Frequently asked questions about actel, The ispvm virtual machine – Dataman 40Pro User Manual
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PG4UW
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Information about converting PDB file to JAM STAPLE for ACTEL
devices
Actel PDB file is a proprietary file format that can be supported by Actel programmers only,
e.g. FlashPro programmer. PG4UW control program can program Actel devices only with Jam
STAPL file. Therefore a file conversion between PDB and STAPL is necessary.
Converting PDB file to Jam STAPL file for ACTEL devices:
install software tool FlashPro (component of Actel Libero tool suite or can be downloads
from
run FlashPro
click the New Project button or from the File menu choose New Project and type in the
name of your project in the Project Name field. Select desired programming mode – single
device or chain and click OK
from the Configuration menu, choose Load Programming File and select corresponding
*.pdb file to convert
from the File menu, choose Export/Export Single Device STAPL File... Type in file name
and click Save button for export STAPL file to the directory you specified
Conversion of PDB file to STAPL has finish and created *.stp file can be used for
programming Actel device.
Frequently asked questions about Actel
Q: How can be identify/verify already programmed Actel device?
A: There are several possible options to get this done. Each option(action) is varying from
each other in method of comparing already programmed Actel device with loaded STAPL
file. There are the following appropriate mentioned actions in a STP file:
DEVICE_INFO: read and among other things display to log window also the checksum of
the programming environment programmed into the device. This value can be manually
compared by user with the value in the header of the STAPL file (can be viewed in
Information window). Caution: Value of the programmed device checksum isn't counting
from existing(maybe corrupted) device data content however this value is stored during
programming to special memory localization and is only reading!
VERIFY_DEVICE_INFO: similar options as previous with difference in automatic
comparison of programmed device checksum and STAPLE file checksum. The result of
comparison can be either success or error window message.
VERIFY: the safest but the slowest(~tens of seconds depends on device capacity against
~1 second in options 1 and 2) option for data compare programmed device content with
content of STAPLE file. Comparison selected family features(FPGA Array, targeted
FlashROM pages, security setting...) is executing bit by bit and verification process can be
early terminated if data mismatch occurs with writing error message to log window.
Q: Is it possible to program Actel device with two different STAPLE file in one program action
in PG4UW?
A: Yes, it is possible. PG4UW control program has built-in multi-project solution for
mentioned situation. As an example can be programming data content (first STAPL file)
together with security encryption key(second STAPL file).
The IspVM Virtual Machine
The IspVM Virtual Machine is a Virtual Machine that has been optimized specifically for
programming devices which are compatible with the IEEE 1149.1 Standard for Boundary
Scan Test. The IspVM EMBEDDED tool combines the power of Lattice's IspVM Virtual