FTDI where are you?

On Wednesday, in article <NRqni.128139$xq1.2411@pd7urf1no>
     somewhere@overtherainbow.com "Thomas Magma" wrote:

>>>
>>>> Did FTDI go out of business or is their website just down? I've been 
>>>> trying all day.
>>>>
>>>> www.ftdichip.com
>>>
>>> works fine from here..
>>> -jg
>>>
>>
>> Thanks for checking that Jim, but it's still not working for me. Every 
>> other site I go to is.
>>
>> Strange, I didn't think the Internet was discriminatory :)
>>
>> Thomas
>>
>
>I briefly got on to their home page this morning. Super slow, barely 
>functioning.
>
>While I wait... does anyone have any experience with their FT2232D chip? We 
>are looking to use it to do some FIFO dumps and some bit banging. How are 
>the API's to deal with?

At the base level not too bad, use the special function API's such as SPI
and I2C at your own peril, the calling parameter list is a nightmare
(14 plus agruments with not a structure or array in sight).

If you want some examples, based on a kernel I used for a customer who
insisted on VB6 look at

  <http://www.pcserviceselectronics.co.uk/ftdi/>

Note that today there may be a DNS changeover delay, due to DSL supplier
change beyond my control.

I did note that their driver can cause problems probably due to what version
of Windows and Service PAck and hardware on your motherboard. This however is
part of the nightmare of USB and the many parts beyond your control.

Especially if the USB hardware vendor insists that all updates are done
via Windows Update, and Windows Update insists for that type of laptop
or tablet or whatever there is no upgrade beyond SP1.

>Thomas 
>
>
>

-- 
Paul Carpenter          | paul@pcserviceselectronics.co.uk
<http://www.pcserviceselectronics.co.uk/>    PC Services
<http://www.gnuh8.org.uk/>              GNU H8 & mailing list info
<http://www.badweb.org.uk/>             For those web sites you hate

Thomas Magma wrote:

> Did FTDI go out of business or is their website just down? I've been trying 
> all day.
> 
> www.ftdichip.com 


all up again. email is up, but may take a while to sort itself out.

I was speaking with Fred Dart (owner) and he said they were with a UK 
ISP who is extremely laid back when it comes to
support.

I suggested he should shift providers as soon as possible.
I went through a similar thing back in April last year.

Don...


-- 
Don McKenzie

Site Map:            http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap
E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email
No More Damn Spam:   http://www.wizard-of-oz.com

Serial OLED uses standard micro-SD memory cards.
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/product.php?productid=16659

USB Flash Drive interface for existing products.
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/product.php?productid=16654

Thomas Magma wrote:
> While I wait... does anyone have any experience with their FT2232D chip? We 
> are looking to use it to do some FIFO dumps and some bit banging. How are 
> the API's to deal with?


The 2232 is good in as far as it goes, which is SPI, I2C and JTAG. 
Anything other than that, beware. Although the data sheet includes the 
sentence, "The MPSSE interface is designed to be flexible so that it can 
be configured to allow any synchronous serial protocol (industry 
standard or proprietary) to be interfaced ...", in point of fact it is 
not flexible enough to accommodate many of the protocols used for serial 
devices like ADCs. In particular, any protocol that requires the clock 
to be high in the idle state, with data changing on the falling edge, 
has to be manually bit- banged, which is very slow indeed given the 1ms 
USB time frame.

Paul Burke

Paul Burke <paul@scazon.com> wrote:
> Thomas Magma wrote:
> > While I wait... does anyone have any experience with 
> > their FT2232D chip? We 
> > are looking to use it to do some FIFO dumps and some bit banging.
> > How are 
> > the API's to deal with?


> The 2232 is good in as far as it goes, which is SPI, I2C and JTAG. 
> Anything other than that, beware. Although the data sheet includes the 
> sentence, "The MPSSE interface is designed to be flexible so that it can 
> be configured to allow any synchronous serial protocol (industry 
> standard or proprietary) to be interfaced ...", in point of fact it is 
> not flexible enough to accommodate many of the protocols used for serial 
> devices like ADCs. In particular, any protocol that requires the clock 
> to be high in the idle state, with data changing on the falling edge, 
> has to be manually bit- banged, which is very slow indeed given the 1ms 
> USB time frame.

I also find the 2232 good with it's 245 FIFO. Channel A serves me to jtag
program the jtag chain consisting of an AT90CAN128, XFC04 and a XC3S500E. In
channel B I dump data from the FPGA to a PC with quite high rate.

I don't use any API. The FTDI is programmed via the EEPROM to act as FIFO on
channel B, and on the PC side, I open /dev/ttyUSB1 (or 3) to see the data.

For programming Xilinx parts, look at sourceforge for xc3sprogs. There are
my patches pending to make it work faster and more general with the FT2232.

Bye

Bye
-- 
Uwe Bonnes                bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de

Institut fuer Kernphysik  Schlossgartenstrasse 9  64289 Darmstadt
--------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------

"Don McKenzie" <look@mysig.com> wrote in message 
news:469e73ac$0$844$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
> Thomas Magma wrote:
>
>> Did FTDI go out of business or is their website just down? I've been 
>> trying all day.
>>
>> www.ftdichip.com
>
>
> all up again. email is up, but may take a while to sort itself out.
>
> I was speaking with Fred Dart (owner) and he said they were with a UK 
> ISP who is extremely laid back when it comes to
> support.
>
> I suggested he should shift providers as soon as possible.
> I went through a similar thing back in April last year.

Name and shame!

Our company ditched FutureNet last year because they bungled our 
internet connection (although the website was still functioning) and 
spent two weeks blaming everybody else without ever managing to fix it. 

On Jul 18, 4:10 pm, Don McKenzie <l...@mysig.com> wrote:

> >www.ftdichip.com
>
> all up again. email is up, but may take a while to sort itself out.

Not from NY, USA.

"Paul Burke" <paul@scazon.com> wrote in message 
news:5g8h3rF3f2hg5U1@mid.individual.net...
> Thomas Magma wrote:
>> While I wait... does anyone have any experience with their FT2232D chip? 
>> We are looking to use it to do some FIFO dumps and some bit banging. How 
>> are the API's to deal with?
>
>
> The 2232 is good in as far as it goes, which is SPI, I2C and JTAG. 
> Anything other than that, beware. Although the data sheet includes the 
> sentence, "The MPSSE interface is designed to be flexible so that it can 
> be configured to allow any synchronous serial protocol (industry standard 
> or proprietary) to be interfaced ...", in point of fact it is not flexible 
> enough to accommodate many of the protocols used for serial devices like 
> ADCs. In particular, any protocol that requires the clock to be high in 
> the idle state, with data changing on the falling edge, has to be manually 
> bit- banged, which is very slow indeed given the 1ms USB time frame.
>
> Paul Burke

Thanks Paul,
That's the kind of info a person needs to know before drawing up a 
schematic. It's easy to throw in an inverter if needed. Are you using the 
2232C or 2232D version?

BTW...The www.ftdichip.com website is still not working for me. Tough way to 
sell product...geez!

Thomas 

Just spoke to Fred, who is on a family holiday in Prague.

They (ISP) have switched him to a new server but they have to upload all 
web sites again and set up all the email accounts ** again **.

There is a page notice at
http://www.ftdichip.com/

new web site messages at:
http://www.easysync.co.uk/
http://www.usb-instruments.com/

Fred suggests you use the fax number for urgent correspondence.

Reminds me of Affordablehost.com when they stuffed me around in April 
2006, when I was on a family holiday. Went off line for a week. I 
shifted everything to a new company in 24 hours.


Don...



-- 
Don McKenzie

Site Map:            http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap
E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email
No More Damn Spam:   http://www.wizard-of-oz.com

Serial OLED uses standard micro-SD memory cards.
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/product.php?productid=16659

USB Flash Drive interface for existing products.
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/product.php?productid=16654

Thomas Magma wrote:
> Are you using the 
> 2232C or 2232D version?
> 

2232D. Watch out with inverters... check that the connected device 
doesn't throw a wobbly if the clock is left in the "wrong" state. I 
think the problem is more to do with outputting the first bit without a 
clock edge.

> BTW...The www.ftdichip.com website is still not working for me. Tough way to 
> sell product...geez!

British web sites... the hosts haven't cottoned on that they are more 
than a toy.

Paul Burke

Paul Burke wrote:

> Thomas Magma wrote:
> 
>> While I wait... does anyone have any experience with their FT2232D 
>> chip? We are looking to use it to do some FIFO dumps and some bit 
>> banging. How are the API's to deal with?
> 
> 
> 
> The 2232 is good in as far as it goes, which is SPI, I2C and JTAG. 
> Anything other than that, beware. Although the data sheet includes the 
> sentence, "The MPSSE interface is designed to be flexible so that it can 
> be configured to allow any synchronous serial protocol (industry 
> standard or proprietary) to be interfaced ...", in point of fact it is 
> not flexible enough to accommodate many of the protocols used for serial 
> devices like ADCs. In particular, any protocol that requires the clock 
> to be high in the idle state, with data changing on the falling edge, 
> has to be manually bit- banged, which is very slow indeed given the 1ms 
> USB time frame.
> 
> Paul Burke

The FTDI FT2232 could be fine enough for JTAG interface (max 6 MHz TCK 
Frequency).
The Amontec JTAGkey is based on this FTDI device.

The JTAGkey performances are as (on Linux and Windows):
- downloading Xilinx Virtex, 7.9 Mbits bitstream at 2.8 secondes (via 
SVF file)
- Erasing / downloading / checking Xilinx Coolrunner XCR3128 at 0.7 
secondes (via SVF file)

Note : the 2.9secondes includes ~500 ms to parse the SVF files

We are  working on some examples codes as including .bit file support 
for Xilinx Spartan 3 and other Altera / Lattice devices.

Our SVF Player comes with sources from the 
http://www.amontec.com/jtagkey.shtml page.

Regards,
Laurent