One time installation of Quartus support libraries is needed. There are no custom USB drivers needed, WHQL certified Drivers from FTDI Chip are used.

Table of content

Important Note

Modules produced after June 2020 are no longer compatible with the older drivers.

Please install driver version 2.4 or newer

See also driver revision change history: Revisionchangehistory

Download Setup Files

JTAG Frequency

Default JTAG Speed with driver Version 2.4 is 20 MHz.

USB controller Maximum frequencyOther valid frequencies
FT2232D6 MHz3 MHz, 2 MHz, 1.5 MHz, 1.2 MHz … 92 Hz
FT2232H20 MHz15 MHz, 10 MHz, 7.5 MHz, 6 MHz … 460 Hz


 Change on Linux:

Change on Windows

Installing Instruction of the newest version

Windows

  1. Install Quartus Software
  2. Download the appropriate version of Arrow USB Programmer2
  3. Run Install to install the Arrow USB Programmer.The setup executable installs the programmer DLL and adds some keys to the registry of the PC.
  4. After connecting  Arrow USB Programmer2 to the PC, two unknown devices might appear in the “Other devices” section of device manager of the PC.

  5. Windows usually automatically finds the appropriate drivers for these devices. After some time, the “Other devices” section should be empty. Instead, two USB Serial Converters should be listed in the section “USB Serial Bus controllers”. Furthermore, a USB Serial Port should be listed in the “Ports (COM & LPT)” section.

Note:

Known issues:

For problems on Windows, please check Troubleshooting Guide and use Diagnostic program, available on Arrow_USB_Programmer Setup Libraries Download Area.

Linux

Be sure you have the right permissions for doing as follows.

  1. Copy the file libjtag_hw_arrow.so to the directory linux64 of thw Quartus installation directory e.g. /usr/local/intelFPGA_lite/19.1/quartus/linux64 .
  2. Make sure the Arrow USB Programmer is not linked to a virtual COM port.
    1. Please check readme of the download for more detailed instructions


The frequency of the JTAG clock TCK can be configured using an additional configuration file. The programmer hardware library searches the configuration data using different file names at two different locations.

  1. as ".arrow_usb_blaster.conf" in the home directory of the user who has started the JTAG demon. This possibility is intended to set the frequency for an individual user or project.
  2. as "arrow_usb_blaster.conf" under "/etc" if it was not found in the home directory. This is to change the settings globally.

If no configuration file is found the default setting is used which is 20 MHz.

If there is the need to change the JTAG clock frequency, copy the file "arrow_usb_blaster.conf" and adjust the frequency to your needs.

The programmer shared library uses the FTDI library libftd2xx version 1.4.8 which is statically linked.

The programmer shared library for Linux has been developed and tested under Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. However it should also work with other Linux distributions.


Known issues:

Revision change history