CPE-269

Computer Design and Assembly Language Programming Laboratory

Computer Engineering Program
Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo

Revised for Winter 2009

Contents

• Experiments and Supplementary VHDL Files
• VHDL Resources
• PicoBlaze Resources
• Development Board Information
• Other Useful Stuff
• Links to Vendor Sites

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Experiments

• Experiment 1: VHDL Modeling of Standard Digital Circuits and an Introduction to VHDL Structural Modeling
• Experiment 2: A Systems Approach to Finite State Machine Design Using the Equation Method and One-Hot Encoding
  • clk_div.vhd (used in Experiments 2 - 6)
  • bin_sseg_dec.vhd
  • bin_sseg_dec_nexys.vhd
• Experiment 3: Implementing Finite State Machines Using VHDL Behavioral Modeling and its Application in a Control Unit / Datapath System Model
  • Support Notes: Experiment 3
  • univ_sr.vhd
• Experiment 4: Register Transfer Notation and Implementing a Manually Controlled Datapath
  • ssegdisp_4disp.vhd (used in Experiment 4 - 6)
• Experiment 5: Bus-Based Transfer Extensions to he Manually Controlled Datapath
• Experiment 6: Control Unit and ALU Extensions to the Manually Controlled Datapath
  • alu_ex.vhd
• Please ignore that fact that there is no experiment 7. Experiment 8 is really 7, and so forth.
• Experiment 8: Using a PicoBlaze Microcontroller for Bit Manipulations
  • PicoBlaze
  • Special added instructions for the experiment.
• Experiment 9: BCD to Seven-Segment Decoding and Display Multiplexing Using PicoBlaze
• Experiment 10: Basic Interrupt Handling and Polling Techniques Using PicoBlaze

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VHDL Resources

• Instructions for Downloading Free VHDL Design Tools
• VHDL Tutorial -- Long Version
• VHDL Tutorial -- Short Version
• VHDL Coding Guidelines
• VHDL Cheat Sheet
• VHDL Reference Card
• ModelSim Quick Reference
• Other Recommended VHDL Tutorial Sites
  •  http://www.acc-eda.com/vhdlref/index.html
  • http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/in/vlsi/vhdl.html
  • http://www.eng.auburn.edu/department/ee/mgc/vhdl.html
  • http://www.doulos.com/knowhow/vhdl_designers_guide/
  • http://www.vhdl-online.de/tutorial/
  • http://www.cs.ucr.edu/content/esd/labs/tutorial/

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PicoBlaze Resources

• PicoBlaze3 Reference Manual: Architecture Reference
• KCPSM3 Manual: Instruction Set Reference
• PicoBlaze3 Programming Cheat Sheet: Quick Reference
• PicoBlaze3 Programming Style Sheet: How Your Code Should Appear

PicoBlaze User's Manual: This is the full description of the PicoBlaze processor. Not all of the information contained in this document is useful so you may want to read it over before you print it out.

SimPicoBlaze: This is an assembler/simulator/debugger used for developing PicoBlaze assembly language programs. This executable self-installs the actual assembler and sets up a project for in the Xilinx ISE environment. This was tested with the 8.2 version of the Xilinx ISE tools but may not work with earlier versions. This simulator requires that you load the .NET framework which is available to download from the Microsoft website. The simulator is mostly self-explanatory but there also help options in simulator itself. This help, in conjunction with the PicoBlaze User's Manual and the CPE 269 Experiment 7 should be all you need to get you going writing and executing programs in the wonderful world of PicoBlaze.

The original PicoBlaze assembler provides more information than the SimPicoBlaze simulator regarding syntax errors in your assembly code. You may consider using this if you find yourself stuck on some syntax problem. This assembler is run from the command line. Information regarding using this assembler use can be found in the PicoBlaze User's Manual.

PicoBlaze Programming Model and Instruction Set: An overview of PicoBlaze that may reduce your urge to print out the full PicoBlaze User's Manual.

PicoBlaze Style File: This is an example of readable code. If you’re in doubt of how your assembly language program should appear, you may consider using this as a guideline.

PicoBlaze Nexys Port Information: This shows port and I/O device mapping for the Nexys Board as well as some other pertinent information.

PicoBlaze Cheat Sheet: A quick reference to the important programming aspects of PicoBlaze.

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Development Board Information

• Digilent Nexys Board
  • Reference Manual
  • Board Pinout
  • Xilinx Spartan3 FPGA
  • Xilinx XCF025 FlashPROM
  • USB Connection Directions (CPE-169, Experiment 1 for Nexys Board)
• Digilent Nexys2 Board
  • Nexys2 Reference Manual
  • Nexys2 Board Pinout
  • Xilinx Spartan3E FPGA
  • Xilinx XCF025 FlashPROM
  • USB Connection Directions (CPE-169, Experiment 1 for Nexys 2 Board)

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Other Useful Stuff

• Lab Report Writer's Guide
• ASCII Chart

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Links to Vendor Sites

• Digilent, makers of the Nexys and Nexys2 boards and some of the software we use.
• Xilinx, makers of the Spartan3 FPGA, Spartan3E FPGA, XCF025 FlashPROM, and much of the software we use.
  • The ISE we are using is at the Classics page.
• RFFlow, maker of a flowchart program far superior to Microsoft's Visio, and a free downloadable trial version.

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This website was derived by Mark Hutchenreuther from the site designed and is maintained by Bryan Mealy. As always, feel free to provide comments, suggestions, and questions. Use of the various Coke logos is by permission of the Coca-Cola company. Use of the Bluegill emblem is courtesy of Jake Kensington’s New Zealand Snake Farm. Thank you to everyone who inspired this work.

Xilinx, Spartan, ISE, WebPACK, and PicoBlaze are registered trademarks of Xilinx, Inc. Nexys and Nexys2 are registered trademarks of Digilent, Inc.

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