We have PCBs!
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Chris McClelland
Sep 13, 2012, 1:27:22 PM9/13/12
to umdkv...@googlegroups.com
The FPGA PCBs came back from the factory!
The soldering techniques I had developed for my home-etched PCBs don't
work very well on professionally-made boards; the solder-mask means
there's no easy way to get rid of excess solder. I ruined a couple of
boards before I realised that when soldering to professionally-made
PCBs, less is more! Now I have a fairly good soldering technique that
seems to work reliably, so hopefully no more wastage.
Pics here:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/116069803225736590944/posts/Pg59sVoj8Fq
Unfortunately I will need to cut one track and solder on a couple of
wires because I wired the FIFO interface to use USB EP6OUT and EP8IN,
but in order to get the full 43MiB/s it should use EP2OUT & EP6IN.
Also there is a minor error in the schematic which means the EEPROM
isolation jumper *must* be in place in order for the board to boot.
This link is only needed to get back to a good state if bad firmware
is loaded into the EEPROM, so it should not affect "ordinary" users of
UMDKv2.
Over the next few days I'll finish building this board (EEPROM & SDRAM
needed), get the FIFO interface working, test the SDRAM, add the
firmware code needed to handle the large (1MiB) EEPROM and do various
tests. Then I need to build up a second board which I can use as a
"gold standard". Then I need to make a new release of FPGALink (the
host-side library, USB controller firmware and HDL code the host
computer uses to exchange data with the FPGA). I can then start
designing the MegaDrive daughterboard, which should be fairly
straightforward. I'll probably make one or two at home first before
getting boards professionally made - it's cheaper and the turnaround
is quicker.
Chris
The soldering techniques I had developed for my home-etched PCBs don't
work very well on professionally-made boards; the solder-mask means
there's no easy way to get rid of excess solder. I ruined a couple of
boards before I realised that when soldering to professionally-made
PCBs, less is more! Now I have a fairly good soldering technique that
seems to work reliably, so hopefully no more wastage.
Pics here:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/116069803225736590944/posts/Pg59sVoj8Fq
Unfortunately I will need to cut one track and solder on a couple of
wires because I wired the FIFO interface to use USB EP6OUT and EP8IN,
but in order to get the full 43MiB/s it should use EP2OUT & EP6IN.
Also there is a minor error in the schematic which means the EEPROM
isolation jumper *must* be in place in order for the board to boot.
This link is only needed to get back to a good state if bad firmware
is loaded into the EEPROM, so it should not affect "ordinary" users of
UMDKv2.
Over the next few days I'll finish building this board (EEPROM & SDRAM
needed), get the FIFO interface working, test the SDRAM, add the
firmware code needed to handle the large (1MiB) EEPROM and do various
tests. Then I need to build up a second board which I can use as a
"gold standard". Then I need to make a new release of FPGALink (the
host-side library, USB controller firmware and HDL code the host
computer uses to exchange data with the FPGA). I can then start
designing the MegaDrive daughterboard, which should be fairly
straightforward. I'll probably make one or two at home first before
getting boards professionally made - it's cheaper and the turnaround
is quicker.
Chris
Chris Smith
Sep 13, 2012, 1:41:24 PM9/13/12
to umdkv...@googlegroups.com
Chris,
the SMT on close up Photos looks great; you can tell that it's not
been soldered by Machine but is well done given its size. I wouldn't
be far too scared to anywhere near anything that tiny :D
I shall be flying back to the UK for Replay on the 12th - 15th and
then around Halloween in London. If you have some Time then it would
be nice to meet up.
Good work. Let me know when you need Cash transferring ;)
Chris.
the SMT on close up Photos looks great; you can tell that it's not
been soldered by Machine but is well done given its size. I wouldn't
be far too scared to anywhere near anything that tiny :D
I shall be flying back to the UK for Replay on the 12th - 15th and
then around Halloween in London. If you have some Time then it would
be nice to meet up.
Good work. Let me know when you need Cash transferring ;)
Chris.
Chris McClelland
Sep 13, 2012, 2:16:59 PM9/13/12
to umdkv...@googlegroups.com
Sounds good! Hopefully by then I'll at least have games running from
the UMDKv2 board, and enough spare boards so you can take some home
with you.
the UMDKv2 board, and enough spare boards so you can take some home
with you.
Chris Smith
Sep 13, 2012, 3:07:46 PM9/13/12
to umdkv...@googlegroups.com
Chris,
that'd be great. Which part of London are you in?
Chris.
that'd be great. Which part of London are you in?
Chris.
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