.

Learn proper grammar. This isn't a chat room. You ain't got no none of an excuse. Go back to your grammar school, for you put shame on it.
 

drjohsmith

Joined Dec 13, 2021
852
Yeah, I sorta figured that I can skip over the SRAM & still do stuff with the FPGA alone. I just wanted to make sure I can utilize the SRAM, as it's still useful & I won't waste time experimenting to discover how to time the read/write access properly. Some library files I can import is very helpful at this point.

Learn proper grammar. This isn't a chat room. You ain't got no none of an excuse. Go back to your grammar school, for you put shame on it.

Could you expand please on the meaning of your comment

" Learn proper grammar. This isn't a chat room. You ain't got no none of an excuse. Go back to your grammar school, for you put shame on it. "
 
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