It is possible to write and download a custom firmware for the TE USB FX2 module.

If the custom firmware is malfunctioning/broken, the FX2 microcontroller (after loading) will stall and the USB connection (with the host computer) will be unresponsive.

If the user is unsure about the suitability of a new firmware (wherever it is the source), it's a good idea to load it into RAM first to make sure it is not totally malfunctioning/broken.

In any case, even an EEPROM written with a malfuctioning/broken firmware could be easily corrected with an implicit two step recovery toot (TE USB FX2 Firmware Recovery) or a explicit two step recovery boot.

Firmware modification dependencies

Host computer's SW will beTo do so, the developer should
create a custom FX2 microcontroller's firmware

To do so, the developer should
modify the FPGA's MicroBlaze software

able to use custom USB FX2 API Commands
and reference USB FX2 API Commands

compatible with the reference firmware;

no change of FPGA's MicroBlaze software
should be necessary
able to use SPI Flash Commands,

that keep a compatible FLASH_WRITE_COMMAND
command in FW;

no change of FPGA's MicroBlaze software
should be necessary
able to use custom MB Commands

no change of FX2 microcontroller's firmware
should be necessary;

modify MicroBlaze API Commands  in the

i2c_slave_int_handler() function in interrupt.c
running on FPGA's MicroBlaze
(using the demo project as starting point);
use the interrupts associated with MB Commands
in a different way (aka avoid polling for example)

create a custom FX2 microcontroller's firmware that

modify GET_INTERRUPT command,
SET_INTERRUPT command,

 

modify the i2c_slave_int_handler() function
in interrupt.c running on FPGA's MicroBlaze
and (maybe) modify the
VHDL XPS_I2C_SLAVE custom IP block

use Slave Parallel (SelectMAP) Mode and/or
Slave Serial Mode		that load the configuration data from a source (SPI Flash,
USB connection or B2B connection) and write the retrieved
configuration data in the FPGA.		no change of FPGA's MicroBlaze software
should be necessary,
but some HW modifications
(desoldering/resoldering) are necessary for
TE0630 and TE0300 module
Firmware modification dependencies

The first two point will (probably) require modifications only to USB FX2 microcontroller's firmware.

The third point will (probably) requires modifications only to FPGA's MicroBlaze software.

The fouth point will requires (minor) modifications to USB FX2 microcontroller's firmware and (not so minor) modifications to FPGA's MicroBlaze software and (maybe) VHDL of XPS_I2C_SLAVE custom IP block.

If the user modify the USB FX2 API Commands in a not compatible way, the legacy SW API Layer's functions (or a part of them) will be unavailable.
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