With the PCB and parts finally back, and working pointers printed in safety orange, I started assembling. About 10 minutes of soldering later, the finished board looked greatNow I needed a face for my gauge. I broke out word for windows (I know,...
Now with everything built and wired up to the Arduino, I had one last step. I needed to get my PC to share its processor utilization data with the Arduino. I figured I would be writing up some software in C# to do this, but found an even simpler way....
While I do have a working system, I still am not done with the project - I'd like to ditch the Arduino and use a PIC or AVR to drive the motor. I'd also like to get the entire assembly mounted in a more gauge like enclosure. Something that would look...
For those interested, I setup a working directory on git for this project (https://github.com/sfgit/FPGA_Arduino_Shield). I've uploaded a few libraries today also for the FPs and a !very! generic PCB (just the imported board shape and some parts...
Realizing I've got heaps of room on this board, I've gone ahead and tweaked my choice of Flash memory. In this case, I'm still doing SPI programming of the FPGA, though using a Spansion part (at least for prototypes...I'll try and cost this down...
As the project unfolds, I've planned to produce some content - could be a video, could be a doc - that details the process I'm going thru. The first video in that series is posted now on YouTube and available for viewing at: This video really...
Completed the first part of the FPGA wiring for Master Serial / SPI mode - i.e. configuring the FPGA from SPI flash. Created a video that details some of the nuances and aims to explain the wiring in the schematic a bit. Files uploaded to...
Uploaded files to my git repository with the JTAG wiring completed. Video to follow. The basics are pretty straight forward:- Broke out JTAG signals- Add pullups to ensure JTAG is always in a known state- Add terminations - Generate...
FPGA decoupling can be tricky to sort out without some guidance. Thankfully, Xilinx provides a pretty comprehensive PCB Layout guide that has specific recommendations for decoupling schemas for the PCB, based on specific parts and pin counts. I...
Updated the schematic over the weekend to clean up the wiring and group signals, sheets, etc. more intelligently. A new version of the source files and a PDF can be found on the git repository. A direct link to download the PDF can be...
Uploaded video no. 3 explaining the schematic overhaul, JTAG wiring (w/ a little background on JTAG - though focused on the implementation), and discussing the decoupling. For a detailed discussion of JTAG, I suggest having a look at...
Made a number of little tweaks this weekend and uploaded a new SRAM document, new SPI multiplexer doc, made tweaks to the top level to integrate these elements and just finalizing some bits here and there. Complete details in github. See...
Had some fun tonight playing around with PCB routing. You can see in the PDF in git or the PCB file (you'll need altium to open it) that I'm all about "pretty". :) Still a fair bit to finalize the routing and design and such but moving...
Uploaded the power supply design to git hub today. The supply is laid out in a way to allow either driving the system from the Arduino's 5V supply or using an external power adapter. The Arduino's 3V3 supply is tiny (very little current,...
Released a complete collection of manufacturing outputs including Gerber, NC Drill, ODB++, Testpoint files, & Pick and Place. All of these are for building proper prototypes. Expect to have boards in 5 days. 2 Days for assembly, a day...