Do old FPGA's decay? - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

1 Dec 2005

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Subject: Re: Do old FPGA's decay?
   From: Brad Parker <brad at heeltoe.com>
   Date: Thu, 01 Dec 2005 07:28:29 -0500
     To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at
classiccmp.org>

"Chuck Guzis" wrote:

But do old FPGA's just quietly go belly-up?  Or is there something about
the XC2064-50 that I'm in the dark about?  Are there any easy tests that I
can apply to confirm my suspicions?   
Doesn't it need to be 'loaded', either via a eeprom or the pcu?

Most older fpga's (I thought) had to be programmed at startup via some
form of bit-serial line.  This is often something like an i2c eeprom
directly attached to the chip.

I have not looked that XC2 datasheet, however. (actually, I'm having trouble
finding one...)

-brad 
I looked up the ISP2064 (lattice) and that is the case.  Also if the mode 
pins are set a differnt way it can parallel load from a common ee/e/rom
or microprocessor.

Allison