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Altera_Forum
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19 years ago

Can JTAG-UART be used as serial comn interface?

Hello,

Can I use JTAG-UART for serial communication (RS-232 type). What are the limitations and methodologies?

Sincerely,

2 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    19 years ago

    The JTAG UART is quite a bit different than a standard RS232 UART, mainly due to how JTAG works. The JTAG UART is fundamentally designed to operate as a slave device only, that is an external device (master) must clock bits into (and out of) the device using the JTAG protocol. In the case of hte Nios II JTAG UART, Altera has provided a JTAG communication application (nios2-terminal) for use on workstations. This application ships with the Nios II kit, and is dependent on having Quartus II's JTAG server present.

    I suppose that you could create your own implementation of the JTAG server-side of things for your own application, but this would take alot of work (i.e. not documented by Altera).

    I'm not sure what you're application is, but sticking with an RS232 UART is always the easiest way to go. Some people have been playing around with USB peripherals for use with Nios II, but this will probably require some work to get operational.

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    originally posted by vizziee@Jun 29 2006, 12:19 AM

    hello,

    can i use jtag-uart for serial communication (rs-232 type). what are the limitations and methodologies?

    sincerely,

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  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    19 years ago

    You can use nios2-terminal and redirect stdin and stdout to your host application to communicate with your target. I have done this and it works for me, but don&#39;t ask for speed because i only transfer a few bytes of data...