Hi,
I am considering buying this board for a project, however, the project requires a stand-alone mode of operation. My question is whether the FPGA config file needs to be loaded in by USB every time the board is powered up? So does it require the presence of a PC in order to power-cycle the board? Also, is there a firmware routine that allows the PC to replace the contents of the serial EEPROM? If so, can I load arbitrary code and later restore the standard code?
cheers,
Nick
Hi Nick-
The XEM3010-1500P includes a Xilinx Platform Flash device that can be setup to program the FPGA on power-up. The XEM3001 does not.
There is nothing to prevent you from programming the firmware EEPROM on the device. However, we do not support it; you do so at your own risk. It is fairly easy to corrupt contents of the EEPROM and require external programming. If it needs to be sent back to us to be reprogrammed, we charge a fee for doing so.
Thanks for the advice. I particularly like the XEM3001 for a number of reasons, so I’m wondering if it would be possible for me to add my own platform flash device (on another PCB) via the external pins?
cheers,
Nick
Without getting into the details, this would be very difficult to do; it cannot be done using only external pins.