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Actel Silicon Explorer Quick Start Manual

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Silicon Explorer
Quick Start
Windows
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Summary of Contents for Actel Silicon Explorer

  • Page 1 Silicon Explorer Quick Start Windows Environment ®...
  • Page 2 Release: October 1998 No part of this document may be copied or reproduced in any form or by any means without prior written consent of Actel. Actel makes no warranties with respect to this documentation and disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Informa- tion in this document is subject to change without notice.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Connecting Power to the Target ....2 Powering the Silicon Explorer ....2 Current Consumption .

  • Page 5: Preface

    Preface This Quick Start manual describes the connections and use of the Silicon Explorer. A more detailed description can be found in the on-line help system. The system requirements for Silicon Explorer and Silicon Explorer Lite are: • Designer R3-1998 or later •...

  • Page 7: Silicon Explorer Quick Start

    8250 or 16550 UART. Communication is established via the 9-Pin D-Sub connector. Software Settings On installation, Silicon Explorer is set to the Demo mode. You may select com1 through 4 by selecting the port from the acquisition menu. The software continuously polls the Probe Pilot for activity.

  • Page 8: Connecting Power To The Target

    Silicon Explorer Quick Start Connecting Power to the Target The Silicon Explorer is shipped with a replaceable target cable assembly (TCA-8020A) that interfaces the Probe Pilot to your target system. Align the short red wire on the TCA-8020 with the red dot on the case and make certain that the 2mm header is fully inserted.

  • Page 9: Using An External Power Supply

    The Probe Pilot has a 22-pin (18 channels, a clock, VCC, GND, and clock GND) and a 16-pin connector for FPGA debug, using Actel’s Action Probe circuitry. The Probe Pilot Lite only has the 16-pin connector. Connecting Signals to the Target for Logic Analysis Note: This section Connect any of the Probe Pilot’s 18 channel leads to the desired...

  • Page 10: Connecting The Probe Leads

    The following procedures describe how to use the Probe Instrument. To open a Probe file: 1. Launch The Silicon Explorer software. Select Silicon Explorer from the Designer menu under Programs in the Start menu. 2. Select a Probe (.prb) file to open. Select the Open command from the File menu.

  • Page 11: Using The Timing Instrument

    Using the Timing Instrument Note: This section Select Silicon Explorer from the Designer menu under Programs does not apply to in the Start menu and check the status in the lower right corner Silicon Explorer Lite.
  • Page 12 Silicon Explorer Quick Start Acquisition parameters may be set from either the tool bar or the pull-down menus. The parameters are shown in Table 3. Table 3. Acquisition Parameters 10Khz to 100MHz asynchronous or synchronous Acquisition Speed to 66MHz 4K Pre Trigger 60K Post Trigger...
  • Page 13 Bus Control COM port Status Figure 2. Silicon Explorer Window Next, the POST state will be entered and data after the trigger pattern (or stop button) will be sampled until the post trigger requirement is fulfilled. Then the data are uploaded to the host (READ State with progress indicator).

  • Page 14: Troubleshooting Faqs

    More detailed information is available from the on-line help system. Troubleshooting FAQs Q1: I’ve connected Probe Pilot and the Silicon Explorer window display reads N/C? A: Look on the top of the Probe Pilot for the flashing yellow “heartbeat,”...
  • Page 15 Some laptops power down the UART and drop a few characters. Try disabling “Power Saving” in the CMOS setup menu. Q5: When the Silicon Explorer window is open, my other Windows programs run slow?

  • Page 16: Diagnostic Self Test

    Silicon Explorer Quick Start A: If the Silicon Explorer window is open but it is not connected or powered up, then the system is constantly timing out looking for a response. Either close the Silicon Explorer window or change the COM port to DEMO.
  • Page 17 Actel Corporation 955 East Arques Avenue Sunnyvale, CA USA 94086 Actel Europe Ltd. Actel Japan U.S. Toll Free Line 888.99.ACTEL Daneshill House EXOS Ebisu Bldg. 4F Customer Service: 408.739.1010 Lutyens Close, Lychpit 1-24-14 Ebisu Shibuya-ku Customer Service FAX: 408.522.8044 Basingstoke...

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