Regarding how to monitor the status of FPGA pin in PC using JTAG

Hi

I am having Spartan3AN (XC3S50AN) FPGA board and platform cable USB II with me. Can you Please let me know how to monitor the status of FPGA I/O's in PC via JTAG?

Thanks,
V. Prakash

You need a JTAG boundary scan application for that.
I don't know of a free application for this, but here are some that -might- offer some free trials:
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**
Boundary-Scan (JTAG) test and in-system programming solutions (IEEE 1149.1) - Home
JTAG Boundary Scan Test Products, JTAG In-System Programming, & I2C Bus Analyzers from Corelis

Mind you, this is not a complete list. I advice do do some searching yourself ..

Also have a look here were you find different boundary scan resources:
**broken link removed**

And there is many more information on that to find, just search ....

Marcel Majoor said:

I don't know of a free application for this, but here are some that -might- offer some free trials:

Click to expand...

In the free application category I've had good results with UrJTAG.

Hi mr.flibble,

I had downloaded urjtag-0.10.exe (867.1KB) and the same had been installed. when i open the application, it shows the error as attached.
Please let me know what is the cause for the problem.

Thanks,
V. Prakash

https://obrazki.elektroda.pl/65_1330158573.jpg
https://obrazki.elektroda.pl/77_1330158573.jpg

Have you done what is mentioned on the UrJTag manual??:

2.3.1. Supported host operating systems

JTAG Tools should run on all Unix like operating systems including MS Windows with Cygwin installed.
2.3.2. Required software for running UrJTAG

Required only for MS Windows:

current Cygwin net installation from Cygwin

ioperm package (a part of the standard Cygwin net installation)

It may be necessary to run the command "ioperm -i" to install the IOPERM.SYS driver in the system.

Well, screenshot #1 is a dead giveaway isn't it? libusb is missing, so unmiss it. Do whatever installfest TFM subscribes and then try again.

Chipscope or ISim Hardware Cosimulation should be able to do the job.

Hi,

I had installed the cygwin dll version. but still the same error dialog occurs while opening the UrJTAG application. Many forum results telling that chipscope pro itself will support to monitor the FPGA I/O's in PC. adding just the ILA core in the FPGA HDL design. will it be easy to do this? if yes, what is the procedure to do it using chipscope pro 10.1?

Thanks,
V. Prakash

https://obrazki.elektroda.pl/37_1330321780.png
https://obrazki.elektroda.pl/39_1330321780.jpg

I am reasonably sure that libusb-1.0 doesn't have anything to do per se with cygwin. Put another way: I seriously doubt installing cygwin does magically install libusb. The error message says it cannot find the libusb dll. Are you sure sure that you 1) read the manual and 2) it does not mention installing libusb anywhere?

If that sort of thing is not for you, maybe it makes more sense to use chipscope as jimwu88 suggested.

prakashvenugopal said:

Many forum results telling that chipscope pro itself will support to monitor the FPGA I/O's in PC. adding just the ILA core in the FPGA HDL design. will it be easy to do this? if yes, what is the procedure to do it using chipscope pro 10.1?

Click to expand...

Dunno, that depends on your localized value of "easy". It's not overly complicated IMO.

I found these xilinx vids on chipcope useful:

How to use ChipScope Pro - (Ch 1) - YouTube
How to use ChipScope Pro - (Ch 2) - YouTube
How to use ChipScope Pro - (Ch 3) - YouTube

Personally I prefer to instantiate it instead of using that Automagic Inserter Will Fsck You Up Flow. But just pick whatever method works for you.

good luck!

Hi,

Regarding UrJtag, i will read the complete manual and get back to you. if cygwin not having libusb.dll, is there anything other thing to be installed to unmiss the libusb.dll

Thanks,
V. Prakash

prakashvenugopal said:

Regarding UrJtag, i will read the complete manual and get back to you. if cygwin not having libusb.dll, is there anything other thing to be installed to unmiss the libusb.dll

Click to expand...

Dunno, you tell me. You're the one who's going to read the manual. ;-)

I have only used urjtag under linux, so no need for cygwin there. It did need a recent version of libusb back then. And I am familiar with cygwin on windoze, hence me being reasonably sure libusb is not in there. At least it didn't use to be and I would be seriously surprised if it somehow sneaked it's way in there.

For libusb.dll you'll just have to grab libusb:

libusb-win32

Download libusb-win32 from SourceForge.net

Beware that there are 2 major versions out there. libusb-0.1 and libusb-1.0. I don't know which version ... *takes look at local binary* ... okay, my linux version uses libusb-0.1. And I see on your screenshot it whines about libusb0.dll so I would guess that you need libusb-0.1.

Which means the links I gave you are the correct ones.

"libusb-win32 is a port of the USB library libusb 0.1 ..."

Yes, it is pretty straightforward to use Chipscope cores. You need to use the ICON and ILA core. I don't know of tutorials for version 10.1, but you can check out the tutorial for 13.1 below. It hasn't changed all that much.

ChipScope Pro - 13.1 Tutorials

prakashvenugopal said:

Hi,

I had installed the cygwin dll version. but still the same error dialog occurs while opening the UrJTAG application. Many forum results telling that chipscope pro itself will support to monitor the FPGA I/O's in PC. adding just the ILA core in the FPGA HDL design. will it be easy to do this? if yes, what is the procedure to do it using chipscope pro 10.1?

Thanks,
V. Prakash

https://obrazki.elektroda.pl/37_1330321780.png
https://obrazki.elektroda.pl/39_1330321780.jpg

Click to expand...