JTAG debugging for chipscope

Hi all,

I have JTAG connection available in my board, but want to make it USB, will the normal JTAG-to-USB ports from digilant etc. work for this purpose, or are they only specific for their own board types.

I want to use JTAG for Chipscope.

Bests,

I'm not at all sure what you're asking here.

Are you looking to use USB to communicate with the Chipscope cores? The Chipscope cores are connected to the internal JTAG bus and there is no support for using USB to communicate with the cores.

You have to connect to the JTAG port of the FPGA to a Xilinx JTAG pod (a USB-II pod if you want to connect it to a modern computer as opposed to a Parallel Port IV cable). The Xilinx pod requires a driver, which is normally installed when you install the ISE/Vivado software suite (unless you declined the driver installation).

ads_ee said:

I'm not at all sure what you're asking here.

Are you looking to use USB to communicate with the Chipscope cores? The Chipscope cores are connected to the internal JTAG bus and there is no support for using USB to communicate with the cores.

You have to connect to the JTAG port of the FPGA to a Xilinx JTAG pod (a USB-II pod if you want to connect it to a modern computer as opposed to a Parallel Port IV cable). The Xilinx pod requires a driver, which is normally installed when you install the ISE/Vivado software suite (unless you declined the driver installation).

Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply,

What I meant to say is this...

Yes, I want to use USB for communication as this is the only methood I learn using ML605 kit. But in the external DSP board,I have a JTAG connector and connection available with my board and now I need to communicate it through USB to the Chipscope. As you know that with standard Xilinx development board or Digilent board they the provide their JTAG to USB coonectors or built-in conversions something like that....But In my case since I only have on board JTAG connector, and I need to communicate through chipscope, How?

Do I have to make the connector or buy some Jtag-usb conversion cable and will it work fine, like the one linked here at digilant site
Hope it explain better.

Bests,
FiF

FixitFast said:

But In my case since I only have on board JTAG connector, and I need to communicate through chipscope, How?

Click to expand...

Get a Xilinx Platform cable: http://www.xilinx.com/products/boards-and-kits/HW-USB-II-G.htm

Do I have to make the connector or buy some Jtag-usb conversion cable and will it work fine, like the one linked here at digilant site

Click to expand...

I seriously doubt this would work. I'm pretty sure chipscope requires the Xilinx cable to communicate with the core as the instructions involved are all custom. I'm sure a custom driver could be implemented, but why would you when the cable isn't that expensive. I bought one for one for home use. Without the custom driver I'm not sure there is anyway for the CS analyzer to communicate with the devices on your board. I suppose you could always try it out. If it works great! But don't forget to post the results to this thread so everyone can benefit.

I could be wrong in my current sleep-is-for-tomorrow state, but ... as far as I know all you need is jtag for chipscope goodness. Didn't it go a little like this: jtag => bscan => icon => the rest of chipscope stuff? As in, as long as you can do a boundary scan with your jtag you are golden. A xilinx platform cable like ads_ee showed will certainly do the trick. That digilent jtag cable will also work (have used a similar one from digilent myself in the past). But really anything that implements a proper jtag interface should do, since all you really need is that bscan to wiggle the pins on your chipscope icon.

So with a bit of luck, if your board already has jtag you should be able to use it via chipscope. PROVIDED there is a plugin for that in ISE. If that is not the case and you value your time and like a handy extra tool in the toolbox ... get a standalone jtag tool like either the xilinx one (cheapo's on ebay) or one from digilent. For digilent there's an ISE plugin. The standalone jtag tool has the following benefits: 1) just works, and you can stop wasting time ... and 2) you can also use it for other purposes like optimizing the capabilities of consumer electronics.