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prof__paradox's avatar
prof__paradox
Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
5 years ago
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Error 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 ...
  • ak6dn's avatar
    ak6dn
    5 years ago

    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).

prof__paradox's avatar
prof__paradox
Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
5 years ago

Hello there again, there's a tiny problem that we ran into while implementing the solution you provided. The POF2JED utility only accepts .pof file generated from the MAX software, and the files that we have are the ones which we extracted from the existing CPLD with the help of ALL-100 programmer. So, is there even a slightiest possibility that we can get the system up and running, without reverse engineering every piece of hardware?

ak6dn's avatar
ak6dn
Icon for Regular Contributor rankRegular Contributor
5 years ago

Unfortunately I can't help you with that issue. I am unfamiliar with the ALL-100 programmer (never heard of it to be honest) so do not know if it generates a 'well formed' POF file on readback.

Can you read back the POF file with the programmer, and then use that POF file to verify a device?

Does POF2JED output any meaningful error message when reading the file?

I can only suggest contacting Atmel/Microchip support re: using POF2JED in this instance.

  • prof__paradox's avatar
    prof__paradox
    Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
    5 years ago

    Yeah we did contact Microchip. They said the pof file generated by ALL-100 is not compatible with POF2JED. So it cannot convert the file to JED format. So I guess we'll have to start with probing the ICs now xD.

    Anyways, you have been a great great help my friend. Thank you so much!!! Every community prospers because of members like you!