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TinyFPGA A-Series Programmer PCB

A project log for TinyFPGA A-Series

Low-cost, open-source FPGA boards in a tiny form factor.

luke-valentyLuke Valenty 08/05/2017 at 05:170 Comments

I will be out of town next week so I decided I might as well design and order some TinyFPGA Programmer boards now so they might be ready by the time I get back.  It's a very simple design.  It follows the breadboard circuit closely while substituting through hole components with their surface mount counterparts.  

The schematic and PCB layout are currently available on GitHub if you want to take a closer look: https://github.com/tinyfpga/TinyFPGA-A-Programmer

If you look closely at J2 and J3 you'll see that the holes are offset a bit.  I did this because I thought it would nice if some quick and dirty programming could be done without having to solder on headers.  My thought for this board was to be a cheap and convenient alternative to the FTDI based programmers, 5-pin female sockets are relatively expensive around $0.70.  That makes it the second most expensive part right behind the PIC16F1455.  We'll see how well this works in practice when the boards come back.

I ordered the PCBs from OSH Park, stencils from OSH Stencils, and parts from Mouser.  Should have some fun assembling them when I'm back in town.  At that point I'll need to create a separate project page for the programmer.

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