majolsurf.net

Welcome to majolsurf.net, the original home of the Amani64! By now your instructor has introduced you to your development platform for this semester, the Amani GTX.

The Amani GTX is a rapid-prototyping tool based on programmable-logic technology. At its core is the Altera MAXII EPM240 CPLD. As you progress through the class you will become more familiar with programmable logic, CPLD’s, and FPGA’s, and their myriad of applications.

The Amani GTX, along with its predecessors the 64 and GT, was designed to interface with the popular Arduino, , an AVR-based microcontroller platform that you will become familiar with as you progress through your studies. The Amani line was also designed to interface with the Digilent PMOD Interface Boards, application-specific I/O modules featuring Ethernet, WiFi, SC Cards, Joysticks, and more!

The Amani GTX also brings two new features to the Amani line of development tools. The first being integrated USB-based JTAG In-System Programming. The second feature includes an embedded Microchip PIC microcontroller for added functionality. With it you can create a USB-based UART to the CPLD, an embedded controller that interfaces via I2C, or something completely of your own creation.

Follow this link to pre-order your Amani GTX laboratory kit for this semester. Included in the kit is the MODsevseg, featuring a four-digit seven-segment display as well as four push-buttons for a user-interface to your Amani GTX. The kits are not yet available, so this is pre-order only.

Good luck this semester!

-Eric
www.amani64.com

Bring-up on the bitJTAG ISP Programmer and MCU Development Kit was successful!

Using the PicKit3 and a modified version of the USB-Blaster firmware by Satoshi of SA89A.net, (no, not the inventor of Bitcoin), the bitJTAG was programmed successfully and tested versus various Amani CPLD Shields and firmwares.

The bitJTAG can also be used as a PIC18F14K50 development kit. Get started programming USB by going through the exercises in the Low Pin Count USB Development Kit Guide with the bitJTAG development kit. Then reload the JTAG firmware and continue your Altera CPLD and FPGA development.

The bitJTAG is currently in Beta test and is available here. Design files and firmware posted very soon.

Integrated JTAG for the Amani is underway! The AmaniGT will soon be offered as the AmaniGTX, featuring on-board USB-based JTAG programming and a virtual com-port for back-ground debugging and communications.

Based on Microchip’s PIC18F14K50, the single-chip solution offers multiple advantages over the standard FT245RL and CPLD JTAG programmer approach. Material cost and real estate reduction means that the USB-based PIC can easily be integrated onto the Amani itself, emulate the FT245, and serve as the JTAG interface to Quartus II. Should the user choose, an alternate TAP controller can be written to pass SVF’s generated by Quartus.

Seen below is the USB-Blaster being emulated by the Microchip’s Low Pin Count USB Development Kit.

In parallel a new external PIC-based JTAG programming solution will be offered in the form of the traditional dongle. This dongle will not only be able to program your Amani but can serve as a PIC18F14K50 development tool. The prototype is set to arrive this weekend, stay tuned for details.

Darrell Lynn Cahail of Sacramento State University submitted this photo of the Amani GT being deployed on a breadboard in the Logic Design Laboratory. The inventive seating of the Amani offsets the board such that connectors PB and PD hang over the edge while PC and Power remain on board. Due to the unfortunate spacing between PB and PD on the Arduino all shields must conform to this spacing-standard.

Whether this spacing was intentional, for possible keying purposes, or an accident is debatable. It should serve as a lesson for designers in all fields that flaws in successful initial releases that see successful deployments not only must have said flaws maintained in later revisions but potentially will become a standard. This flaw then becomes a design constraint that will only be relieved when the design is retired. Given the industry that has been built upon the back of the Arduino, we all must learn to embrace 0.16″.

So, that being said, don’t try to mash your Amani onto a breadboard…. follow Darrell’s example.

It’s always nice to see Amani’s in use. It’s a bonus when they’re being used as part of an innovative process.

Cliff of Disappearing Staircase demonstrates how he programmed his Amani64 via a the Bus Pirate JTAG XSVF player by Dangerous Prototypes.

How does this differ from the USBoomer or USB-Blaster JTAG programmer? As described at Dangerous Prototypes:

SVF (no X) is a common programming format used in manufacturing. It’s a human-readable list of JTAG instructions that program a chip. The programmer doesn’t actually know anything about the target device, the SVF file just tells it what JTAG instructions to execute and the reply to expect. SVF is used with many devices, but is most commonly used with FPGAs, CPLDs, and other programmable logic. The compilers for many different chips can output a SVF file. XSVF is a compressed version of SVF that works better with small devices.

This demonstration opens up a new avenue for affordable JTAG programming for the Amani series. While similar dongles could be created and sold on the cheap, the most significant take away here is that the Arduino itself can be used to program the Amani it carries. This eliminates the cost of JTAG programming for the user.

Attempts over the last year to get the Arduino Duemilinove to emulate the USB-Blaster have shown limited progress. This is largely due to the Duemilinove using the FT2323, and not the FT245RL as used by the USB-Blaster and required by the Quartus II driver. Perhaps my efforts should have focussed on the UNO, and having the U8 emulate the FT245 interface.

However the SVF approach with external programming software is a desireable solution should the user want to distance themselves from the Quartus II programmer.

Expect alternatives in Amani JTAG programming soon!

A pin map is now available to help Amani users determine connectivity between the Arduino and their Amani product. Pin Map found here.

Use this guide when you are writing an Arduino sketch and need to know how Arduino PIN A on PORT X connects to the seated Amani Shield PIN B on the same port.

The Arduino isn’t the only game in town for microcontroller dev kits. Digilent’s chipKIT MAX32 and UNO32 are 32-bit microcontroller-based development kits in the tradition of the Arduino UNO and MEGA. In fact they use the multi-platform version of the Arduino IDE. These boards share the same footprint as the Duemilinove, UNO, and MEGA. Unfortunately the MEGA footprint in both platforms does not break out the SPI interface on the traditional PB port as seen on the UNO/Duemilinove. As previously discussed, a simulated SPI port can be made on the chipKIT MAX32.

The following video, while taking stylistic liberties, demonstrates how to setup the SPI interface on both the Amani GT and MAX32. Expect a detailed instructional video in the near future.

While the Amani 64 is designed to replace a drawer full of logic chips, irony abounds where using that very drawer of 7400′s could win you an Amani 64 or Amani GT!

Dangerous Prototypes is hosting the Open 7400 Logic Competition, intended to bring awareness to open hardware and software, and foster understanding of the building blocks of modern integrated circuits.

Upon completion of the contest, designers will understand the value of programmable logic-based rapid-prototyping devices like the Amani Logic Shield.

The Amani could find use in the 7400 Competition as well, as a real-world logic-simulation tool. Contestants could test their logic designs on an Amani prior to building the design from 7400 IC’s. Altera’s free Quartus II offers a full compliment of 7400 drop in modules which, when used in the Amani, will behave as the real world devices. Many simulated 7400 devices can be combined and simulated on one programmable logic device.

Contestants can win one of two Amani 64 CPLD Shields, or an Amani GT Shield! Winners will also receive a JTAG programmer with their development kits.

Good luck!

The good news is the Amani series of programmable logic shields are also compatible with Digilent’s chipKIT MAX32 and UNO32 development boards. Unfortunately the SPI bus connections are not readily available to the Amani’s PB connector pins via the MAX32 as they are on the UNO. Even more troubling is the fact that none of the four SPI ports on the MAX32 can provide direct connectivity to the Amani, nor any standard Arduino shield for that matter. I suspect this is as true with the Arduino Mega as it is with the MAX32 given that they share the same layout philosophy. Luckily, Darrell Lynn Cahail, of Sacramento State University, has provided us with solutions.

Read more »

A new product is available in the Amani64 Store! The Amani GT Programmable Logic Shield, fully assembled and tested. The Amani GT is for those designers who need more logic density, speed, I/O, or configurable flash memory. This Amani provides four additional Digilent PMod interfaces than the Amani 64, as well as being able to carry a custom daughter board. The GT comes fully assembled and ready to go!

Amani GT Programmable Logic Shield:
· ALtera EPM240 CPLD
· 240 LE’s
· 3.3V and 5V Device Compatible
· 78 Digital I/O
· Dedicated 64MHz Oscillator
· 300MHz+ Oscillator Option
· 8Kb User Flash Memory
· Arduino Shield Stackable
· Digilent PMod Compatible
· Custom Daughter Card Carrier

The Amani catalog continues to grow!