A new dimension in Propeller marriages: pPropFPGA
Ale
Posts: 2,363
Hei everyone, I have been hard at (some) work and made one nice new marriage of a propeller and a FPGA:
Spartan3 XC3S200 FPGA, tqfp144
+ 16 bit SDRAM (Up to 32 MBytes)
+ VGA connector (4:4:4 RGB + sync)
+ JTAG for FPGA programming
+ Platform Flash (2 Mbit)
+ 2x2x20 2mm headers as expansion
+ uSD card
+ 2 Oscillators (50 & 32 Mhz fitted)
Propeller
+ uSD card (shared with FPGA)
+ PS/2 connector (for kbd & mouse)
+ FT232 & USB with reset circuit (works!)
+ 16 pins are connected to the FPGA including the 4 in uSD slot
3.3, 2.5 & 1.25 V Regulators (work!)
100x80 mm double sided board
here are some fotos of the unfinished board, only FPGA, Platform flash and needed regulators are there.
It works so far !!
I hope you enjoy
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Visit some of my articles at Propeller Wiki:
MATH on the propeller propeller.wikispaces.com/MATH
pPropQL: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL
pPropQL020: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL020
OMU for the pPropQL/020 propeller.wikispaces.com/OMU
Post Edited (Ale) : 2/3/2010 2:46:34 PM GMT
Spartan3 XC3S200 FPGA, tqfp144
+ 16 bit SDRAM (Up to 32 MBytes)
+ VGA connector (4:4:4 RGB + sync)
+ JTAG for FPGA programming
+ Platform Flash (2 Mbit)
+ 2x2x20 2mm headers as expansion
+ uSD card
+ 2 Oscillators (50 & 32 Mhz fitted)
Propeller
+ uSD card (shared with FPGA)
+ PS/2 connector (for kbd & mouse)
+ FT232 & USB with reset circuit (works!)
+ 16 pins are connected to the FPGA including the 4 in uSD slot
3.3, 2.5 & 1.25 V Regulators (work!)
100x80 mm double sided board
here are some fotos of the unfinished board, only FPGA, Platform flash and needed regulators are there.
It works so far !!
I hope you enjoy
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Visit some of my articles at Propeller Wiki:
MATH on the propeller propeller.wikispaces.com/MATH
pPropQL: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL
pPropQL020: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL020
OMU for the pPropQL/020 propeller.wikispaces.com/OMU
Post Edited (Ale) : 2/3/2010 2:46:34 PM GMT
Comments
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Visit some of my articles at Propeller Wiki:
MATH on the propeller propeller.wikispaces.com/MATH
pPropQL: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL
pPropQL020: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL020
OMU for the pPropQL/020 propeller.wikispaces.com/OMU
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Life may be "too short", but it's the longest thing we ever do.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
For me, the past is not over yet.
I am looking forward to see what you can do with this
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Links to other interesting threads:
· Home of the MultiBladeProps: TriBlade,·RamBlade,·SixBlade, website
· Single Board Computer:·3 Propeller ICs·and a·TriBladeProp board (ZiCog Z80 Emulator)
· Prop Tools under Development or Completed (Index)
· Emulators: CPUs Z80 etc; Micros Altair etc;· Terminals·VT100 etc; (Index) ZiCog (Z80) , MoCog (6809)·
· Prop OS: SphinxOS·, PropDos , PropCmd··· Search the Propeller forums·(uses advanced Google search)
My cruising website is: ·www.bluemagic.biz·· MultiBlade Props: www.cluso.bluemagic.biz
wouldn't you just·put a Z80 core into the big beasty, and use the Prop as the periferals ???
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Style and grace : Nil point
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
My head is pasming!
I'm also looking forward to what can be done
Z80: I think a soft core fits, but no idea.
DIP prop: well, I have only DIP Props and many boards so I just plug them where I need when I go from one project to the next
Yerba Mate: Yes, what is inside the mate (the container that has the straw) is yerba mate. You only see the container and the straw in the picture.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Visit some of my articles at Propeller Wiki:
MATH on the propeller propeller.wikispaces.com/MATH
pPropQL: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL
pPropQL020: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL020
OMU for the pPropQL/020 propeller.wikispaces.com/OMU
BUT whilst doing that I found the ZPU processor core from ZyLin. The smallest 32 bit CPU core in the world and it has a GCC tool chain to go with it so can be programmed in C easily. That will surely fit on this board.
Then I started thinking... Wait a minute, the ZPU only has a handful of simple op codes and they are all byte wide. Instead of implementing ZPU in FPGA we can write, wait for it... a PASM emulator of the ZPU to run on the Prop. It's a perfect match for all those "xxxBlade" designs we have around now.
A ZPU emulator in PASM would bring the wonderful world of the GCC compiler to the Prop with the tantalizing possibility of getting the Prop to run Linux !
Sorry for getting a bit off topic but you have accidentally sent me off on a whole new line of research.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
For me, the past is not over yet.
As I so often say, at home, "Yes Dear", sigh.
Tomorrow the World !!!
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Style and grace : Nil point
A Z80 will fit in that device, and several suitable implementations are available on OpenCores . I haven't tried it myself, but I have tried a 6809 soft core on the same S3 chip, with VGA output and keyboard input, running one of the standard 6809 monitor programs. I actually used one of the Digilent boards - they start at $109 and could be easily interfaced to a Propeller, as they have plenty of I/O. I think that it has everything on Ale's board:
www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,400,799&Prod=S3BOARD
Leon
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Amateur radio callsign: G1HSM
Post Edited (Leon) : 2/2/2010 6:32:23 PM GMT
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Links to other interesting threads:
· Home of the MultiBladeProps: TriBlade,·RamBlade,·SixBlade, website
· Single Board Computer:·3 Propeller ICs·and a·TriBladeProp board (ZiCog Z80 Emulator)
· Prop Tools under Development or Completed (Index)
· Emulators: CPUs Z80 etc; Micros Altair etc;· Terminals·VT100 etc; (Index) ZiCog (Z80) , MoCog (6809)·
· Prop OS: SphinxOS·, PropDos , PropCmd··· Search the Propeller forums·(uses advanced Google search)
My cruising website is: ·www.bluemagic.biz·· MultiBlade Props: www.cluso.bluemagic.biz
Oops I also meant to say Ale that's very cool, I also can not believe how clean and uncluttered your work area is who do you send your board to have made?
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Style and grace : Nil point
The board was sent to HAKA (Germany) I got 5 pcs. for 57€ shipped. Not bad a deal.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Visit some of my articles at Propeller Wiki:
MATH on the propeller propeller.wikispaces.com/MATH
pPropQL: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL
pPropQL020: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL020
OMU for the pPropQL/020 propeller.wikispaces.com/OMU
How much SDRAM? 4Mx16? 8Mx16?
Do all the Prop pins go into the FPGA?
Let me know how much they are when you start selling them... well done.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
www.mikronauts.com E-mail: mikronauts _at_ gmail _dot_ com 5.0" VGA LCD in stock!
Morpheus dual Prop SBC w/ 512KB kit $119.95, Mem+2MB memory/IO kit $89.95, both kits $189.95 SerPlug $9.95
Propteus and Proteus for Propeller prototyping 6.250MHz custom Crystals run Propellers at 100MHz
Las - Large model assembler Largos - upcoming nano operating system
Nutson had a few instruction cog running in an Altera FPGA.
But I found other things to do with the prop, so I have not touched my fpga in over a year.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Links to other interesting threads:
· Home of the MultiBladeProps: TriBlade,·RamBlade,·SixBlade, website
· Single Board Computer:·3 Propeller ICs·and a·TriBladeProp board (ZiCog Z80 Emulator)
· Prop Tools under Development or Completed (Index)
· Emulators: CPUs Z80 etc; Micros Altair etc;· Terminals·VT100 etc; (Index) ZiCog (Z80) , MoCog (6809)·
· Prop OS: SphinxOS·, PropDos , PropCmd··· Search the Propeller forums·(uses advanced Google search)
My cruising website is: ·www.bluemagic.biz·· MultiBlade Props: www.cluso.bluemagic.biz
I made a simple 640x480 generator (still without SDRAM) and the result is in the first post. I soldered most remaining components except for the SDRAM and all seem to work as expected. The pixel clock is 32 MHz so the vertical should be somewhere in the 70 Hz range.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Visit some of my articles at Propeller Wiki:
MATH on the propeller propeller.wikispaces.com/MATH
pPropQL: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL
pPropQL020: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL020
OMU for the pPropQL/020 propeller.wikispaces.com/OMU
Rich
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Visit some of my articles at Propeller Wiki:
MATH on the propeller propeller.wikispaces.com/MATH
pPropQL: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL
pPropQL020: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL020
OMU for the pPropQL/020 propeller.wikispaces.com/OMU
pPropellerSim - A propeller simulator for ASM development sourceforge.net/projects/ppropellersim
is usually not very attractive ... but there is plenty of time and could be very successful.
The kinds of things that you would ordinarily just throw away -- might be where the gold is[noparse]:)[/noparse]
This isn't the sort of offering that you could normally do by yourself... unless you stopped doing something more important. (Sort of like trading rocket science for bicycle building. Normally, not a good choice) So, you could use some help. Hopefully, if we can all keep your thread active, you will get it[noparse]:)[/noparse]
Rich
Sorry, I didn´t see this thread before (thought).
Early I'll post a new thread for propeller plus a CPLD too... I've still haven´t enough time to get all the pictures and to write some comments.
Have you more pictures of your board working ? I hope more powerfull graphics from you
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Regards.
Alberto.
http://www.fpgaarcade.com/games.htm