It’s finally here! The Bus Blaster v2 JTAG debugger is now in stock and shipping at Seeed Studio.
Read the full hardware design article
There’s a ton of JTAG debuggers out there, what makes the Bus Blaster v2 so special? V2 has a reprogrammable logic chip (CPLD) that sits between the FT2232H USB chip and the JTAG output header. The pinout and buffer logic can be updated on the fly.
Have an app that’s only compatible with a simple JTAGkey-type debugger? Program the JTAGkey buffer logic. Want to try the proposed Serial Wide Debug support in OpenOCD and urJTAG? Program the KT-link-type buffer. If a new programmer type becomes popular, we can release new buffer logic for it too.
The design is so flexible and fun, we can’t believe it wasn’t the standard FT2232 JTAG debugger design already. It’s a JTAG debugger that can clone many other debuggers, and it’s an all-in-one CPLD development board. And it’s cheap!
A patch that supports v2’s self-programming feature was accepted by urJTAG and will be included in the next release. Until then, we have a patched nightly compile that can be used to switch buffer logic.
At a glance:
- Based on FT2232H with high-speed USB 2.0
- Buffered interface works with 3.3volt to 1.2volt targets
- Reprogrammable buffer is compatible with multiple debugger types
- Compatible with ‘jtagkey’, ‘KT-link’ programmer settings in OpenOCD, urJTAG, and more
- Should support Serial Wire Debug when available
- Mini-CPLD development board: self programmable, extra CPLD pins to header
- Open source (CC-BY-SA)
The Bus Blaster is used to program and debug devices with a JTAG interface like ARM processors, CPLDs, flash memory, and more.
A FT2232H USB chip gives us two high-speed JTAG interfaces. The 16 pins of the primary interface are connected to a CoolRunner-II CPLD. The CPLD is a programmable buffer that translates between the FT2232H at 3.3volts, and a 1.2volt to 3.3volt target.
Many JTAG debuggers use the FT2232 chips, but they have slightly different buffers. The CPLD can be programmed to imitate many of them, so it works out of the box with our favorite open source debugging apps. Updates are done over USB using the second JTAG interface on the FT2232H.
This project was developed in a public forum, and progress was documented on a wiki.
Resources
You can get a Bus Blaster v2 for $34.95 only at Seeed Studio.
Ordering :D
I been waiting for this one, I think it will come in very useful.
JP4 is not for 1.8 volt ! but 3.3V (refering to the picture)
Thanks! You’re right, I’ll update the diagram.
Ordered one too, I’ve been waiting for this one :)
Jan
anyone know if out of the box it supports an altera usb-blaster for programming cplds/fpgas?
(like a variant b: http://ixo-jtag.sourceforge.net/archive/ixo_de_usb_jtag.html )
It doesn’t emulate the Altera USB-Blaster, at least not yet. I think the altera IDE requires the Cypress chip and downloads a firmware, but I’ve not really looked into it.
Bus Blaster is designed for OpenOCD, urJTAG, lidSWD, and other open source apps. It can be used directly from the Xilinx IDE via a special FT2232 driver under linux, maybe there is something similar to that for Altera?
The original Altera USB-Blaster uses an FT245BM chip and an CPLD and the Altera IDE uses the standard FTDI drivers with a different VID en PID.
Also clone makers have emulated the FT245 and CPLD inside the Cypress or SiLabs chip, the link ben gave even haves the VHDL code to program your own CPLD to make an USB-Blaster.
Pics here: http://doggie.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2006-12-17
Thanks for the update. I had only seen the (new I guess?) USB cable with cypress. This might be possible then. I don’t know about the differences with teh FT2232H and FT245, but I can make the CPLD buffer for the Bus Blaster if there is interest.
Could we continue this in the forum if there is interest:
http://dangerousprototypes.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=37
Half of them (i think they were 100) sold in the first 12 hours.. it looks like I wasn’t waiting alone ;)
Thanks one more time!
Been waiting waiting waiting… in the time I bought a Pickit3 from Sparkfun and spent $18 shipping to South Africa and $16.50 when customs looked at the $60 invoice on the huge red Sparkfun box.
That really bit me, so instead end March when RS.co.za was offering free shipping I bought the FTDI, CPLD, Eeprom and crystal for <$16. I need to try my hand at toner transfer for PCB and have never soldered under 0.6mm before – but looking foward to DIY. Need to cut out drinking coffee first, though.
Had a mail from Seeed this morning saying its been shipped, that was quick, now I have to wait on the post :(
Bus Blaster… is that the circuit board from the movie Speed?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/45/Speed_movie_poster.jpg
Mine’s ordered and on the way.