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Altera_Forum
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13 years ago

USB Blaster obselete?

I recently got a notification from a distributor that the USB Blaster (PL-USB-BLASTER-RCN) is being discontinued. I haven't been able to find any documentation on Altera's site to confirm this,...
Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
13 years ago

Hi James,

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The use of the FT2232 and CPLD to emulate onboard USB blaster seems to be common on many of the newer development boards, and I wondering if discontinuing the USB blaster is a reflection of this. It is easier and more compact to just use a standard USB cable to program your FPGA. ~James

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Which boards have you seen that use the FT2232? I've only ever seen the BeMicro use it. The "Arrow USB-Blaster" is significantly slower than a standard USB-Blaster when working with SignalTap II. I have a BeMicro and BeMicro-SDK interfaced to external FTDI UM245R and UM232H modules, and SignalTap II capture using the BeMicro is way slower than using the BeMicro-SDK. The FT2232C MPSSE mode can be operated at the same frequency as the bit-mode/byte-modes on the standard USB-Blaster, so I'm not sure what causes the speed difference ... probably software/driver support.

I've seen that some of the newer development kits now come with a USB-Blaster II = Cypress EZ-USB FX2 + MAX II. This implements a USB-Blaster plus a higher-speed comms channel to the on-board FPGA.

Cheers,

Dave