NexysFPGA


introduction

the nexys is a spartan3 based fpga board including an ez-usb (cypress fx2 high-speed usb2) chip onboard. digilent offers an api for doing jtag and data transfers via usb called dpcutil, which unfortunately is not available for linux and (at least the fx2 firmware) is digilent proprietary.

on linux a software based on libusb would be nice to do high-speed data transfer with the nexys device. downloading the configuration to the fpga via usb would be nice too.

therefor the firmware which initializes and runs the fx2 chip is of great interest. basically it's all about the firmware here. for the nexys device the firmware is stored on the i2c eeprom loacted next to the fx2 chip. it's loaded into the 8051 ram during bootup.

goal

in the very end, we want to have a

therefor we need to

brainstorming

i will put everything into the brainstorming chapter by now. depending on the authors initial skill adaption training process ;) contents will be presented in a more clean and structured way later on ...

sources of information / resources

fx2 documentation

the digilent firmware file (donbusb.iic)

unzip the upgrader executable to extract the iic (probably i2c) files, the content of the eeprom, which basically is the firmware.

digilent has 3 different types of usb (and firmwares).

hexdump

 00000000  c2 47 05 31 21 00 00 04  00 04 00 00 02 32 81 32
 00003450  d6 00 02 10 d6 00 02 10  d6 00 80 01 e6 00 00

converting to intel hex

use the following small tool to convert iic files storing the eeprom content to intel hex files. it is called ee2ihex.c. instructions for building and usage included in the source file.

http://www.hackdaworld.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=my-code/fpga.git;a=tree;f=fx2

since we are now able to download the digilent firmware (to provide original functionality) into fx2 ram (possibly even restore eeprom content) using fxload, we may now start playing around with the eeprom with a clear conscience.

you have to use the tool and convert it to intel hex yourself. i am probably not allowed to offer the intel hex file due to copyrights.

sda hack

good news, we do not need to intercept i2c communication or even destroy the eeprom content :).fortunately two drills of a removed 2-pin jumper on the sda bus exist (the bus is shorted onboard). you can carefully scratch the wire on the board and after that solder in a 2-pin jumper.

now, if the jumper is

replacement firmware

it's time to hack the replacment firmware now. the current development code is located at

http://www.hackdaworld.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=my-code/fpga.git;a=tree;f=fx2

and will be called fx2.c (source) / fx2.ihx (intel hex).

hacking the firmware

let's start simple. one possibility for the nexys board to get power is the usb bus powered configuration.

according to the schematics a mosfet (nts2101) is switching on/off the power to the ltc devices. the gate of a transistor (connected to the gate of the nts) is connected to port d / pin 7 of the fx2. lets configure this pin as output and pull it high.

this is now working. my brother got it running. he used a fx2regs.h file from another project which properly defined the registers for data direction and the port. (see http://www.hackdaworld.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=my-code/fpga.git;a=commitdiff;h=3b3815fdc9a4919917fa98b90416ac368aed69ca)

there is a cypress fx2 xilprg patch available in the cvs repository now. apply the patch to have bitbanging support for the nexys board to do jtag via usb.

firmware in progress ... coffee first ...

to be continued ...

feature list:

(un)supported faetures of the current firmware:

downloading firmware into ram

strange problem when trying to download firmware using fxload:

 
 staubsauger:/home/hackbard/projects/fpga/fx2# fxload -vvv -t fx2 -I ./fx2.ihx -D /proc/bus/usb/002/005
 microcontroller type: fx2
 single stage:  load on-chip memory
 open RAM hexfile image ./fx2.ihx
 stop CPU
 ** LINE: :03000000020003F8
 record too short?
 unable to download ./fx2.ihx

on debian unstable dpkg -l fxload tells you the following:

 ii  fxload	 0.0.20020411-1 Firmware download to EZ-USB devices 

a change which fixes this issue was committed to sourceforge cvs in january 2005. you need to build fxload from cvs.

now it's possible to fxload intel hex files on the fx2. as a test try to fxload the bulkloop.hex file from the cypress development kit examples. proper bulk tranfers may be verified with the usb_bulk_test.c code also located at:

http://www.hackdaworld.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=my-code/fpga.git;a=tree;f=fx2

example usage:

 hackbard@staubsauger:~/projects/fpga/fx2$ sudo ./usb_bulk_test /proc/bus/usb/002/018 0 0 0x02 0x86
 
 poke random data into buffer ... done
 
 summary:
 device /proc/bus/usb/002/018
 interface 0
 alternate setting 0
 bulk ep (out) 22
 bulk ep (in) 862
 
 setting interface 0, alternate setting 0
 transmit done (256) - receive [256] done (256) <--- equal!
 transmit done (256) - receive [256] done (256) <--- equal!
 transmit done (256) - receive [256] done (256) <--- equal!
 ... 
 
bulkloop seems to work. but how about the digielnt donbusb firmware, converted to an intel hex file by the tool mentioned earlier?

here we go:

 hackbard@staubsauger:~/projects/fpga/fx2$ sudo fxload -t fx2 -D /proc/bus/usb/002/019 -I donbusb.ihx
 can't write 1023 bytes external memory at 0x1c5c
 unable to download donbusb.ihx

this sucks! is there external memory (check with a3load!)? is fxload troubling for no reason (reread memory related pages of the docs!)? is the ee2ihex conversion tool crappy (too simple!)?

good news:

 hackbard@staubsauger:~/projects/fpga/fx2$ sudo fxload -t fx2 -D /proc/bus/usb/002/021 -I donbusb.ihx -s a3load.hex 
 hackbard@staubsauger:~/projects/fpga/fx2$ lsusb 
 Bus 002 Device 022: ID 1443:0005  
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000  
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000  

digilent vendor and product ids can be seen, renumeration succeeded. and the usb bus powered configuration makes the fpga do it's job! now we know for sure that it's possible to get the digilent firmware into ram! quite good so far. using vend_ax instead of a3load and specifying a control byte might even write the firmware back to the eeprom (once we fucked it up).

now that the basics are done (except understanding the memory layout) => GO FOR THE FIRMWARE ...

     

download new firmware to the eeprom

to be continued ...


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