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The New 16-Cog, 512KB, 64 analog I/O Propeller Chip - Page 75 — Parallax Forums

The New 16-Cog, 512KB, 64 analog I/O Propeller Chip

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Comments

  • Dave HeinDave Hein Posts: 6,347
    edited 2014-11-12 06:01
    There are only 42 days until Christmas.
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2014-11-12 06:30
    Dave Hein wrote: »
    There are only 42 days until Christmas.

    I'm thinking we should start adding some other items to our Christmas lists so our trees don't look so barre come December 25th! :frown:
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2014-11-12 09:12
    Yes, I fear there is not going to be Chipmas again this year.

    Perhaps if we are very, very good we might get a surprise treat of a P2 FPGA configuration.
  • Dave HeinDave Hein Posts: 6,347
    edited 2014-11-12 09:57
    A couple of months ago Ken said that we "could hope for an FPGA image by Christmas". So I'm hoping for a P2 FPGA image sometime in the next 6 weeks.
  • ozpropdevozpropdev Posts: 2,792
    edited 2014-11-12 19:29
    All I want for Chipmas is lots of 1's and 0's arranged as a P2 FPGA image nicely gift wrapped in a .jic or .sof package.
    And I've tried to be a good boy this year, so a Parallax Cyclone V FPGA board would be cool too!
    This would help to illuminate my favourite chipmas light. :lol:
    success.jpg
    326 x 68 - 8K
  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,133
    edited 2014-11-13 08:17
    Hey, Everyone!

    I've been away for a while now, getting the schematic for the full-custom part of the chip done, avoiding any distractions. It's almost ready. I've got to test the complete I/O pin and then make sure the crystal pads and BOE/reset pads are in final order.

    I've wanted to come check out the forum for a week, though I've been a little afraid to. I'm happy to see you guys are still around! You've got faith!

    My goal now is to have all schematic-side work done by the end of this month. Then, I'll be back on the Verilog and hopefully producing FPGA images routinely.

    Daniel, at Parallax, has finished our Cyclone V -A7 circuit board and it should be getting fab'd now. We'll have to make sure it's all good before we produce it, though.

    This Prop2 project has been feeling like the movie Groundhog Day. Hopefully, this cycle will be broken in the next few months.

    Thanks for your patience, Everyone.
  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,511
    edited 2014-11-13 08:28
    cgracey wrote: »
    Hey, Everyone!

    I've been away for a while now, getting the schematic for the full-custom part of the chip done, avoiding any distractions. It's almost ready. I've got to test the complete I/O pin and then make sure the crystal pads and BOE/reset pads are in final order.

    I've wanted to come check out the forum for a week, though I've been a little afraid to. I'm happy to see you guys are still around! You've got faith!

    My goal now is to have all schematic-side work done by the end of this month. Then, I'll be back on the Verilog and hopefully producing FPGA images routinely.
    That sounds great! I suppose this effort with the full-custom part of the chip was slowed down because Beau left?
    Daniel, at Parallax, has finished our Cyclone V -A7 circuit board and it should be getting fab'd now. We'll have to make sure it's all good before we produce it, though.
    There was a description of this board posted on the Parallax web site but it didn't mention any SDRAM on board. Will there be one?
    This Prop2 project has been feeling like the movie Groundhog Day. Hopefully, this cycle will be broken in the next few months.

    Thanks for your patience, Everyone.
    I think we're all having fun doing other Propeller projects while we wait. :-)
  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,133
    edited 2014-11-13 08:41
    David Betz wrote: »
    That sounds great! I suppose this effort with the full-custom part of the chip was slowed down because Beau left?

    There was a description of this board posted on the Parallax web site but it didn't mention any SDRAM on board. Will there be one?

    I think we're all having fun doing other Propeller projects while we wait. :-)

    This is work that I would have to do, even if Beau was here. It was a problem that I couldn't feed him this work fast enough. Now, we'll spool it all up and deliver it to a layout contractor.

    Our -A7 board has a slot connector into which different kinds of simple memory-chip boards can be plugged. We knew we'd need both SDRAM and DDRx memory types, and we didn't have enough pins for everything. That slot has some signals which allow the VDD to be set to whatever is needed for the particular memory chip.

    I'm happy that you guys are still busy and looking forward to Prop2!
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2014-11-13 10:41
    Oh Chip, yes, there as been all kinds of development going on out here with web based IDEs for Propellers, web based oscilloscopes for Propellers, programming Propellers from Chrome books. All kind of weird stuff. All useful for the P2 as well.
  • Bill HenningBill Henning Posts: 6,445
    edited 2014-11-13 11:20
    Thanks for the update Chip!

    Looking forward to an image for my DE2-115... but I think wifey would prefer that no such image was available until January :-(

    (She has this funny idea that xmas is for family, NOT for playing with FPGA's! Imagine that!)
    cgracey wrote: »
    Hey, Everyone!

    I've been away for a while now, getting the schematic for the full-custom part of the chip done, avoiding any distractions. It's almost ready. I've got to test the complete I/O pin and then make sure the crystal pads and BOE/reset pads are in final order.

    I've wanted to come check out the forum for a week, though I've been a little afraid to. I'm happy to see you guys are still around! You've got faith!

    My goal now is to have all schematic-side work done by the end of this month. Then, I'll be back on the Verilog and hopefully producing FPGA images routinely.

    Daniel, at Parallax, has finished our Cyclone V -A7 circuit board and it should be getting fab'd now. We'll have to make sure it's all good before we produce it, though.

    This Prop2 project has been feeling like the movie Groundhog Day. Hopefully, this cycle will be broken in the next few months.

    Thanks for your patience, Everyone.
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2014-11-13 13:10
    FPGA's *ARE* like family!

    They're fun to have around, they are entertaining, you can learn from them, they cost a lot of money, they grow up and marry lazy.......


    OK, maybe they are like some people's families! :lol:
  • BaggersBaggers Posts: 3,019
    edited 2014-11-13 15:12
    Great news Chip, looking forward to the next FPGA image :D will wait as long as it takes. no rush!
  • TubularTubular Posts: 4,646
    edited 2014-11-13 15:48
    That memory slot connector is a neat solution, offers good futureproofing, not to mention other high speed accessories
  • ozpropdevozpropdev Posts: 2,792
    edited 2014-11-13 16:25
    Thanks for the update Chip.
    A bunch of us down under are busy tinkering with the Propeller Verilog and our FPGA boards.
    This Prop2 project has been feeling like the movie Groundhog Day

    I prefer to think of it as "Every day is Propeller Day " :)

    Cheers
    Brian

    P.S. Nice to see "Fozzie Bear" pop up on the forum. :lol:
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,155
    edited 2014-11-13 16:36
    cgracey wrote: »
    Daniel, at Parallax, has finished our Cyclone V -A7 circuit board and it should be getting fab'd now. We'll have to make sure it's all good before we produce it, though.

    Given that A7 FPGA Board has 40 pin headers already, it would be nice if the final production release included mounting holes and compatible pinouts to "HAT (Hardware Attached on Top) add-on board"
    ( see http://www.raspi.today/raspberry-pi-model-a-plus-out-now/ )
  • Bill HenningBill Henning Posts: 6,445
    edited 2014-11-13 17:00
    I hope it is NOT compatible.

    Have you seen how arbitrary that pinout is???

    http://pi4j.com/pins/model-b-plus.html

    I'll take a nice logical pinout instead.

    Don't get me wrong - I like my Pi's of all the assorted flavors (obviously, as I design add-on boards for Pi's) - but that does not mean I have to like the ordering of the pins on their header.

    I'd prefer the same pinout as the Nano, or Quickstart for the Parallax FPGA board.
    jmg wrote: »
    Given that A7 FPGA Board has 40 pin headers already, it would be nice if the final production release included mounting holes and compatible pinouts to "HAT (Hardware Attached on Top) add-on board"
    ( see http://www.raspi.today/raspberry-pi-model-a-plus-out-now/ )
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,069
    edited 2014-11-13 18:02
    Thanks for the update Chip. As heater and others have said, still plenty of other things to do.
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,155
    edited 2014-11-13 18:21
    I hope it is NOT compatible.

    Have you seen how arbitrary that pinout is???

    http://pi4j.com/pins/model-b-plus.html

    To a FPGA that is not too bad, only GND / VCC are firmly defined.
    I'd prefer the same pinout as the Nano, or Quickstart for the Parallax FPGA board.

    Given there is more than one 40 pin header on the FPGA board, I can see that both can be supported :)
  • ColeyColey Posts: 1,108
    edited 2014-11-14 07:43
    Hi Chip,

    Thanks for the update.

    Are you still planning to support the DE2-115 and DE0 for those of us who made a significant investment already?

    Regards,

    Coley

    cgracey wrote: »
    Hey, Everyone!

    I've been away for a while now, getting the schematic for the full-custom part of the chip done, avoiding any distractions. It's almost ready. I've got to test the complete I/O pin and then make sure the crystal pads and BOE/reset pads are in final order.

    I've wanted to come check out the forum for a week, though I've been a little afraid to. I'm happy to see you guys are still around! You've got faith!

    My goal now is to have all schematic-side work done by the end of this month. Then, I'll be back on the Verilog and hopefully producing FPGA images routinely.

    Daniel, at Parallax, has finished our Cyclone V -A7 circuit board and it should be getting fab'd now. We'll have to make sure it's all good before we produce it, though.

    This Prop2 project has been feeling like the movie Groundhog Day. Hopefully, this cycle will be broken in the next few months.

    Thanks for your patience, Everyone.
  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,133
    edited 2014-11-14 09:45
    Coley wrote: »
    Hi Chip,

    Thanks for the update.

    Are you still planning to support the DE2-115 and DE0 for those of us who made a significant investment already?

    Regards,

    Coley


    Of course! I did mean to give an impression otherwise. I'm just excited that we'll have a platform that is optimal for what we're up to. I'll keep making FPGA images for the other three boards that we are currently supporting.
  • ColeyColey Posts: 1,108
    edited 2014-11-14 10:42
    cgracey wrote: »
    Of course! I did mean to give an impression otherwise. I'm just excited that we'll have a platform that is optimal for what we're up to. I'll keep making FPGA images for the other three boards that we are currently supporting.

    That's great!
    I did think that was the case but just wanted to be certain after you mentioned the Parallax Cyclone board.

    Looking forward to the next release with much anticipation ;-)
  • Peter JakackiPeter Jakacki Posts: 10,193
    edited 2014-11-14 17:35
    cgracey wrote: »
    Hey, Everyone!

    I've been away for a while now, getting the schematic for the full-custom part of the chip done, avoiding any distractions. It's almost ready. I've got to test the complete I/O pin and then make sure the crystal pads and BOE/reset pads are in final order.

    I've wanted to come check out the forum for a week, though I've been a little afraid to. I'm happy to see you guys are still around! You've got faith!

    My goal now is to have all schematic-side work done by the end of this month. Then, I'll be back on the Verilog and hopefully producing FPGA images routinely.

    Daniel, at Parallax, has finished our Cyclone V -A7 circuit board and it should be getting fab'd now. We'll have to make sure it's all good before we produce it, though.

    This Prop2 project has been feeling like the movie Groundhog Day. Hopefully, this cycle will be broken in the next few months.

    Thanks for your patience, Everyone.

    Thanks Chip, sounds positive, faith is based on substance and we have seen what you can do and are doing!
    Will the new FPGA board be able to emulate the A/D pin functions? What are we limited to with this board and the older FPGAs?
  • Ken GraceyKen Gracey Posts: 7,387
    edited 2014-11-14 19:40
    Thanks Chip, sounds positive, faith is based on substance and we have seen what you can do and are doing!
    Will the new FPGA board be able to emulate the A/D pin functions? What are we limited to with this board and the older FPGAs?

    Early in the spec I had requested that we put an A/D converter on the FPGA board but unfortunately it didn't make it into the design. However, there's a connector that can be used for an external A/D. My thoughts are that with a simple object swap you could be doing near-full prototyping with an external A/D while we continue to develop the internal A/D on P2.
  • Bill HenningBill Henning Posts: 6,445
    edited 2014-11-16 18:03
    Perhaps an external parallel A/D module?

    The problem with using a standard SPI ADC is that its performance will be very poor compared to what the Prop2 will be capable of, as from what I read before, the P2 will be able to sample at rather high rates if you limit the resolution.

    Having said that, something like an ADS72822P can trade bits/for speed in a similar fashion to how a P2 ADC input may work, so it may be worth a look.
    Ken Gracey wrote: »
    Early in the spec I had requested that we put an A/D converter on the FPGA board but unfortunately it didn't make it into the design. However, there's a connector that can be used for an external A/D. My thoughts are that with a simple object swap you could be doing near-full prototyping with an external A/D while we continue to develop the internal A/D on P2.
  • Ken GraceyKen Gracey Posts: 7,387
    edited 2014-11-16 18:35
    Perhaps an external parallel A/D module?

    The problem with using a standard SPI ADC is that its performance will be very poor compared to what the Prop2 will be capable of, as from what I read before, the P2 will be able to sample at rather high rates if you limit the resolution.

    Having said that, something like an ADS72822P can trade bits/for speed in a similar fashion to how a P2 ADC input may work, so it may be worth a look.

    Yeah, I understand the limitations. The thing is, we want to sell lots of chips. Anything that gives our customers a serious headstart in their product development process will help us recover our investment.

    An external parallel A/D module is a good idea and I'll get it started internally. Got a favorite or recommended A/D for this add-on?

    Ken Gracey
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,155
    edited 2014-11-16 20:37
    Ken Gracey wrote: »
    An external parallel A/D module is a good idea and I'll get it started internally. Got a favorite or recommended A/D for this add-on?

    That depends a little on
    * how fast the P2 ADC is expected to operate
    * The parallel interface choices & speeds ? - Chip did talk about having the fast-video-streaming work in a choice of either direction ? (ie camera / ADC capture, as well as Video /LCD out optionally via CLUT )

    I see Microchip now have 200MSPS ADCs, at the more serious performance end
    http://www.microchipdirect.com/Chart.aspx?branchId=20161&mid=11&treeid=2&lmid=20161
  • Peter JakackiPeter Jakacki Posts: 10,193
    edited 2014-11-16 21:11
    jmg wrote: »
    That depends a little on
    * how fast the P2 ADC is expected to operate
    * The parallel interface choices & speeds ? - Chip did talk about having the fast-video-streaming work in a choice of either direction ? (ie camera / ADC capture, as well as Video /LCD out optionally via CLUT )

    I see Microchip now have 200MSPS ADCs, at the more serious performance end
    http://www.microchipdirect.com/Chart.aspx?branchId=20161&mid=11&treeid=2&lmid=20161

    That one looks good for starters but I basically have the same questions as you in that I would want an ADC that matches the P2 as much as we can. The price of the ADC is unimportant for evaluation purposes but these parts still look reasonably priced. We would have to allow for multiple devices on the board though as 8 channels might not be enough. I don't know if the tight packaging is going to be a problem for layout.
  • evanhevanh Posts: 15,340
    edited 2014-11-16 23:20
    AFAIK, the built-in Prop2 ADCs are single-order bit-streaming only. A counter is required to capture samples. They can't go all that fast unless you just want 4-bit resolution or similar. Should be okay for audio though. Anything else is too bulky.
  • ErNaErNa Posts: 1,743
    edited 2014-11-16 23:33
    Why not use a propeller as analog front end? that would allow up do 16 ADC channels, if data is not read out ;-)
  • Bill HenningBill Henning Posts: 6,445
    edited 2014-11-17 09:32
    I think the following SAR ADC should actually be fairly similar to what Chip has talked about for the P2:

    http://www.analog.com/en/analog-to-digital-converters/ad-converters/ad7641/products/product.html

    With a bit of FPGA magic, it may be possible to make it look like the final ADC's.

    It is capable of 18 bits at up to 2Msps.

    If the real P2 will be able to do better than 2Msps, the following parallel ADC's may be helpful:

    2oMsps AD9200ARSZAD9200ARSZ
    10Msps LTC1420CGN
    10Msps LTC2225IUH#TRPBF

    There are many others.
    Ken Gracey wrote: »
    Yeah, I understand the limitations. The thing is, we want to sell lots of chips. Anything that gives our customers a serious headstart in their product development process will help us recover our investment.

    An external parallel A/D module is a good idea and I'll get it started internally. Got a favorite or recommended A/D for this add-on?

    Ken Gracey
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