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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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10 years ago

MAX 10 Internal Clock and Flash Lock

MAX 10 datasheet shows that it has an internal oscillator, however this is not usable at all since it is a ring oscillator and it's exact frequency can not be ordered (unlike other fpga manufacturers which implement a VCO with precise frequencies). am i missing something or is my understanding correct?

does MAX 10 support a permanent flash lock? so that i could lock my rbf and keep it safe from reach of some nasty hands...?

as i guess the answer is no because it is not mentioned in the datasheets.

4 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    10 years ago

    The internal oscillator is usuable, but the exact frequency is in a pretty wide range based on process/tempurature. I have not looked at the MAX 10, close enough to see if this can be ran through a PLL. If so, you could get a higher frequencies, but precise timing is impossible.

    Pete
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    10 years ago

    Pete that's exactly the reason why i said it's useless. a ok i said not usable. it is usable but useless :)) don't know much about connecting it to pll it's a matter of couple of clicks in quartus but i don't bother much since i can't tell that pll what the input frequency will be. and as far as i know max 10 can not lock it's flash. in other words it is accessible by pirates, but i think altera has developed some protection mechanism simply i haven't come across any of them in the datasheets. however, altera is new to integrated flash programming and it is kind of likely that they did not created anything for protection yet...

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    10 years ago

    I take offence :) that you consider the internal oscillator 'useless'.

    I have several designs - very simple hardware designs - that run from the internal oscillator and nothing else. The hardware designs are simple and cheaper than they might otherwise be thanks to the internal oscillator.

    'Horses for courses' some might say. If you need something accurate you just have to add a little more cost to your board.

    As for the FLASH protection - MAX 10 supports AES encryption to protect your design from 'pirates' - ooo aarrrh. Have a read of the AES Encryption Protection section on page 2-13 of the max 10 fpga configuration user guide (https://www.altera.com/literature/hb/max-10/ug_m10_config.pdf).

    Cheers,

    Alex
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    10 years ago

    aamm... i have read it :) so i do my homework you know :))) that encription is breakable as i know. by help of some serious processing power. and these Chinese are such a pain in the butt today.. they are like Hienas :)) stealing everything that moves. ...and everything that dos not... :)