JTAG-SMT as USB-serial converter?

[a.gamez]

Hi!

I've got an ARTY board and I find the USB connection incredible useful, as it allows to use only one connection to program the FPGA through JTAG while simultaneously act as an USB to serial converter.

 

So, I also bought a JTAG-SMT2-NC to fit into a custom board and it's a very convenient way to program my FPGA, but... is it possible for it to act as the module that fits on the ARTY, and make it be recognized by the PC as a USB-serial converter, using its GPIO pins as the interface with the FPGA, as the ARTY does?

That would be really great, but I think it's not possible, is it?

[JColvin]

Hi a.gamez,

I have asked some of our applications engineers about this; they will get back to you here on the Forum.

Thanks,
JColvin

[jpeyron]

Hi a.gamez,
 

Unfortunately it is not possible with the JTAG-SMT. It is a single channel circuit and would not work in that situation.

thank you,

Jon

[a.gamez]

Hi,

Thanks for the answer. Could you please forward to whomever is required that this would be a nice feature to have? Maybe for a future version. The ARTY shines in this regard.

 

[D@n]

@jpeyron,

Can you get access to the USER JTAG commands from within the JTAG-SMT2-NC?

If so, then I have an interface which can turn a JTAG port into something resembling a serial port.  One difference is that you must poll the JTAG via its USER interface to get any data out of it, and you will get a data byte out anytime you do so--so you'll need a byte that means "idle", but that's been okay for me since I usually know when I'm going to be getting data out and I can poll at those times.

Dan

[jpeyron]

Hi D@n,

My understanding is that Xilinx provides the JTAG user commands for each device in their documentation but you will still have to use SDK to talk to the jtag device chain.

thank you,

Jon