[hpsdr] one Metis down...

[Phil Harman]

Hi Joe,

Good to hear that your are operational again.

Just to note that if you load a file into Metis' flash memory, using a USB
Blaster,  that has not been merged with the Bootloader code then you will
overwrite the original Bootloader and it will no longer function.

The details as to how to merge the files are in the documentation.

John's HPSDRProgrammer code knows about the Bootloader and adds the new
code without overwriting it.

During developemt what I normally do is JTAG load the FPGA using my USB
Blaster since its faster than erasing then programming the flash memory. 
JTAG loading also does not overwrite the flash memory but is volatile.

Once the code is working I merge the Bootloader code and load the flash
memory.

Good luck with porting your diversity code to Metis.

73 Phil...VK6APH


> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>
> RRR, Phil.  Understood.  Thanks!
>
> What is interesting about my recent experience with the Metis EEPROM
> losing it's mind is that I could not recover from this fault by using
> the HPSDRProgrammer  bootloader mode.  It was necessary for me to use
> the Quartus II Programmer to load the file "output_file.pof" (which
> Jeremy kindly provided to me!) in order to recover from this
> particular failure.
>
> After loading the output_file.pof using a blaster cable in conjunction
> with the Quartus II Programmer utility I now am able to use both the
> normal programming mode and the bootloader mode in the HPSDRProgrammer
> utility to update code in the Metis board that previously had failed.
> However, should the "no-LEDs-at-all-showing" failure occur again on
> this board, I suspect that the bootloader mode in HPSDRProgrammer will
> once again not allow me to recover.  I suspect that in this failure
> mode it will be necessary for me to once again load the
> "output_file.pof" into the EEPROM using a blaster cable and the
> Quartus II Programmer to recover.
>
> In any case, thank you all very much for your helpful comments and
> providing me with the necessary files to get back up with this Metis
> board!
>
> 73,  Joe K5SO
>
>
>
> On Feb 20, 2011, at 6:27 PM, Phil Harman wrote:
>>
>> With Metis we have tried to move away from the Altera Quartus
>> programming
>> software since it changes frequently and is not as user friendly as
>> John's
>> HPSDRProgrammer software. We feel that being able to update the
>> code, both
>> in Metis and other HPSDR boards, via Ethernet is a step forward.
>
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