Altera Stratix III Development Board - Manual (Page 27)

Chapter 2: Board Components 2–19
Configuration, Status, and Setup Elements
May 2013 Altera Corporation Stratix III 3SL150 Development Board
Reference Manual
FPGA Programming from Flash Memory
On power-up or after pressing the RESET_CONFIG or FACTORY_CONFIG
push-button switch, the MAX II CPLD device’s parallel flash loader (PFL)
megafunction configures the Stratix III FPGA from flash memory.
The PFL megafunction reads 16-bit data from the flash memory and converts it to
passive serial format. The data is written to the Stratix III device’s dedicated DCLK and
D0
configuration pins at 12 MHz.
You can source the FPGA configuration from flash memory from one of eight images.
The image is selected by the PGM Config Select rotary switch, board reference SW3.
The rotary switch has 16 positions, but only the first eight are used. The positions
correspond to an offset in flash memory where the PFL is directed to for FPGA
configuration data.
1
Board reference SW1 position 4 (SW1.4), labeled MAX_ENABLE, must be in the 0 position
(off) to enable the configuring from flash memory feature.
Flash Programming over USB Interface
You can program the flash memory at any time the board is powered up using the
USB 2.0 interface and the Quartus II Programmer’s JTAG mode.
The development kit implements the Altera PFL megafunction for flash
programming. The PFL is a block of logic that is programmed into an Altera
programmable logic device (FPGA or CPLD). The PFL functions as a utility for
writing to a compatible flash device. The development kit ships with a pre-built PFL
design called stratixIII_3sl150_dev_pfl. The PFL design is programmed onto the
FPGA whenever the flash is to be written using the Quartus II software.
f For more information about:
■ The PFL megafunction, refer to AN 386: Using the Parallel Flash Loader with the
Quartus II Software .
■ Basic flash programming instructions for the development board, refer to
Appendix A: Programming the Flash Device in the
Stratix III Development Kit User
Guide .
Status Elements
The development board includes general user, board specific, and HSMC
user-defined LEDs. This section discusses board-specific LEDs as well as the power
display device. For information about general and HSMC user-defined LEDS, refer to
“User-Defined LEDs” on page 2–30 .