MAX II Project Ideas

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Thanks guys. All the ideas sound interesting. :)

I am thinking of using the MAX II to do a data logger. The MAX II G parts have low power consumption and I can use the User Flash Memory to store the data. Probably I can use the data logger to record the temperature at a specific interval.

Also, I can write a Visual Basic program to interface with the MAX II to read out the data. Previously I did use the RS232 serial communication to interface the PC with a microcontroller. But now I am thinking of using USB as the communication interface to read out the data from the MAX II. I will probably need a FTDI chip as well. Anyone tried the MAX II + USB interface? I think that would be cool. Thanks. :)

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Email me, I have a really basic design which targets an FPGA but you could reuse it for a MAX part. I used the FT245 chip and made a host side program that I sent a file to and from the FPGA. Nios II was reading data from USB then firing it straight back over USB and it was able to send a 1MB word document back and forth in around 10 seconds.... I think it's been a while.

The design is really rough but it'll get you started. I think my USB "controller" was 30 LEs so it's fairly lightweight. It's not really a controller, I was just retiming the USB interface to stitch it up to an Avalon-MM slave port.

If I remember, the MAX II dev kit has a USB type 2 connector on it. I could be wrong but I think it has the schematics and the FTDI chip on there as well. The board can be powered via the USB interface.

I just grabbed this text from the start guide for the kit:

The USB Reference Design provides an example of how to connect a PC

to the MAX II development board using the on-board USB MAC from

Future Technology Devices International (FTDI). The design consists of a

Visual Basic Application and a Quartus II project. Source code for both

projects is included on the MAX II Development Kit CD-ROM.

I'm not sure if this helps you.

Thanks guys. All the ideas sound interesting. :)

I am thinking of using the MAX II to do a data logger. The MAX II G parts have low power consumption and I can use the User Flash Memory to store the data. Probably I can use the data logger to record the temperature at a specific interval.

Also, I can write a Visual Basic program to interface with the MAX II to read out the data. Previously I did use the RS232 serial communication to interface the PC with a microcontroller. But now I am thinking of using USB as the communication interface to read out the data from the MAX II. I will probably need a FTDI chip as well. Anyone tried the MAX II + USB interface? I think that would be cool. Thanks. :)

Commodore 64 - that thing was sweet. Nice idea.

http://c64s.com/

I was going to try to implement a low end processor core in a Max II part. Perhaps the good old Commadore64 architecture would be a good one to go for. The C64 if I remember correctly had the following registers:

A (data 8 bits)

B (data 8 bits)

D (A and B registers stuck together for 16 bit operations)

X (index 16 bits)

Y (index 16 bits)

PC (program counter 16 bits)

SP (stack pointer 16 bits)

Then you can reuse the old ROM, compilers (basic), ...... Space Taxi :)

How about a video game using the LCD module and the push buttons?

Or get a SantaCruz VGA module and do something driving a monitor?

Or wire up an a/d module to it and do some kind of data acquisition that reports to the PC via USB. Or PCI. It could monitor temperatures or something like that. Combine this with a power controller and the MAX II device could control a little robot or something like that.

Altera had a Nios II design contest in 2005. this link shows the papers:

http://www.altera.com/literature/dc/lit-design-contest.jsp

While Nios II doesn't run in Max II, looking at these may give you an idea.

Good luck!

Gregor

A lot of possibilities especially if you want mix some A/D and software. You can use USB on the dev kit to interface some SW you make to the device/kit.

Encryption/decryption.

Look-up table based A/D applications.

I'll think about it.