GAL tools for Linux?

[Eric Y. Chang]

Hi. I was wondering if there were any GAL tools for Linux, kind
of like what Lattice has for Windows 98. I checked geda, and it
seems like the big thing that was missing was netlist optimization
and translation to JEDEC fuse files.

Thanks,
Eric

[Graham Seaman]

Eric Y. Chang (er...@nntp-server.caltech.edu) wrote:
: Hi. I was wondering if there were any GAL tools for Linux, kind

If you're interested in trying to create one let me know. If got
as far as a very primitive jedec reader and stopped for now...
would be nice to have someone to talk to about this...

Graham

[Ingo Cyliax]

A long time ago, I ported a GAL/PAL assembler (plpl) to Unix and
wrote some JEDEC generators for it. It can still be found at:

ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/goo/PLD

and I believe it will compile and work under Linux, although I haven't
tried lately. I have only used it for PLDC20G10 and PAL22V10 and it's
pretty robust.

We also had a PLDC20G10 programming utility and built our own programmer,
but these parts are essentialy obsolete now. We never got around to
building a 22v10 burner, since there are too many versions, each with a
different algorithm and voltages. The lab that used all this, is now
using FPGAs.

There is also a DOS version of plpl and palasm in the directory that
should run under dosemu, if you want to go that route.

If someone has some free PLD/JEDEC tools (especially under Linux/Unix),
I'd be happy to add them to this ftp site for downloading.

See ya, -ingo

--
/* Ingo Cyliax, cyl...@derivation.com */

[Graham Seaman]

Ingo Cyliax (cyl...@cs.indiana.edu) wrote:
: A long time ago, I ported a GAL/PAL assembler (plpl) to Unix and

: wrote some JEDEC generators for it. It can still be found at:
:
: ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/goo/PLD
:
: and I believe it will compile and work under Linux, although I haven't
: tried lately. I have only used it for PLDC20G10 and PAL22V10 and it's
: pretty robust.

:
It worked fine under Linux last time I tried (only tried 22v10s).
But IIRC the front-end is proprietary, and your back-end is a little
specialised to the particular PLD types. I was hoping one day to have
a more general tool a) to play around with espresso and other minimization
algorithms in a realistic context, and b) to try to work out something for the
bigger CPLD types (and c, just for the fun/learning experience of
doing it ;-) Also it would be nice to have something that integrates
with gEDA and friends... but its excellent to have your jedec generator
available as a model for how to do it :-)

best wishes
Graham

[Eric Y. Chang]

Hi Ingo. Which directory is this code in? I noticed that there was
quite a bit in the plpl directory, but it seemed like the original
build.

plpl seems to be the active directory. There is a lot of good
documentation in here. The JEDEC generator, JM, seems to be
in the ./jedec directory, rather than the plpl directory, as the
documentation indicates. What is ./pld? Is it the ported version?
Or is it a simplified, but complete, toolchain.
Which are the active tools to use? ./pld and ./jedec
or ./plpl and ./jedec?

Sorry about all the questions, but I am kind of confused by all the
programs and directories. These look like good tools.

I saw something else interesting: IspExpert on the Lattice site.
But this requires Windows, so that means Wine. This involves
additional hassle. My logic synthesis skills are not that great,
so tackling too large of a project is scary to me.

Thanks for the help.

Eric

Ingo Cyliax (cyl...@cs.indiana.edu) wrote:
: A long time ago, I ported a GAL/PAL assembler (plpl) to Unix and
: wrote some JEDEC generators for it. It can still be found at:

: ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/goo/PLD

: and I believe it will compile and work under Linux, although I haven't
: tried lately. I have only used it for PLDC20G10 and PAL22V10 and it's
: pretty robust.

: We also had a PLDC20G10 programming utility and built our own programmer,