OLIMEX MOD-VGA, MOD-VGA-32 User Manual

MOD-VGA and MOD-VGA-32

USER’S MANUAL

Document revision B, June 2016

All boards produced by Olimex LTD are ROHS compliant

DISCLAIMER

The information in this document is provided in connection with Olimex products. No license, express or implied or otherwise, to any intellectual property right is granted by this document or in connection with the sale of Olimex products.

The Hardware project is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. You may reproduce it for both your own personal use, and for commertial use. You will have to provide a link to the original creator of the project http://www.olimex.com on any documentation or website.

You may also modify the files, but you must then release them as well under the same terms. Credit can be attributed through a link to the creator website: http://www.olimex.com

The software is released under GPL.

It is possible that the pictures in this manual differ from the latest revision of the board.

The product described in this document is subject to continuous development and improvements. All particulars of the product and its use contained in this document are given by OLIMEX in good faith. However all warranties implied or expressed including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for purpose are excluded. This document is intended only to assist the reader in the use of the product. OLIMEX Ltd. shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising from the use of any information in this document or any error or omission in such information or any incorrect use of the product.

This evaluation board/kit is intended for use for engineering development, demonstration, or evaluation purposes only and is not considered by OLIMEX to be a finished end-product fit for general consumer use. Persons handling the product must have electronics training and observe good engineering practice standards. As such, the goods being provided are not intended to be complete in terms of required design-, marketing-, and/or manufacturing-related protective considerations, including product safety and environmental measures typically found in end products that incorporate such semiconductor components or circuit boards.

Olimex currently deals with a variety of customers for products, and therefore our arrangement with the user is not exclusive. Olimex assumes no liability for applications assistance, customer product design, software performance, or infringement of patents or services described herein.

THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE DESIGN MATERIALS AND THE COMPONENTS USED TO CREATE MOD-VGA. THEY ARE CONSIDERED SUITABLE ONLY FOR MOD-VGA.

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Table of Contents

DISCLAIMER ............................................................................................................. 2

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW ........................................................................................ 5

1. Introduction to the chapter ....................................................................................................... 5

1.1 Features ..................................................................................................................................... 5

1.2 Target market and purpose of the board ............................................................................... 6

1.3 Organization ............................................................................................................................. 6

CHAPTER 2: SETTING UP THE MOD-VGA BOARD ......................................... 7

2. Introduction to the chapter ....................................................................................................... 7

2.1 Electrostatic warning ............................................................................................................... 7

2.3 Requirements ........................................................................................................................... 7

2.4 Powering the board .................................................................................................................. 8

2.5 Running an example using Olimex OLIMEXINO-328 ........................................................ 8

CHAPTER 3: MOD-VGA BOARD DESCRIPTION .............................................. 9

3. Introduction to the chapter ....................................................................................................... 9

3.1 Layout (top view) ..................................................................................................................... 9

3.2 Layout (bottom view) ............................................................................................................. 10

CHAPTER 4: The XILINX SPARTAN-3 XC3S200 FPGA ................................... 11

4. Introduction to the chapter ..................................................................................................... 11

4.1 The XILINX SPARTAN-3 XC3S200 FPGA ........................................................................ 11

CHAPTER 6: CONNECTORS, HARDWARE, PINOUTS ................................... 13

6. Introduction to the chapter ..................................................................................................... 13

6.1 FPGA programming options ................................................................................................. 13

6.1.1 SPI_PGM pinholes .............................................................................................................. 13

6.1.2 JTAG pinholes ..................................................................................................................... 14

6.2 UEXT connector ..................................................................................................................... 14

6.3 Audio connector ..................................................................................................................... 15

6.4 VGA video connector ............................................................................................................. 15

6.5 Arduino shield connector ...................................................................................................... 16

6.6 Keyboard connector .............................................................................................................. 17

6.7 Jumper description ................................................................................................................ 17

6.7.1 5V/3V .................................................................................................................................... 17

6.7.2 SJ1 ........................................................................................................................................ 17

CHAPTER 8: SCHEMATICS .................................................................................. 18

8. Introduction to the chapter ..................................................................................................... 18

8.1 Eagle schematic ...................................................................................................................... 18

8.2 Physical dimensions ............................................................................................................... 20

CHAPTER 9: REVISION HISTORY AND SUPPORT ........................................ 21

9. Introduction to the chapter ..................................................................................................... 21

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9.1 Document revision ................................................................................................................. 21

9.2 Board revision ........................................................................................................................ 21

9.3 Useful web links and purchase codes ................................................................................... 22

9.4 Product support ..................................................................................................................... 23

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CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW

1. Introduction to the chapter

Thank you for choosing the MOD-VGA video shield from Olimex! This document provides a user’s guide for the Olimex MOD-VGA. As an overview, this chapter gives the scope of this document and lists the board’s features. The document’s organization is then detailed.

The MOD-VGA development board enables code development of applications running on the FPGA from the SPARTAN-3A family, manufactured by XLINIX.

MOD-VGA is an open-source, open-hardware project and all documentation is available to the customer. It is tested and working with OLIMEX AVR boards.

1.1 Features

MOD-VGA is a game adapter for the Arduino – or anything else with an SPI interface – built as a single shield that stacks up on top of the Arduino and has plugs for a VGA monitor and stereo speakers. The board is based on the open-source, open-hardware GAMEDUINO project by excamera. For more information on the original project please visit

http://excamera.com/sphinx/gameduino/.

 Video output is 400x300 pixels in 512 colors

• all color processed internally at 15-bit precision

• compatible with any standard VGA monitor (800x600 @ 72Hz)

• background graphics

• 512x512 pixel character background

• 256 characters, each with independent 4 color palette

• pixel-smooth X-Y wraparound scroll

• foreground graphics

• each sprite is 16x16 pixels with per-pixel transparency

• each sprite can use 256, 16 or 4 colors

• four-way rotate and flip

• 96 sprites per scan-line, 1536 texels per line

• pixel-perfect sprite collision detection

 Audio output is a stereo 12-bit frequency synthesizer

• 64 independent voices 10-8000 Hz

• per-voice sine wave or white noise

• sample playback channel

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1.2 Target market and purpose of the board

The board follows the Arduino shield connector platform and can be mounted directly on 3.3V Arduino boards. Note that if your Arduno board doesn't have 3.3V operating mode you would need level shifter. The board comes with examples and libraries compatible with Arduino IDE (after importing the library and the examples provided on our web-site in Arduino).

The board is tested and working with our OLIMEXINO-328:

https://www.olimex.com/Products/Duino/AVR/OLIMEXINO-328/open-source-hardware.

The board has hardware compatibility with any 3.3V Arduino-like board and also Maple boards, Duinomite boards, and basically every board that follows the Arduino shield connector platform and can operate at 3.3V. However, the software support for all boards except for the Arduino-compatible AVR ones is not still implemented and might require extended software knowledge to be implemented.

Customers have full access to the technical documentation of the board. The software is released under General Purpose License and the board is considered open-hardware.

1.3 Organization

Each section in this document covers a separate topic, organized as follow:

– Chapter 1 is an overview of the board usage and features

– Chapter 2 provides a guide for quickly setting up the board and software notes

– Chapter 3 contains the general board diagram and layout

– Chapter 4 describes the component that is the heart of the board: the XILINX Spartan-3A

FPGA

– Chapter 5 is an explanation of the control circuitry associated with the microcontroller to

reset. Also shows the clocks on the board

– Chapter 6 covers the connector pinout, peripherals and jumper description

– Chapter 7 shows the memory map

– Chapter 8 provides the schematics

– Chapter 9 contains the revision history, useful links and support information

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CHAPTER 2: SETTING UP THE MOD-VGA BOARD

2. Introduction to the chapter

This section helps you set up the MOD-VGA development board for the first time. Please consider first the electrostatic warning to avoid damaging the board, then discover the hardware and software required to operate the board.

The procedure to power up the board is given, and a description of the default board behavior is detailed.

2.1 Electrostatic warning

MOD-VGA is shipped in a protective anti-static package. The board must not be exposed to high electrostatic potentials. A grounding strap or similar protective device should be worn when handling the board. Avoid touching the component pins or any other metallic element.

2.3 Requirements

In order to set up the MOD-VGA optimally, the following items are required (separated in hardware and software requirements).

Hardware:

- Host board with Arduino platform connectors (For example OLIMEXINO-328 or OLIMEXINIO32U4) that can operate at 3.3V (or level shifter)

- VGA monitor

- PS2 keyboard (that can operate at 5V or 3V)

- Audio output device

Software:

- Arduino-IDE

- A library that needs to be imported in Arduino-IDE and can be found at our web-site at MODVGA's page

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2.4 Powering the board

The board gets powered when mounted on compatible Arduino board by 3.3V.

Important: MOD-VGA is not 5V tolerant.

The SPI lines coming from the main board go to the XYLNIX SPARTAN-3A chip via 47 Ohm resistors and the GPIO pins of SPARTAN-3A have an absolute maximum of 4.6V!

2.5 Running an example using Olimex OLIMEXINO-328

First place properly the library for Arduino that can be found on the device's web page:

https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/Interface/MOD-VGA/

Make sure that the OLIMEXINO-328 board operates at 3.3V! There is a switch that modifies the operating voltage of the board – either 3.3V or 5V operation.

Then start Arduino and open the corresponding to OLIMEXINO-328 board configuration:

Tools -> Board -> Arduino Duemilanove w\ATmega 328

Then program for example:

Files -> Examples -> Gameduino -> Audio -> player

We should see a graphic and there should be sound (if we have audio output device connected).

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+ 16 hidden pages

OLIMEX MOD-VGA, MOD-VGA-32 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual