khouglan@pima.intel.com (Kriss Hougland~) (04/14/91)
I've seen talk of this subject before, but... I have looked for information on programming, but I can not find a bit of information on how the program the things. I am looking at cutting down my part count with a PAL or GAL or PLA or ... I don't have a programmer for anything besides and Eprom programer. 1) Should I give up all hopes of getting solution #2 or #3 to work? 2) Can I convert my eprom programmer to a more generic programmer? 3) Find plans for a programmer and build one. (less than a $500 programmer). Thanks in advance. -- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Addresses: !Disclaimer: All information is my own and is not that khouglan@hopi.intel.com ! my employer. "Opportunity came knocking, but I was askah@acvax.inre.asu.edu! in the bathroom." (ME)
mzenier@polari.UUCP (Mark Zenier) (04/15/91)
In <3810@inews.intel.com> khouglan@pima.intel.com (Kriss Hougland~) writes: (Hmmm..., Intel makes PLDs.) >I have looked for information on programming, but I can not find a bit of >information on how the program the things. I am looking at cutting down my >part count with a PAL or GAL or PLA or ... The chip manufacturers decided that 1) They could make money selling PLD software and programmers (The Altera method) or 2) they could lower their cost of support by restricting the programming algorithms to "legitimate" programmer manufactures. That way if the programmed parts aren't working, the field support people don't end up debugging everyone's homebrew programmer. (There is at least one exeption, see below). >I don't have a programmer for anything besides and Eprom programer. >1) Should I give up all hopes of getting solution #2 or #3 to work? >2) Can I convert my eprom programmer to a more generic programmer? >3) Find plans for a programmer and build one. (less than a $500 programmer). Resources. Cypress Semiconductor "Bicmos/Cmos Data Book", 1990 (The only CMOS PLD algorithms I've been able to dig up) Electronics & Wireless World, February 1989, "EPLD programmer design" (A programmer for some Cypress parts) Popular Electronics, January 1990, "Create Your Own IC's" (A keyboard driven PEEL (ICT/Gould/...) programmer kit for $99) "Desiging with Programmable Array Logic", Monolithic Memories , McGraw-Hill 1981 (The MMI/National/TI(?) bipolar part programming algorithms) Byte, January 1987 - Special Issue on Programmable Hardware. (A bipolar progammer project and discussion of parts) Texas Instruments, "The TTL Data Book, Volume 4", 1985 (Bipolar programming algorithms) Advanced Micro Devices, "Programmable Array Logic", 1983 (Amd's bipolar algorithms, which are different from MMI's. This is confusing because AMD bought/merged with MMI since then. Judging from the Maximum voltage rating given in the current AMD PAL Devices Databook, these algorithms may be obselete.) Mark Zenier markz@ssc.uucp mzenier@polari.uucp (PAL is a registered trademark of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
zimmer@calvin.stanford.edu (Andrew Zimmerman) (04/15/91)
In article <3763@polari.UUCP> mzenier@polari.UUCP (Mark Zenier) writes: >In <3810@inews.intel.com> khouglan@pima.intel.com (Kriss Hougland~) writes: > > (Hmmm..., Intel makes PLDs.) >>I have looked for information on programming, but I can not find a bit of >>information on how the program the things. I am looking at cutting down my >>part count with a PAL or GAL or PLA or ... > >The chip manufacturers decided that 1) They could make money selling PLD >software and programmers (The Altera method) or 2) they could lower >their cost of support by restricting the programming algorithms to >"legitimate" programmer manufactures. That way if the programmed parts >aren't working, the field support people don't end up debugging >everyone's homebrew programmer. (There is at least one exeption, see >below). > For homebrew projects, you might want to try the ispGAL16Z8 by Lattice. It's a PAL with 4 extra pins so that you can program it without extra voltages. (the four extra pins are SDin, SDout, Clk and Mode) Last time I called Lattice, they shipped me a data sheet, a diskette for an IBM PC and a wiring diagram on how to connect the device to the PC parallel port. The diskette not only had a program to do the programming, but even included the source for the program. The hardware needed for the programmer consists of a 5 volt supply and one 74LS374. (Oh, one thing I forgot to mention, the 16Z8 uses EEPROM for the arrays, so you don't have to reprogram each time you supply power. :-) The down side to these devices are 1. four extra pins (24 pin device) 2. They were about $13.00 each (about 1 year ago) when the 16V8 were only $2.00 to $4.00. (of course, you don't have to buy a programmer) Their address is Lattice Semiconductor Corporation 5555 N.E. Moore Ct. Hillsboro, Oregon 97124 U.S.A Hope this helps, Andrew zimmer@calvin.stanford.edu