25 KiB
ULX3S Manual
Connectors
US1 Main micro-USB for power, program and communication.
All onboard hardware can be programmed or reconfigured
over US1: FPGA, FLASH, WiFi, RTC.
US2 Auxiliary micro-USB connected directly to FPGA pins
for experimenting with user-defined USB cores or to
connect PS/2 keyboard or mouse using USB-OTG and
USB-PS/2 adapters.
Board provides power to US2.
Board v1.7 can't be powered from US2 by default.
Board v2.0 and higher can be powered from US2.
If you want to power board v1.7 from US2, reverse diode
D9 near US2 connector or short D9 with a wire.
GPDI Plug for cable to digital monitor or TV,
4 TMDS+- video
1 HEAC+- ethernet and audio return
SDA,SCL I2C (DDS EDID)
CEC remote control
+5V supply to enable plug-in detection
AUDIO 3.5 mm jack with 3 channels for earphones
and digital audio or composite video (analog TV)
Suitable cables are 3.5mm to 3-RCA (cinch)
Red-White-Yellow for iPhone/iBook/NOKIA.
Sony cables are the most popular and look identical
but are not suitable, they have GND at Ring2!
Tip: Left analog audio
Ring1: Right analog audio
Ring2: Digital audio SPDIF
Sleeve: GND
OLED 7-pin 2.54 mm header OLED1 for SSD1331 SPI color OLED
pinout: CS DC RES SDA SCL VCC GND
JTAG 6-pin 2.54 mm header J4 for external JTAG programmer
pinout: 3V3 GND
TCK TDI
TDO TMS
GPIO 40-pin 2.54 mm double-row connectors J1 and J2 for GPIO
at 3.3V logical level with 56 pins from which are:
J1 GP,GN 0-7 are single-ended pins.
J1 GP,GN 8-13 are differential bidirectional pairs.
J2 GP,GN 14-21 are differential bidirectional pairs.
J2 GP,GN 22-27 are single-ended pins.
Differential pairs can be used also as single-ended pins.
J1 GP,GN 12 is differential primary clock capable.
J1 GP,GN 0,1 are single-ended primary clock capable.
J1 GP 13 and J2 GN 17 are general routing (non-primary)
clock capable.
J1 pins GP,GN 9-13 are shared with ESP32 WiFi on PCB v1.7.
J1 pins GP,GN 11-13 are shared with ESP32 WiFi on PCB >v2.0.
J2 pins GP,GN 14-17 are shared with ADC.
4 PMOD connectors can be made out of it
(GND and 3.3V power are on the right place)
J1-J2 distance is suitable to be plugged into triple
protoboard using a single row of J1/J2.
J2 has also 5V IN/OUT (be careful, GPIO pins are not
5V tolerant).
SD Micro SD card, all signal pins are routed to FPGA and
shared with ESP-32
ESP32 Placeholder to solder ESP-32 WROOM module.
ESP-32 can provide standalone web interface for uploading
bitstream into FPGA and its config FLASH.
Constraints (board pinout)
For PCB v1.7 patched for ESP32 to work
Power
Plug US1 into PC or USB charger and board should power up.
Initial voltage rise at USB 5V line will trigger board powering up and holding the power.
On PCB v1.7, USB-serial chip FT231X will always be powered from 5V USB. The board has switching voltage regulators which can be turned off to reduce power consumption.
On PCB v2.0 and later, USB-serial chip FT231X will be directly powered only from US1. If board is powered from US2, there is diode preventing 5V to FT231X power pin, but FT231X will still be weakly back-powered from its other pins connected with rest of the board and it will appear as some load. For most practical cases, we are lucky that FT231X appears as high-z when not directly powered. Pin loads from unpowered FT231X may sometimes prevent JTAG'ing from ESP32 or external JTAG, so for more reliable JTAG we recommend to keep FT231X powered.
Green LED D18 behaviour is the "Power LED". Green LED ON will keep board powered up. By factory default, when USB-serial chip is enumerated by PC, Green LED will turn ON. Normally when board is plugged into USB charger Green LED may shortly blink and stay OFF, but board will keep being powered.
Board PCB v1.7 must be hardware patched to be able to reliably enter shutdown mode. (It will keep waking up).
Onboard 3V lithium battery CR1225 is only to keep RTC clock running and hold its configuration for a year or so. 3V battery is too weak to power up complete ULX3S board.
A regulated clean and stable power supply is required, like USB port on PC or USB charger. 5V/0.5A should be enough for fully loaded and constantly active FPGA, SDRAM, LEDS, AUDIO, SD, ESP32 WiFi and OLED. Maximum tolerant USB voltage is 6V. Exceeding this limit will instantly damage the board!
If other devices are connected and powered from ULX3S J1/J2 GPIO/PMOD connectors then more than 0.5A may be required - board can draw 2-3A when externally loaded.
On J2 connector there are 2 pins for 5V external power input and output. They are located on top right, near pin labeled 27 and US2 connector. On PCB v2.0 and later boards, both J2 5V pins are connected to US2 5V but there are onboard jumpers which can be carefully cut and schottky diodes soldered on their pads to route the 5V power in and/or out of the board.
Powering only from 3.3V is not possible because switching regulators need 5V to generate 2.5V and 1.1V.
Switching regulators use ferrite core inductors L1,L2,L3 which can saturate at magnetic fields above 0.3T. Never approach neodymium magnets near powered board.
Low Power Mode
RTC without battery will keep waking up the board as factory default. 3V battery CR1225 and configured RTC chip is required for the board to enter shutdown mode. There are several ways to wake up the board:
1) Press BTN0
2) Re-plug US1 micro-USB cable
3) RTC ALARM (using MCP7940N or PCF8523 arduino example)
4) Turn on Green LED D18 (using ftx_prog or libftdi)
Just a short pulse at RTC (ALARM INT1 shorly pull down) or Green LED shortly going HIGH is enough to wake up the board.
There is SHUTDOWN pin where FPGA can turn OFF the board. This pin is not correctly routed on PCB v1.7 and needs hardware upgrade to make it work.
To accept SHUTDOWN D18 (green LED on top side near SD card) must be OFF and D11 found on back side of the board near J1 pin 22.
D18 is controlled by USB-serial chip and when lit indicates that USB-serial chip holds board constantly powered up.
D11 is controlled by RTC chip and when dimly lit (visible in the dark), it indicates that RTC chip has ALARM INT1 pin set as inactive (high-Z, open drain). Due to its primary function as voltage drop in analog circuit, D11 never gets fully lit like other LEDs.
RTC must have 3V battery and registers set for current time, alarm time and alarm logic to trigger RTC ALARM in the future. Then board is ready to accept SHUTDOWN signal, which is indicated when LED D11 is very dimly lit, visible in the dark.
While D11 is dimly lit, and D18 is OFF, board can be powered down by setting SHUTDOWN signal to 1 from FPGA logic or by connecting 1k resistor between SHUTDOWN pin of R13 and 3.3V, carefully and only for a moment. When RTC ALARM is triggered, RTC ALARM INT1 open-drain pull down will become active and board should turn ON.
When D11 is OFF, or D18 is ON, it is indicating that board can't enter SHUTDOWN, probably RTC ALARM flag has to be cleared or other RTC registers configured.
To get D18 OFF, either power board from US2 connector, power it from US1 with charger which doesn't do USB enumeration or power it from PC at US1 but reconfigure USB chip to turn D18 OFF:
ftx_prog --cbus 3 DRIVE_0
Programming options
To program ULX3S bitstream, there are many programming options:
ujprog source from GIT or ujprog binary from EMARD or ujprog binary from FER
EMARD's fork of Xark's FleaFPGA-JTAG source or FleaFPGA-JTAG binary
OpenOCD soruce or OpenOCD binaries 2019 or later (ft232r interface configuredd for ULX3S FT231X pinout)
Onboard ESP32 WiFi web interface
External USB-JTAG programmer connected to JTAG header.
Most external JTAGs should work with OpenOCD. FT2232 or FT4232 JTAGs are recommended as they are fast, compatible and work with Lattice Diamond native programmer. Get Lattice original FT2232 JTAG cable or some generic FT2232 JTAG like FT2232 breakout board from DangerousPrototypes.
Programming over USB port "US1"
Factory default (empty) onboard FT231X has to be initialized in order to be autodetected by "ujprog" or "FleaFPGA-JTAG" use ftx_prog.
This needs to be done only once and board will remember it after power down. Settings enable max USB power consumption of 500mA set autodetectable product/manufacturer name of FT231X chip, serial number, set proper USB-serial activity LED and sets CBUS line to wake up board when FT231X is enumerated by host computer (PC).
ftx_prog --max-bus-power 500
ftx_prog --manufacturer "FER-RADIONA-EMARD"
ftx_prog --product "ULX3S FPGA 12K v3.0.3"
ftx_prog --new-serial-number 120001
ftx_prog --cbus 2 TxRxLED
ftx_prog --cbus 3 SLEEP
Optionally you can change "45K" to "25K" or "12K" in regard with FPGA chip size. Re-plug the USB and it will appear as new name which can be autodetected with USB-serial JTAG tool.
If running linux, some udev rule is practical in order to allow non-root users (in given example, members of "dialout" group) access to the USB-serial JTAG:
# file: /etc/udev/rules.d/80-fpga-ulx3s.rules
# this is for usb-serial tty device
SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0403", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6015", \
MODE="664", GROUP="dialout"
# this is for ujprog libusb access
ATTRS{idVendor}=="0403", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6015", \
GROUP="dialout", MODE="666"
"ujprog" tool acceps BIT or SVF files for uploading to the FPGA SRAM. Upload to onboard FLASH can't be yet done by "ujprog"
ujprog bitstream-sram.bit
ujprog bitstream-sram.svf
"FleaFPGA-JTAG" tool accepts VME files for uploading to the FPGA SRAM or onboard SPI FLASH chip. SRAM VME file is simple to make, but when generating FLASH VME file, follow the Lattice TN02050 document: "Programming External SPI Flash through JTAG for ECP5/ECP5-5G" section: "6. Programming the SPI Flash with bitstream file using Diamond Programmer" and select FLASH chip type:
Family: SPI Serial Flash
Vendor: Micron
Device: SPI-M25F32
Package. 8-pin VDFPN8
Verify: No
When it creates VME file, pass it to FleaFPGA-JTAG argument. Disabled "verify" will make flashing fast, but if enabled, expect to wait 5-15 minutes. You don't need verify because bitstream always checks its own CRC and it will just not load if FLASHed with errors.
FleaFPGA-JTAG bitstream-flash.vme
"OpenOCD" tool accepts SVF files and can upload to SRAM or onboard FLASH. For details see their ft232r driver documentation. In short, this config file should help to get started, modified to set actual CHIP_ID and bitstream.svf:
file "ft231x.ocd"
# file: ft231x.ocd
interface ft232r
ft232r_vid_pid 0x0403 0x6015
# ft232r_serial_desc 123456
ft232r_tck_num DSR
ft232r_tms_num DCD
ft232r_tdi_num RI
ft232r_tdo_num CTS
ft232r_trst_num RTS
ft232r_srst_num DTR
ft232r_restore_serial 0x15
adapter_khz 1000
file "ecp5.ocd"
# file: ecp5.ocd
telnet_port 4444
gdb_port 3333
# JTAG TAPs
jtag newtap lfe5 tap -expected-id 0x21111043 -irlen 8 -irmask 0xFF -ircapture 0x5
# -expected-id should match ECP5 CHIP_ID:
# 12F: 0x21111043
# 25F: 0x41111043
# 45F: 0x41112043
# 85F: 0x41113043
init
scan_chain
svf -tap lfe5.tap -quiet -progress bitstream.svf
shutdown
commandline
openocd --file=ft231x.ocd --file=ecp5.ocd
Programming over USB port "US2"
There is possibility to program ULX3S SPI config FLASH thru US2 connector and a fork of tinyfpga bootloader loaded to FPGA, either loaded from US1 temporary to FPGA SRAM or permanently to SPI config FLASH. Bootloader uses multiboot feature of ECP5 FPGA. This programming option is experimental and not recommended for regular use.
ULX3S with fully functional US2 bootloader can be used to program FPGA config FLASH without use of USB-serial chip FT231X.
For bootloader convenience, it is recommended to solder D28 diode at empty placeholder located on back side near OLED and JTAG header. Observe diode polarity, see how other similar diodes are soldered on ULX3S. Any general purpose or schottky diode in SOD-323 package will fit like 1N914 1N4148 BAT54W etc. This diode will convert BTN0 function to unconditionally switch to next multiboot image by pulling down FPGA PROGRAMN pin.
USB bootloader is in hacky state of development, you need hi quality USB cable, a compatible PC and selected USB port and too much luck (try all). I think bootloader's USB bus error recovery handling is wrong but sometimes it just works. US2 port should enumerate as some vendor specific USB-HID USB device and "tinyfpgasp" application can be used to write or read arbitrary image to FPGA SPI config FLASH.
User bitstream should be uploaded to byte address 0x200000 of SPI config FLASH at 12/25/45F (I'm not sure for 85F). Bootloader in multiboot mode resides in multiple copies on SPI config FLASH chip. "primary" bootloader image is at byte address 0 of SPI config FLASH, "golden" bootloader image is at 0x140000 address on 45F chip but its location varies on various sizes of FPGA 12/25/45/85F. At the last 256 bytes of FLASH are some special FPGA lattice boot state machine commands (detailed meaning and format not yet known, it's like some primitive CPU assembly) that setups and controls multiboot function. Try not to overwrite any of boot related areas with something else otherwise US1 or JTAG recovery will be required.
Programming over JTAG header
Any openocd compatible JTAG like FT2232 can be connected to JTAG header and it will program SRAM and FLASH at maximum speed possible. Even Diamond programmer can use any FT2232 module as a native programmer, with a little help - it will work after first bitstream is programmed over FT2232 with openocd. If FT2232 is equipped with EEPROM you can use original "FT_PROG" for windows or this linux tool to read/write the EEPROM and confgure it:
apt-get install ftdi-eeprom
man ftdi_eeprom
Openocd accepts SVF files, everything applies the same as for VME files
ddtcmd -oft -svfsingle -revd -if ulx3s_flash.xcf -of bitstream.svf
Connect JTAG cable to ULX3S JTAG header with female-female color wires. Carefully observe the pinout. It's standard pinout to MPSSE bus A or B written as TCK/TDO/TDI/TMS either on the JTAG board/cable or in manual/schematics. The pinout also appears as comments in the file "ft2232.ocd" listed below.
To be on safe side, do not to connect 3.3V line unless required by JTAG cable manual. 3.3V line is not needed for most cables as they use their own USB supply and have default 3.3V TTL level. 3.3V power rail from ULX3S is 2A current capable and can damage the cable if accidentally connected to wrong pin.
For FT2232 generic cable, this openocd config file can be used with above file "ecp5.ocd" to program "bitstream.svf":
file "ft2232.ocd"
# file: ft2232.ocd
interface ftdi
# ftdi_device_desc "Dual RS232-HS"
ftdi_vid_pid 0x0403 0x6010
ftdi_layout_init 0x3088 0x1f8b
# default is port A if unspecified
# pinout ADBUS 0-TCK 1-TDI 2-TDO 3-TMS
#ftdi_channel 0
# uncomment this to use port B
# pinout BDBUS 0-TCK 1-TDI 2-TDO 3-TMS
#ftdi_channel 1
adapter_khz 25000
commandline
openocd --file=ft2232.ocd --file=ecp5.ocd
External FT2232 JTAG cable can be used by Lattice Diamond native programmer on linux. Prior to use the FT2232 port A or B which is connected as JTAG, USB-serial kernel driver must be detached from the FT2232 port. To detach detach port B manually:
ls /sys/bus/usb/drivers/ftdi_sio
1-6.2:1.0 1-6.2:1.1 bind module uevent unbind
echo -n "1-6.2:1.1" > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/ftdi_sio/unbind
To detach port B automatically:
#/bin/bash
allow_io=`lsusb | sed -n 's/^Bus \([0-9]*\) Device \([0-9]*\): ID 0403:6010 .*/\1\/\2/p'`
unbind_tty=`ls /sys/bus/usb/drivers/ftdi_sio/ | sed -n 's/\(.*\:1\.1\).*/\1/p'`
sudo chmod a+rw \/dev\/bus\/usb\/$allow_io
sudo sh -c "echo $unbind_tty > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/ftdi_sio/unbind"
When USB-serial driver is detached from port A or B, Lattice Diamond programmer can use this port as native JTAG programmer. See also Versa under Linux.
For JTAG sharing with ESP32 port B should be set to high impedance and the experimentally found solution is to set this port to FIFO or OPTO using "ftdi_eeprom" tool source is here ftdi_eeprom source there's also ftdi_eeprom readme and the binary is already in linux distro:
apt-get install ftdi_eeprom
make "ftdi_eeprom.conf" config file, set manufacturer/product strings to your liking but important line for high impedance for port B is to set it as FIFO or OPTO:
chb_type=FIFO
write config to eeprom:
ftdi_eeprom --flash-eeprom ftdi_eeprom.conf
re-plug USB to reload new eeprom content.
Programming over WiFi
ESP-32 provides standalone JTAG SVF player over web HTTP and TCP interface for programming and flashing in convenient and OS independent way. Web interface requires no client software installed but web browser. It is much faster than FT231X but still not as fast as FT2232. It accepts SVF files but you need to limit SVF command size to max 8 kilobits "-maxdata 8", effectively it will split upload into many shorter SVF commands because ESP-32 doesn't have enough memory to buffer entire bitstream delivered in a long single SVF command.
ddtcmd -oft -svfsingle -revd -maxdata 8 -if ulx3s_flash.xcf -of bitstream.svf
To start using ESP-32 first you need to compile ULX3S passthru and upload it using FleaFPGA-JTAG or external JTAG programmer. "Passthru" bitstream configures FPGA to route lines from USB-serial to ESP-32.
Then you need to install Arduino and its ESP-32 support, and install Emard's library LibXSVF-ESP, required library dependencies and ESP-32 SPIFFS uploader Version "ESP32FS-v0.1.zip" worked for me.
In Arduino boards manager select this ESP-32 board:
DOIT ESP32 DEVKIT V1
Select "Examples->LibXSVF->websvf" and optionally change its default ssid/password. Compile and upload the code by clicking "Sketch->Upload", check reports on lower terminal window, successfull upload will finish with this:
Hash of data verified.
Leaving...
Hard resetting...
Then upload the web page content to ESP-32 FLASH filesystem, at websvf window click "Tools->ESP32 Sketch Data Upload". successful upload will finish with same as above.
ESP32 will try to connect to your local WiFi as client with default ssid=websvf password=12345678 Insert SD card with file "ulx3s-wifi.conf" in SD root directory:
{
"host_name": "ulx3s",
"ssid": "ulx3s",
"password": "testpass",
"http_username": "user",
"http_password": "pass"
}
By editing this file you can set ssid and password for connection to your local WiFi access point.
If client connection is unsuccessful ESP-32 it will become access point with the same ssid and password, but so far many people reported unsuccessful connection attempts from PC to ESP-32 in AP mode. If you want to try, AP mode ESP-32 web address is "http://192.168.4.1" and internet should not to work in this case :).
If ESP-32 connected as a client, IP address will vary depending on local network. Discover it by using WiFi access point web interface, ARP, NMAP, or by sniffing it. On the ESP-32 page something like this will appear:
Select SVF File or use minimal or svfupload.py
[File] File not selected
[Upload]
[0% ]
Navigate file selector to bitstream.svf file, it will show its size in KB. Then click "Upload", progress bar will run from 0% to 100% in few seconds (if it's SRAM upload) and bitstream will be started. FLASH can also be written from web iterface it takes 2-3 minutes. Also on the web interface there's available for download a small python commandline upload tool.
Note that FPGA can enable or disable ESP-32 module. If ESP-32 is disabled by newly uploaded bistream, some alert window will pop-up after otherwise successful upload because ESP-32 cannot close HTTP session properly. To make it go smooth, in the bitstream make FPGA pin "wifi_en" as input (HIGH-impedance, pull up).
Technically, ESP-32 can be loaded with such a code that permanently holds JTAG lines while FPGA can at the same time have in FLASH a bitstream that permanenly enables ESP-32. Such combination will preventing JTAG from working so ULX3S board may become "Bricked". There is jumper J3 to disable ESP-32, its left of SD card slot. Note boards PCB v1.7 need upgrade for this jumper to work correctly.
Programming ESP32
ESP32 WiFi module soldered on ULX3S is usually shipped to end-users with WiFi Web-JTAG application loaded in ESP32. User can overwrite ESP32 with any other sketch like "blink" and then ESP32 Web-JTAG interface will temporarily disappear.
Web-JTAG ESP32 application can be restored back to factory default state using binaries and linux scripts from ulx3s-bin or by recompiling from LibXSVF-ESP Source.
Load "passthru" bitstream to FPGA config flash, install Arduino and its ESP32 support. In "tools" pull down menu, under ESP32 select board "WEMOS LOLIN32" and normally program ULX3S onboard ESP32 from Arduino by clicking right arrow round button (->) to upload sketch. Examples->Digital->Blink_without_delay any you should see blue LED D22 blinking.
This automagically works because "passthru" bitstream will redirect USB-serial ESP32 programming traffic from PC thru FPGA to ESP32.
There might be strange issues on getting this to work on windows. On linux usually only USB-serial port access permission is required.
OLED
Solder 7-pin 2.54mm female header on ULX3S and obtain 0.95 Inch 7pin Full Color 65K Color SSD1331 SPI OLED Display Module For Arduino.
Pin names on OLED module should match those written on ULX3S silkscreen. Cheapest from ebay or aliexpress are all good and work. Display glass may be glued a bit off-angle from module to module, that's kinda "normal" for 7$. It can display nice and readable high contrast color picture :)
Board Versions
This project is open source, freely downloadable so there can be as many versions as here are git commits.
v3.0.3 is currently the only version which is officially being sold at skriptarnica. Other versions are either prototypes or independently produced.
Up to our knowledge those versions are currently circulating around. All listed versions should work if all parts (notably BGA) are properly soldered.
PCB assembly quantity constraints
version facility produced date compatibility note
------- ------------ -------- ---------- ------------- --------
v1.7 PCBWay 8 dec 2017 v17patch prototype
v1.7 lemilica.com 1 jan 2018 v17patch handwork
v1.8 PCBWay 10 may 2018 v18 prototype
v2.0.3 q3k 1 aug 2018 v20 handwork
v2.1.2 INEM-KONČAR 35 sep 2018 v20 prototype
v3.0.3 INEM-KONČAR 220 oct 2018 v20 for sale
v2.0.5 Marvin 1 nov 2018 v20 handwork
v2.0.5 Markus 1 dec 2018 v20 handwork
v3.0.3 INEM-KONČAR 35 jan 2019 v20 for sale
v2.0.5 Zvone 2 mar 2019 v20 handwork
v3.0.6 Sam Littlewood 2 mar 2019 v20 handwork
v3.0.? Kalle 1 jul 2019 v20 handwork
v3-0.7 Watterott 100 --- ---- v20 for sale