zet.aluzina.org

Being a complete FPGA newbie... (please don't slap me hard)

I was wondering is anyone had ported Zet to the C-One board yet? And if so... could they pass on a link, email, how-to-docs, etc?

I'm very keen on getting Zet onto my C-One, but really don't want to reinvent the wheel unless I have too.

Can anybody help?

-Blair
Basingstoke, UK
Complete FPGA Newbie
blairc64(at)googlemail.com

No one has worked on this. But you are welcome to do it

I don't know this board, but if you tell me which type of FPGA it has, we can try to do it, as we are also porting the system to the Xilinx ML505. It should be quite easy to do it.

For example, you can try to compile the processor with the synthesizer and see if it compiles without errors...

The 3 FPGAs on the board are:

ACEX 1K30 (Not used for Core from what I can gather from my other core examples... just used for booting System in order to flash cores)

ACEX 1K100 (Main FPGA for 8-bit System Cores)
Cyclone3 (On extender board, used for 16-bit System Cores like Minimig)

I'm assuming all of them are from Altera since it's their Quartus suite that I've been using to compile cores. But I'm not doing much more then "Follow the instructions" so far. Trying to understand things. I did say newbie.... right?

I'm hoping that it will make for a good platform for x86 style cores since it's got IDE on board and working (with Minimig). Would be nice to get something like my old 286 running those old Dos Games.

I'll see where I can get with the Zet Docs then... and ask for help as needed.

-Blair

FYI

The Spec from the wiki says:

The C-One has two FPGAs, one is an ACEX 1K30 the other an ACEX 1K100. The smaller 1K30 is responsible for booting the system. It runs a z80/6502 hybrid CPU after booting to support the core running on the 1K100 with extra features. The 1K100 is where most of the emulation cores are running as this FPGA has more logic cells en embedded memory in comparison with the 1K30.

The 1K100 contains 4992 LEs (Logic Elements), 49152 bits of memory and has 147 user assignable pins.
The 1K30 contains ? LEs (Logic Elements), ? bits of memory and has ? user assignable pins.

Yes,

I see Altera everywhere. Good. We have good support for Altera devices. But I think that these ACEX devices may be a bit small for holding all Zet design. You have to search for an FPGA that is connected with the flash memory, RAM memory and the video signals at least to see something on screen. You may need to look it at the datasheet of the board.

Good luck with your search!!

Porting to the C-One is not going to be trivial, and I'd suggest most probably beyond the skills of a self-confessed FPGA newbie I'm afraid.

The problem with the C-One is that the peripheral I/O is distributed across the two main-board FPGAs, and the design has to be partitioned between them accordingly. In addition, the so-called "extender card" is IIUC now considered to be the "main" FPGA (Cyclone III) and it now has to communicate with the hardware via two (2) FPGAs. There's also a couple of CPLDs on there as well which I believe can be configured for different designs.

There are preliminary porting documents on the C-One site, but I'm not sure they're completely adequate for a full-scale development - I could be wrong though.

I'd suggest, with the greatest of respect, that you wait until someone with more experience attempts a port, as the information you require will probably not be forthcoming from anyone on the Zet forums due to the C-One specific issues.

I agree that ACEX are not comfortable for runing Zet, they are pretty old chips.

http://www.altera.com/literature/lit-acx.jsp

DS here.
Maybe it's more easy to get DE1 with EP2C20

Far enough about me, being a newbie, not probably being able to tackle the port. Might still give it a try.

Of course, I'd love to just wait for someone else to do the port for me.

But... if it's not on anyone's radar right now for projects... Then I'm happy to give it a crack. I love failing, it means that I've tried something fun normally.

-Blair
C-One loving FPGA Newbie.

Just try to port Zet to that additional Cyclone III and configure ACEX'es just to connect memories, connectors, VGA to cyclone pins, if it possible.

That'd be the way to go for sure. IIUC you'll need to implement some sort of serial protocol to connect to some of the periperals, including video, so it's not just as matter of configuring the ACEX parts as straight-thru conduits unfortunately.

Ok... I've gotten the CPU to compile. And I've begun adding it to a "blank" C-One Extenderboard project.

What "instances" are needed to get something on-screen?

-Blair
Baby steps... Sorry.