Design trade-offs, Configuration methods galore, Voltages for all applications – Xilinx MIcroblaze Development Spartan-3E 1600E User Manual
Page 13: Related resources
MicroBlaze Development Kit Spartan-3E 1600 Edition User Guide
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UG257 (v1.1) December 5, 2007
Design Trade-Offs
R
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8-pin DIP socket for auxiliary clock oscillator
Design Trade-Offs
A few system-level design trade-offs were required in order to provide the MicroBlaze
Development Kit board with the most functionality.
Configuration Methods Galore!
A typical FPGA application uses a single non-volatile memory to store configuration
images. To demonstrate new Spartan-3E capabilities, the MicroBlaze Development Kit
board has three different configuration memory sources that all need to function well
together. The extra configuration functions make the starter kit board more complex than
typical Spartan-3E applications.
The starter kit board also includes an on-board USB-based JTAG programming interface.
The on-chip circuitry simplifies the device programming experience. In typical
applications, the JTAG programming hardware resides off-board or in a separate
programming module, such as the Xilinx Platform USB cable. This USB port is for
programming only and can not be used as an independent USB interface.
Voltages for all Applications
The MicroBlaze Development Kit board showcases a triple-output regulator developed by
Texas Instruments, the
specifically to power Spartan-3 and Spartan-3E FPGAs.
This regulator is sufficient for most stand-alone FPGA applications. However, the starter
kit board includes DDR SDRAM, which requires its own high-current supply. Similarly,
the USB-based JTAG download solution requires a separate 1.8V supply.
Related Resources
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Xilinx MicroBlaze Soft Processor
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Xilinx PicoBlaze Soft Processor
//www.xilinx.com/picoblaze
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Xilinx Embedded Development Kit
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Xilinx software tutorials
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Texas Instruments TPS75003