Cyclone and ByteBlasterMV?

L

Leon Heller

Guest
Altera only mentions the ByteBlaster II for programming Cyclone devices.
Presumably the ByteBlasterMV doesn't have the right voltage thresholds,
strictly speaking, but I was wondering if it could be used in a pinch. I
made my own from the published schematic (it works fine with Flex10K
devices), and would rather avoid having to buy the II, or make my own clone
of it.

Leon
 
Or if someone was knowledgeable about what's inside a ByteBlaster II, that
would be helpful. Because at $150, I don't want to imagine what the margin
on these is.
The ByteBlaster/MV are models of simplicity, I hope Altera keeps the spirit.
 
This guy has got the schematics on his website. It is labelled Byteblaster
MV, but it is the Byteblaster II though (as you can see by the name of the
file). The schematics are indeed quite ... simple

http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~gkasprow/

I've built the thing, and it seems to work.


Or if someone was knowledgeable about what's inside a ByteBlaster II, that
would be helpful. Because at $150, I don't want to imagine what the margin
on these is.
The ByteBlaster/MV are models of simplicity, I hope Altera keeps the
spirit.
Click to expand...
 
"Eric Paillet" <epaillet@antwerpen.be> wrote in message
news:4073b644$0$1991$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be...
This guy has got the schematics on his website. It is labelled Byteblaster
MV, but it is the Byteblaster II though (as you can see by the name of the
file). The schematics are indeed quite ... simple

http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~gkasprow/

I've built the thing, and it seems to work.
Click to expand...
Thanks Eric. I downloaded the file and got it converted to ASCII format by
someone with Protel, so I can read it into Pulsonix. It's definitely a lot
different from the MV - uses three '244 chips and a transistor. I'll be
making a PCB for it and putting the design on my web site. If anyone else
wants the ASCII Protel file I can make it available.

Leon
 
"Eric Paillet" <epaillet@antwerpen.be> wrote in message
news:4073b644$0$1991$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be...
This guy has got the schematics on his website. It is labelled Byteblaster
MV, but it is the Byteblaster II though (as you can see by the name of the
file). The schematics are indeed quite ... simple

http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~gkasprow/

I've built the thing, and it seems to work.
Click to expand...
Eric, what programming format did you use?

That schematic looks nothing like the insides of the
ByteBlaster II cable I had (I've just shipped it off
to a client and am awaiting a new one).


Nial
 
"Nial Stewart" <nial@nialstewartdevelopments.co.uk> wrote in message
news:407421d3$0$31700$fa0fcedb@lovejoy.zen.co.uk...
"Eric Paillet" <epaillet@antwerpen.be> wrote in message
news:4073b644$0$1991$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be...
This guy has got the schematics on his website. It is labelled
Byteblaster
MV, but it is the Byteblaster II though (as you can see by the name of
the
file). The schematics are indeed quite ... simple

http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~gkasprow/

I've built the thing, and it seems to work.

Eric, what programming format did you use?

That schematic looks nothing like the insides of the
ByteBlaster II cable I had (I've just shipped it off
to a client and am awaiting a new one).
Click to expand...
What chip(s) did it use? If I know the logic family, I can probably work the
rest of it out for myself.

Leon
 
Altera only mentions the ByteBlaster II for programming Cyclone
devices.
Presumably the ByteBlasterMV doesn't have the right voltage
thresholds,
strictly speaking, but I was wondering if it could be used in a
pinch. I
made my own from the published schematic (it works fine with Flex10K
devices), and would rather avoid having to buy the II, or make my
own clone
of it.
Click to expand...
The ByteBlasteMV works quite well with the Cyclone. I'm using it in
the JTAG mode.

Martin
--
----------------------------------------------
JOP - a Java Processor core for FPGAs:
http://www.jopdesign.com/
 
Leon Heller wrote:
"Nial Stewart" <nial@nialstewartdevelopments.co.uk> wrote in message
news:407421d3$0$31700$fa0fcedb@lovejoy.zen.co.uk...

"Eric Paillet" <epaillet@antwerpen.be> wrote in message
news:4073b644$0$1991$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be...

This guy has got the schematics on his website. It is labelled

Byteblaster

MV, but it is the Byteblaster II though (as you can see by the name of

the

file). The schematics are indeed quite ... simple

http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~gkasprow/

I've built the thing, and it seems to work.

Eric, what programming format did you use?

That schematic looks nothing like the insides of the
ByteBlaster II cable I had (I've just shipped it off
to a client and am awaiting a new one).


What chip(s) did it use? If I know the logic family, I can probably work the
rest of it out for myself.

Leon


My local FAE told that the original BBII uses transistors for it's logic
Click to expand...
due to the 1.5V io requirement, but if you use 3.3V IO, it's perfectly
possible to use som 74's to do it. I've done mine with 126 (to avoid the
transistor used as a inverter in the schematic above mentioned) and it
works just fine.

Bye,
Ricardo
 
"Martin Schoeberl" <martin.schoeberl@chello.at> wrote in message
news:EiYcc.383059$Or1.126922@news.chello.at...
Altera only mentions the ByteBlaster II for programming Cyclone
devices.
Presumably the ByteBlasterMV doesn't have the right voltage
thresholds,
strictly speaking, but I was wondering if it could be used in a
pinch. I
made my own from the published schematic (it works fine with Flex10K
devices), and would rather avoid having to buy the II, or make my
own clone
of it.

The ByteBlasteMV works quite well with the Cyclone. I'm using it in
the JTAG mode.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I'll try it. I suppose it could depend on how the I/O banks are
configured.

Leon
 
"Eric Paillet" <epaillet@antwerpen.be> wrote in message
news:4073b644$0$1991$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be...
This guy has got the schematics on his website. It is labelled
Byteblaster
MV, but it is the Byteblaster II though (as you can see by the name of
the
file). The schematics are indeed quite ... simple

http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~gkasprow/

I've built the thing, and it seems to work.

Thanks Eric. I downloaded the file and got it converted to ASCII format by
someone with Protel, so I can read it into Pulsonix. It's definitely a lot
different from the MV - uses three '244 chips and a transistor. I'll be
making a PCB for it and putting the design on my web site. If anyone else
wants the ASCII Protel file I can make it available.

Leon
Click to expand...
Could You please send us a copy of the converted BBII schematics in a
readable form (*.Bit, *.PDF, *.gif, ...) or make them available on the net?
Think a specialized format is not good for publishing ...
-Thanks.-

with best regards,

Peter Seng


#############################
SENG digitale Systeme GmbH
Im Bruckwasen 35
D 73037 Göppingen
Germany
tel +7161-75245
fax +7161-72965
eMail p.seng@seng.de
net http://www.seng.de
#############################
 
"Peter Seng" <NOSPAM@seng.de> wrote in message
news:c530f4$gp3$1@online.de...
"Eric Paillet" <epaillet@antwerpen.be> wrote in message
news:4073b644$0$1991$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be...
This guy has got the schematics on his website. It is labelled
Byteblaster
MV, but it is the Byteblaster II though (as you can see by the name of
the
file). The schematics are indeed quite ... simple

http://www.fuw.edu.pl/~gkasprow/

I've built the thing, and it seems to work.

Thanks Eric. I downloaded the file and got it converted to ASCII format
by
someone with Protel, so I can read it into Pulsonix. It's definitely a
lot
different from the MV - uses three '244 chips and a transistor. I'll be
making a PCB for it and putting the design on my web site. If anyone
else
wants the ASCII Protel file I can make it available.

Leon



Could You please send us a copy of the converted BBII schematics in a
readable form (*.Bit, *.PDF, *.gif, ...) or make them available on the
net?
Think a specialized format is not good for publishing ...
Click to expand...
I output it from Pulsonix as a PS file and converted it to a PDF:

http://www.leonheller.com/bb.pdf

It really needs the colours changing on the imported schematic to remove the
black areas, but you should be able to follow it.

I'm not sure if it really is compatible with the BBII, I'll try my BBMV
clone on the Cyclone first and see how I get on.

Leon
 
Martin Schoeberl wrote:
<snip>
The ByteBlasteMV works quite well with the Cyclone. I'm using it in
the JTAG mode.

Martin
--
The drawback is that BBMV can't program EPCS devices....
Click to expand...
 
That schematic looks nothing like the insides of the
ByteBlaster II cable I had (I've just shipped it off
to a client and am awaiting a new one).

What chip(s) did it use? If I know the logic family, I can probably work
the
rest of it out for myself.
Leon
Click to expand...
Leon,

From memory it was a sea of transistors on both sides with an 8 pin
SOIC on one side.


Nial.
 
"Nial Stewart" <nial@nialstewartdevelopments.co.uk> wrote in message
news:407d8fbc$0$31701$fa0fcedb@lovejoy.zen.co.uk...
That schematic looks nothing like the insides of the
ByteBlaster II cable I had (I've just shipped it off
to a client and am awaiting a new one).

What chip(s) did it use? If I know the logic family, I can probably work
the
rest of it out for myself.
Leon

Leon,

From memory it was a sea of transistors on both sides with an 8 pin
SOIC on one side.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Nial. I think someone else mentioned something like that.

Leon
 
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