Dangerous Prototypes Open Source Hardware

PIC firmware for new Verilog "Demon Core" releases

February 07, 2011, 06:22:10 pm

This firmware (v2.6) has a faster PIC->FPGA SPI clock to take advantage of the increased abilities of the new core, code named "Demon core". This will be buggy with the old core, though I have not seen issues with Demon Core.

This also has the important CS bug fix from v2.5 posted in the forum.

Re: PIC firmware for Verilog "new core"

Reply #1 – February 07, 2011, 09:26:32 pm

Small question, is that safe to use with both, the 'verilog' and the 'dogsbody' FPGA bitstreams ?

I just installed the client 0.9.3 and the verilog-5 bitstream and everything works fine with my 2.1 PIC firmware. So I'm hesitating to upgrade (don't want to break stuff).

Re: PIC firmware for Verilog "new core"

Reply #2 – February 07, 2011, 09:45:36 pm

Just tested quickly the "ols_verilog_meta4 + FW2.6 + OLS0.9.3" and all seems to work fine and the capture is faster now, well done.

Re: PIC firmware for Verilog "new core"

Reply #3 – February 07, 2011, 09:47:48 pm

The Verilog fpga bitstream's are mine.  :-)    They should be very safe with a faster SPI clock. 

The original 2.12 fpga will have problems though.  If you wanted to use an older fpga image for some reason, you'd then have to downgrade your PIC firmware beforehand also.
-- IED

Re: PIC firmware for Verilog "new core"

Reply #4 – February 07, 2011, 09:54:25 pm

[quote author="ian"]This firmware (v2.6) has a faster PIC->FPGA SPI clock...[/quote]
Ian, I was thinking...  Since the new fpga version is "3.0", maybe it'd make sense for the matching PIC firmware to be 3.0 also?  Probably be clearer to everyone, especially since the faster SPI clock locks it to the new fpga.
-- IED

Re: PIC firmware for Verilog "new core"

Reply #5 – February 07, 2011, 09:55:09 pm

Sorry about the confusion, they are all the same thing. We don;t have a good nickname for the new core. Verilog/dogsbody/ the new core.

Anyone have suggestions? It would be nice to have something catchy and memorable. I'll add some documentation to the wiki and use the name consistently in posts.

Please do be sure to upgrade to PIC firmware v2.5 (or maybe 2.6 if running the new core), it corrects  pin contention bug.

Re: PIC firmware for Verilog "new core"

Reply #6 – February 07, 2011, 09:58:47 pm

It is the max speed (or minimum divider).  Fosc/4 I think, 12MHz, but I didn't double check in the datasheet just zeroed out the divider bits.

v3.0 sounds good, I'll increment everything. I'd still like a catchy code name :)

Re: PIC firmware for Verilog "new core"

Reply #7 – February 07, 2011, 10:05:13 pm

We'll it's a speed-demon now (at 12Mhz, woo hoo).  How about the "Demon" core?  :-)
-- IED

Re: PIC firmware for new Verilog "Demon Core" releases

Reply #8 – February 07, 2011, 10:12:24 pm

Done :)

Re: PIC firmware for new Verilog "Demon Core" releases

Reply #9 – February 07, 2011, 11:41:35 pm

One more thing: The blog entry 'Alternative Logic Sniffer client v0.9.3' caught my attention and did motivate me to go to the latest version. The blog entry is very nice and contains some links to the various pieces. I still had to hunt down some of them. It would be nice if would contain more or less direct links to all necessary pieces like the upgrade tool, the boot loader, the fpga binary and the client.

But in general, the have been some leaps for the open logic sniffer. It deserves a version 3. And you guys deserve many thanks for your great efforts !

Markus

Re: PIC firmware for new Verilog "Demon Core" releases

Reply #10 – February 08, 2011, 06:25:16 pm

Temporarily, i think it could be a good idea having some threads only for high priviledge users (who will post and update the them), and the rest of users can read.

They i'd place the updates... and all the branches there, with -important- the date. Then there could be a thread called Hardware updates, whith the firmware/FPGA...with the lastest files (links or the file itself), comments, and very important: THE DATE of the release/update. Playing with firmwares the release and the date are important.

But it's important avoid the users comment, they could do in other thread created for that. If they comment with time it will be contaminated with thank-u posts, requesting things, etc...

In fact, at this moment i'm confused with the FPGA versions existent... in my mind there's only 1 thing: firmware lastest version is 2.5.. but the rest... dunno!

It must be temporary at least the things are organized in other way...

Re: PIC firmware for new Verilog "Demon Core" releases

Reply #11 – February 08, 2011, 08:22:36 pm

I've added a table of the current status to the OLS wiki page. This is probably a reasonable place for this information to live. Also, all concerned folks can update the info if appropriate.
http://http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Open_Bench_Logic_Sniffer#Software
There are probably errors, I'll fix them if told.

Markus

Re: PIC firmware for new Verilog "Demon Core" releases

Reply #12 – February 09, 2011, 08:33:52 am

Thanks Markus,

I'm not sure robot's new upgrader is ready for general use (seems to be some Linux issues still on some platforms?). There are several other upgrades or upgrader packages too:
*dogsbody's ols-winloader for windows (firmware and bitstream)
*robots updated ols-loader for all systems (fw and bitstream)
*fw_update (original firmware only upgrade utility)
*ols-loader (original bitstream only upgrade utility)
*Jack's upgrade scripts, which use FW_update and ols-loader last time I checked and include a firmware and bitstream release

I updated the "list of features that work" page too, but not with new download links.

Re: PIC firmware for new Verilog "Demon Core" releases

Reply #13 – February 09, 2011, 09:33:12 am

Is there a chance for a little summary comparing all available FPGA cores? (or maybe there already is one available?). I'm getting a bit confused on what's included in what core and what are benefits/drawbacks of using a particular one.

Re: PIC firmware for new Verilog "Demon Core" releases

Reply #14 – February 09, 2011, 09:42:24 am

This is the best we have at the moment, I updated it today:

http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Log ... ure_status

It could certainly use a bit more historical narrative.