News on tools for Gowin FPGA. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: technix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2021, 02:50:10 am
content: The last time I tried, I have found out that Digilent JTAG-SMT modules for Xilinx FPGAs, at least my reverse engineered clones of JTAG-SMT1 and JTAG-SMT2, are recognized by Gowin software and can at least detect a JTAG chain.This may be some helpful news for you trying Gowin platform. I will keep you posted as I have ordered parts for a test PCB with Gowin GW1NSR-4C SoC with a Gowin Little Bee FPGA, 8MB PSRAM and a Cortex-M3 hard CPU core on it, and the onboard USB interface is based on my JTAG-SMT1 clone.

author: technix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2021, 05:58:23 am
content: Quote from: blueskull on April 28, 2021, 05:47:59 amAt least for that specific target chip, I need something that can work with both Gowin and OpenOCD. Gowin for programming the FPGA, and OpenOCD for debugging ARM code.JTAG-SMT1 and JTAG-SMT2 has four Output Enable lines which was not set correctly for older versions of Gowin. The news is that current versions of Gowin tools do set them correctly.And speaking of JTAG-SMT2, that is based on the single-channel FT232H, although that is similar enough with FT2232H channel A.

author: dmendesf
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2021, 06:01:40 am
content: Where you got your GW1NSR-4C FPGA? This is a dream chip...

author: ali_asadzadeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2021, 10:13:34 am
content: QuoteAny Price info?

author: technix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 29, 2021, 07:21:29 am
content: Quote from: dmendesf on April 28, 2021, 06:01:40 amI got them as free samples.I told them I have an open source project idea with it. They said show me your schematics. I saidhttps://github.com/SushiBits/Gowinduinoand voilà three sample chips.

author: gnuarm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2021, 03:21:27 pm
content: Quote from: technix on April 28, 2021, 05:58:23 amI don't follow, what are JTAG-SMT1 and JTAG-SMT2? Programming cables?I've been on an open source ventilator project using the Gowin GW1N-9. We have the FT2232H on the board for programming and a serial port to support debugging. Not yet tested, but we might be getting there in a few weeks. If anyone wants to review the schematics...https://github.com/Open-Vent-Bristol/If you need permissions to look at the files let me know and I'll get someone to open it up. It is open source, right?

author: chickenHeadKnob
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2021, 07:19:07 pm
content: Quote from: gnuarm on May 05, 2021, 03:21:27 pmHave a look here:https://store.digilentinc.com/boards-and-components/programmers/Apparently technix has reverse engineered the smt modules. SMT1 appears to be obsolete. Somewhere on Digilent's site is a comparison table for all the different JTAG adapters they offer.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2021, 07:30:31 pm
content: Quote from: chickenHeadKnob on May 05, 2021, 07:19:07 pmFrom what I can see, those are just the same as HS2/HS3, but on small boards with castellations. There is not much to reverse-engineer as far as I can see. It's just one FT2232H chip and the required external components to make it work.

author: gnuarm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2021, 07:57:45 pm
content: Ok, thanks. I posted in their forum asking where the comparison page might be.

author: chickenHeadKnob
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2021, 08:08:38 pm
content: Quote from: gnuarm on May 05, 2021, 07:57:45 pmI know I perused a comparison table approx 2 years ago, damned if I can find it now. Main take-away then was HS2/smt2 could program spi memory. HS3/smt3 had processor reset for ZYNC.