Suggestions for programming flash RAM for SoC via FPGA

[Edmond Cote]

Hi,

I'm currently trying to store non-voltatile data (32Mbits) in the flash
memory connected to an FPGA on a protoboard (Nuhorizon's spartan3 to be
specific), unfortunately I am not sure how to proceed.

I'm thinking perhaps I could program the FPGA to pass the data from the
JTAG pins to the memory in either a serial or parallel manner, but for
the moment this is simply a hunch and wouldn't know how to go about
that. Can I simply send data via JTAG using Xilinx's iMPACT software?, I
suppose I could also xmodem the data via RS-232, what seems to be the
best method?

If you've encountered this problem before, know of a better solution OR
(most importantly) could point me to relevent documentation, it would be
appreciated.

Thanks,

Ed

 

[Martin Schoeberl]

I would go with the serial line. However, keep it simple and don't use
xmodem, write your own program. I do this also to download data to the
FPGA for Flash programming. A very simple handshake with character echo
from the FPGA relieves you from struggling with handshake and buffers in
the FPGA (A PC can send up to 15 characters after you heave released
CTS!)
The donwload program is a 5 liner, you can find examples for the download
program and flash programming on my website.

Martin
--
----------------------------------------------
JOP - a Java Processor core for FPGAs:
http://www.jopdesign.com/


"Edmond Cote" <edmond_cote@yahoo.ca> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:4109c1df_4@aeinews....

Hi,

I'm currently trying to store non-voltatile data (32Mbits) in the flash
memory connected to an FPGA on a protoboard (Nuhorizon's spartan3 to be
specific), unfortunately I am not sure how to proceed.

I'm thinking perhaps I could program the FPGA to pass the data from the
JTAG pins to the memory in either a serial or parallel manner, but for
the moment this is simply a hunch and wouldn't know how to go about
that. Can I simply send data via JTAG using Xilinx's iMPACT software?,
I
suppose I could also xmodem the data via RS-232, what seems to be the
best method?

If you've encountered this problem before, know of a better solution OR
(most importantly) could point me to relevent documentation, it would
be
appreciated.

Thanks,

Ed