Page History

...

Demo program (running on MicroBlaze) will work even in case the UART port is left unconnected: it is not necessary to use a USB/Uart converter or Uart port on a PC.
When application demo is compiled, you can click on the "Start XMD" button to download the hw_test application and open a UART terminal. COL PIFFERO  
Open the project by double-clicking on the system.xmp file. The Xilinx Platform Studio is opened. To compile the project press the "Download Bitstream to the FPGA" button.

Before running the demo application, open the #project_root#\xmd.ini file:
1.rst
2.dow sw/test_hw.elf
3.#dow sw/demo.elf
4.run
5.terminal -jtag_uart_server 4321
To run the demo application
uncomment line 3 (remove "#")
comment line 2 (add "#" as first character)
save xmd.ini.
type "exit" in XMD command window
restart XMD by clicking again the "Start XMD" button in the XPS toolbar.
With this application, you can test the PC ↔ FPGA communication using a provided API.
If you want to input some characters to the XMD UART, then open some terminal emulators, such as Microsoft / Hilgraeve HyperTerminal (usually included in Windows START MENU / All programs / Acessories / Communications / Hyper Terminal). Connect using the following settings:
No Host address
Port Number: 4321
TCP/IP connection type
Note: To use the demo project without the XMD UART, you need to use "RS232" instead of "debug_module" as standard in/out port. Otherwise the application running on the Microblaze processor freezes if you disconnect the XMD. To accomplish that you need to set up the Microblaze "Software Platform Settings".
In the dialog window select "OS and libraries" in the left window and pick "RS232" as a stdout and stdin interface. Then rebuild the software and download again the project to the FPGA.
The UART is then redirected to external pins, which are defined in the data/system.ucf file. The following snippet shows the case of the TE0300 series modules:

• 1. 1. 1. 1. Module RS232 constraints*
              Net fpga_0_RS232_RX_pin LOC=B13;
              Net fpga_0_RS232_TX_pin LOC=B14;
              Please refer to Table 1 for other module series relevant to this application note.

              TE series	RS232_RX FPGA ball	RS232_RX module pin	RS232_TX FPGA ball	RS232_TX module pin
              TE0300	R6 -------->	------->J5-29	P6-------->	------>J5-31
              TE0320	V17------->	--->J5-IO18	W17------>	--->J5-IO19
              TE0630	Y7 -------->	------>J5-29	AB7------>	------->J5-31
              TE0304	It doesn't apply	J1-3	It doesn't apply	J1-2
              TE0323	It doesn't apply	J4-35	It doesn't apply	J4-37
              host (PC)	TX	TX	RX	RX

              Table 1: location of UART pins examples.
              The UART settings are:
              bits per seconds: 115,200
              data bits: 8
              parity: none
              stop bits: 1
              flow control: none (otherwise you will not be able to enter commands)
              The UART port will output something of tis kind:
              -Entering main TE0300 DEMO ver 0x07010218-
              Setting up Interrupt Controller:
              Initialize exception handling
              Register external interrupt handler
              Register I2C_SLAVE interrupt handler
              Enable interrupts in the interrupt controller
              Start the interrupt controller
              Enabling and initializing instruction cache
              Enabling and initializing data cache
              Type:
              'a' RAM test
              'f' RAM Ftest
              'c' toggles caching
              'g' prints switches state and board revision
              't' starts TX transmission
              'r' starts RX transmission
              's' stops all transmissions
              'm' for the redraw menu
              MicroBlaze will work even in case the UART port is left unconnected.
              
              Sample UART to USB virtual COM port converter.
              
              
              Sample UART to USB virtual COM port converter: signal detail.