31 Oct
2001
31 Oct
'01
4:39 a.m.
Chuck McManis wrote:
At 08:15 AM 10/31/01, Ben wrote:
Classic Computers??? From where? I am still grumbling that I could not
get
front panel interface on my fpga. I refuse to have a CPU to boot my CPU.
(Note hidden cpu's in HD's count too.) I want to hit reset and have the
CPU load from bootstrap device regardless of main memory. This is the
way I
have the FPGA set up, boot strap from the serial port.In fact if I had a
PROM bootstrap I would have not worked with my system as wire was broke
in the
middle between the FPGA and memory, and took forever to debug as a data
bit would float.
That is true there is baggage.My two gripes today
are
1) No bootstrapping a minimal system in hardware & software - you need
everything to run.
Take a page from Classic computers as I did and put a dedicated "console
processor" on the front of your FPGA. I've got a board for doing a "soft"
robot CPU that I hope to get to after BattleBots that has a PIC chip (small
single chip MCU) as the console processor. It loads the main CPU from
either serial EEPROM or from a serial line into the FPGA on power up,
sequences the power, and provides the diagnostic interface when things go
strangely.
Why use a eprom and counter when you can use 50 million transistors.:)
Only after the fpga works 100% will I burn a prom, as the PC --> FPGA is
good way to test the system.
Ben Franchuk.
BTW the prom for the FPGA is 512k bits or 64KB. I have a whopping 32K of
memory and will use 8k for a OS leaving 24k for programs. Some how a
FPGA config prom bigger than my basic system hints how big is normal
for everything.
--
Standard Disclaimer : 97% speculation 2% bad grammar 1% facts.
"Pre-historic Cpu's" http://www.jetnet.ab.ca/users/bfranchuk
Now with schematics.