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is there any way i can use the JTAG connection to emulate a serial port so i can send/recieve bytes from hyperterminal.
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It can be if you can take care of writing driver code yourself. I have deliberated on this idea sometime back. Here is a thread on a discussion on using JTAG as a serial port:
http://forum.niosforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4224&st=0&p=16504&#entry16504
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Is there some kind of megafunction associated with these that acts like a uart?
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Yes there are RS-232 cores available:
http://www.altera.com/education/univ/materials/ip-cores/unv-ip-cores.html
Honored Contributor
