New ContributorError in MAX+PLUS II software with MAX7000 .pof files
Hi there, we have very very old system which is using few MAX7000 CPLDs. Now, the people who developed that system and programmed all the CPLDs are retired and not at all interested in helping us to modify the system with new technology. Now, we have the .pof files for all the CPLDs and we tried using the MAX PLUS II software to see into those files, but it showed an error "Cannot edit MAX+PLUS II system files". To be honest, the system is quite complicated for us to study and understand every part of it. Is there anyway that we can use these .pof files in some new CPLDs or is it possible to understand the logic with these .pof files?? Any sort of help will be appreciated. Thank you!
POF files can't be disassembled, at least with any publicly available tools (Altera probably had some internal tools a long time ago, but they never released them to my knowledge). I see folks asking to do this all the time now, because all they have is a programmed device or a POF file, but have lost the source code.
So unless you can convince the retired folks to track down the source code for you, or you can, you are basically out of luck.
There is one suggestion I can make that allows you to, more or less, see inside a POF file.
Atmel (now MicroChip) offers a function compatible drop in replacement for many of the MAX7000 series CPLD parts. It is their ATF15xxAS series. To support this they have their POF2JED tool that reads an Altera POF file for a supported device, and produces the equivalent JED file for one of their ATF15 series parts. Now the POF file is binary and not readily decipherable, but the JED file is ASCII text only, and is formatted and commented. Along with the datasheet for the fuse layout of the ATF15 series part, looking at this JED file will give you a lot of info what is going on inside the device.
Best solution I know of other that tracking down the original device source code(s).
