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(Parent) Started 04Nov2019, updated 16Mar2022 (iCircuit, fritzing, KiCad). In work.

This note is in group My FPGA pages and is a follow-up from My FPGA notes where the IceCore has been discussed extensively. This note is going to be with the hands-on experience, since I am at the moment (05Nov2019) awaiting two boards in the mail.

Fold handling with Collapse-O-Matic plugin

I am using Collape-O-Matic (here) on many pages.

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Typical fold

Status

I now have made a box from two plastic trays, as I have come into a habit of doing. One at the bottom and the other upside down on the top. Then held together with plastic, inner corners and two brass pins. From Søstrene Grene, acrylics, each tray 23.9 cm * 11.9 cm * 3.0 cm at the bottom, about a mm wider at the top. (More at My materials science notes.) In addition to the myStorm boards (below) it also contains some breakout boards from Adafruit and three buttons, available from the outside. I am so much looking forwards to this work!

The Adafruits boards are the following (standard disclaimer as for all of my blog notes):

• Bi-Color (Red/Green) 24-Bar Bargraph Backpack Kit, with I2C (PID: 1721)
• 16×8 1.2″ LED Matrix + Backpack – Ultra Bright Round White LEDs, with I2C (PID: 2038)
• 10 Segment Light Bar Graph LED Display – White – KWL- R1025WB-Y, direct control of each LED, no mux’ing (PID: 1816)

To make a linear timer switch?

Unpacking

BlackIce Mx = (IceCore + BlackIce Mx) @ BlackEdge

I will start with repeating a single paragraph from the previous note.

The heading’s formula is not as recursive as it looks:

@folknology writes at myStorm forum (here) that BlackIce Mx is composed of a core (IceCore) and a carrier (BlackIce Mx), these were built and designed to the BlackEdge standard. BTW ‘BlackIce Mx’ is commonly used to refer to the combination of these parts together which is a little confusing.. And @lawrie adds and BlackEdge is sometimes used to refer to the combination that includes the future ECP5 core, which is also confusing.

Also have a look at the BlackIce wiki [17] and BlackIce Mx eBook [18] in that blog note. Plus of course My FPGA notes (IceCore connections).

IceCore Getting Started’s design

I follow the example from IceCore Getting Started at My FPGA notes [12]. Plus help on the myStorm forum, at IceCore getting _really_ Started on macOS where @folknology and @AndyCap helped. Observe I am always using Apple Mac and macOS.

Cloning the example code from GitHub

mymachine:~ teig$ git clone https://github.com/folknology/IceCore.git
Cloning into 'IceCore'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 104, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (104/104), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (73/73), done.
remote: Total 1294 (delta 44), reused 71 (delta 26), pack-reused 1190
Receiving objects: 100% (1294/1294), 26.51 MiB | 8.40 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (643/643), done.
Checking connectivity... done.

Plugging the IceCore to my machine and flashing it with new code

When I plug my micro USB cable to the rightmost connector on the IceCore the leftmost blue and the rightmost red LEDs are lit. In addition the center four LEDs are blinking. This is what it came with out of the box. Now we’ll reprogram it:

Downloading binary from Verilog example code

Open two terminal windows. The first goes like this:

Last login: Tue Nov 19 18:46:41 on ttys002
-bash: /private/tmp/com.apple.launchd..../org.macosforge.xquartz:0: Permission denied
Mountain Lion: X11 at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5293 XQuartz-2.7.4.dmg
XQuartz (is X11) must be running
“Øyvind 2013.01.09 17:49 - running .profile C”
mymachine:~ teig$ bash
bash-3.2$ cat /dev/cu.usbmodem1421

<myStorm 0.601>

And the second Terminal window. This may be started any time, but the STM32 bootloader’s message <myStorm 0.601> must be present before the chip.bin is downloaded to it:

Last login: Tue Nov 19 20:34:38 on ttys003
-bash: /private/tmp/com.apple.launchd..../org.macosforge.xquartz:0: Permission denied
Mountain Lion: X11 at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5293 XQuartz-2.7.4.dmg
XQuartz (is X11) must be running
“Øyvind 2013.01.09 17:49 - running .profile C”
mymachine:~ teig$ cd IceCore/Examples/blink
mymachine:blink teig$ ls
Makefile	blink.pcf	blink.v		chip.bin	chip.blif	chip.txt	chip.v		readme.txt
mymachine:blink teig$ cat chip.bin >/dev/cu.usbmodem1421
mymachine:blink teig$

Now the red LED shall blink. I will come back with compiling via make. This download also contains files like IceCore.sch (see below).

Flashing the code

@folknology wrote that «if you want it to be permanent switch the board into flash mode by pressing the mode button, the yellow LED will come on to indicate flash mode. Now when you program it, it writes to flash and will be permanent».  This works!

Where is the USB connection and driver?

To check that the cable is ok for more than charging, start a Terminal window. Then run:

ioreg -p IOUSB

Among the other USB devices you should see the IceCore as something like this:

-o STM32 Virtual ComPort@14200000  <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x10000bdd7, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (22 ms), retain 13>

Plus, if you, in the Terminal window do:

cd /
cd dev
bash-3.2# ls cu.usb*
cu.usbmodem1421

The driver for the IceCore i cu.usbmodem1421. It appeared when the unit was plugged in. Observe that macOS will return different values, but here ComPort@14200000 relates to cu.usbmodem1421. It’s plus 1 kind of (1420+1=1421). See USB driver @address plus 1? on the myStorm forum.

Current consumption

The IceCore draws 50-60 mA @ 5.04V USB. Rather impressing how little these millions of transistors need.

Building the code with make

The example source directories contain the makefile file. Open it in TextEdit just to see. You run it simply by typing make in Terminal. The log file is here:

195 – make blink log file – first part is initial build, and second part is the diff of the build logs:

I modified in blink.v from 24 to 26 and rebuilt. The diff log is in the second part of the file referred above. It now blinks 4 times slower. From a period of 1.34 s to 5.36 s. Even if I thought that this did not hint at a basic 25 MHz clk, it certainly does. Again, @lawrie helped me get things in place at the myStorm forum, see Blink example, clk frequency and blinking rate: the period is of course N+1 bits (25 and 27).

/******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
* Copyright 2016 myStorm Copyright and related                                *
* rights are licensed under the Solderpad Hardware License, Version 0.51      *
* (the “License”); you may not use this file except in compliance with        *
* the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at                        *
* http://solderpad.org/licenses/SHL-0.51. Unless required by applicable       *
* law or agreed to in writing, software, hardware and materials               *
* distributed under this License is distributed on an “AS IS” BASIS,          *
* WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or             *
* implied. See the License for the specific language governing                *
* permissions and limitations under the License.                              *
*                                                                             *
******************************************************************************/

module blink(input clk, output led);
        /* clk is 25 MHz */
	reg [26:0] count; /* orig 24 */

	assign led = count[26]; /* orig 24 */

	always @(posedge clk)
		count <= count + 1;

endmodule

Also see Automatic generation of Makefile? on myStorm forum.

CAD/drawing tool iCircuit, Eagle, Fritzing or..?

This chapter also turned out to become an overview of some circuit drawing tools.

iCircuit

CAD-tool, graphical circuit diagram editor. This is for those who might use iCircuit (http://icircuitapp.com) by Krueger Systems. Update 15Mar2022: see My iCircuit notes.

The Comp_BlackIceMx.zip contains the following files:

Comp_BlackIceMx_MXn_generic.icircuit
Comp_BlackIceMx_MXn_generic.pdf
Comp_BlackIceMx_MX1.icircuit
Comp_BlackIceMx_MX1.pdf	
Comp_BlackIceMx_MX2.icircuit
Comp_BlackIceMx_MX2.pdf	
Comp_BlackIceMx_MX3.icircuit
Comp_BlackIceMx_MX3.pdf	
Drawing_100_TransparentIceBox.icircuit // Just to see how MX1-MX3 looks when used
Drawing_100_TransparentIceBox.pdf

Eagle, Cadsoft, Autodesk

However, I see in the IceCore.sch (dowloaded, see above) that it starts with

<!DOCTYPE eagle SYSTEM "eagle.dtd">
<eagle version="7.7.0">

which means that the IceCore people use Eagle (here). I read it is from CadSoft since its inception in 1988, but since 2016 as Autodesk. Trying to make an account on the Eagle pages I already had one, in the name of Autodesk of course. However, I see that it costs 191 NOK per month (but cheaper for you guys: UK 12£, US 15$) – ruled out for me. I don’t want subscriptions of that type and size. But there is a limited and free download (compare here – also referred to from the Norwegian page). I did download Autodesk_EAGLE_9.5.2_English_Mac_64bit.pkg and the install took more than 500 MB. I started it (with a log-on), and I do see that I probably should learn to input to it. But as a start I can now open the sch-files that come with IceStorm.

Fritzing

I already have Fritzing installed – but then, I like to draw diagrams with IEC symbols, not connection-type diagrams as starting points.

Update 15Mar2022: I’m trying again, in connection with my My Beep-BRRR notes project, in competition with KiCad. So I’ve made a page: My fritzing notes. I have been using iCircuit, which I love. But then it doesn’t have PCB layout.

KiCad

The KiCad tool was suggested in myStorm forum (9). Update 15Mar2022: I’m trying this too, in connection with my My Beep-BRRR notes project, in competition with fritzing. So I’ve made a page: My KiCad notes. Repeating from above, I have been using iCircuit, which I love. But then it doesn’t have PCB layout.

Circuit Simulator

http://www.falstad.com/ – Circuit drawing and simulation. Nice export properies. Very interesting product.

By Paul Falstad. Originally written in Java for Applets. However, most have now been converted to JavaScript by Iain Sharp. Falstad also has a lot of other very interesting apps.

(Thanks, son Andreas for this tip)

My open scratchpad

Connecting not yet existing boards

1. I have queried about how 5V goes through on the myStorm forum (here)
2. Level shifting needed for Adafruit 1721 and 2038 LED boards (above)
   1. Adafruit product 757 (here) is a bidirectional level shifter that also works with the pull-ups of the I2C bus
   2. Also a SparkFun BOB-12009 here (available from DigiKey in Norway)
   3. They both to follow NXP (Philips) application note AN10441 (here)
   4. There are circuit diagram examples from Adafruit products that have built-in level shifting, like displays (here).
   5. It is based on the N-channel BSS138 MOSFET, which does not seem to have any through hole versions (StackExchange: here). At Elfa Distrelec in SOT-23 as 300-41-274 (here). SOT-23 since I have Adafruit SMT breakout boards 1230 (here)
   6. I have an I2C isolater click board from MIKROE (here). It is based on an Texas Instriments ISO1540 (here). But this isolates as well as shifts levels

Chisel

Chisel is based on Scala, runs on JVM and generates Verilog. But it’s based on the same abstraction level as Verilog/VHDL, like wire end register. It’s supposed to be a «modern Verilog» with OOP, functional programming, parameterising of classes, plus functions etc. (03Aug2021, quoted from a letter from a student at NTNU, who by this triggered me on this theme again). See point 13 (below) – where SpinalHDL and nmigen are also mentioned (but the two latter don’t have Wikipedia pages..)

myStorm forum

Newest on the bottom. I am only listing those that I have started. I give summaries, but you need to go there to get the details and see who took the time to answer:

1. Continues from here
2. Kneading on which breadboard? There are four expander/extender breadboards. This topic also contains an overview of them all plus circuit diagrams:. More in the post:
   1. MixMod Breadboard
   2. MixMod Proto
   3. MixMod Tester (Extender)
   4. MixMod 7-Segment Adaptor
3. Driving LEDs directly from ICE40 pins? – 05Nov2019
   1. Pin outputs are max. 3V3 @ max 8 mA (push to max-0.4V and also pull low to 0.4V)
   2. Direct connection of 24 LEDs @ 1k should then be ok (about 1mW per LED)
   3. There are no high current LED driving pins on the ICE40 that’s used on the Mx board
4. I2C as in comm bus or something else? – 05Nov2019
   1. I2C or I²C is always, in any context Philips communication with SDA and SCL lines etc.
   2. Any I2C functionality from the ICE40 must be done in Verilog. Any pin may be used. There is a reference to an I2C «core» (as they call it) in the post
   3. The STM32 processor has SPI and I2C pins also on the BlackEdge connectors. There is a url to a diagram of the connections in the post
   4. Download of ICE40 configuration is via the USB PRG connector to the STM32 and then over SPI to ICE40. More in the post
   5. The Lattice documentation is difficult to read because they make it rather generic and then it’s difficult to extract what’s in it for me
5. IceCore Getting _really_ Started on macOS – 19Nov2019
6. USB driver @address plus 1? – 20Nov2019
7. Automatic generation of Makefile? – 20Nov2019
8. Blink example, clk frequency and blinking rate – 21Nov2019
9. CAD or drawing tool? – 01Dec2019 (CAD-tool, graphical circuit diagram editor)
   • KiCad was suggested and is free: http://www.kicad-pcb.org (I will use it on my next circuit diagram)
10. Hard to find P16,P17,P20,P21 in blackice-mx.pcf – 14Dec2019
11. Potentially dangerous to connect a button directly to an FGPA pin? – 18Dec2019
12. Magic clk 60 represents pin number or 25 MHz speed? – 28Dec2019
13. Chisel, the big picture? – 10Jan2020 (more on Chisel above)
    • Raising the level of abstraction in digital design with Chisel3 and FIRRTL
      by Jack Koenig, SiFive (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SiFive) at
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FCZLrauDcE&amp;feature=youtu.be