sliceKIT is here!

[dan]

Apologies for the PSU issues. We had a last minute supply problem with the official PSUs selected just prior to launch and had to fill in a few gaps with substitute units.

Anyone having issues just PM me and I'll get an official PSU sent out to you asap, since we now have a decent level of stock of these.

- Dan

[TSC]

I'd like to buy a second Core board so I can do some fun things with two of them interconnected.

I've been waiting for the standalone Core board on Digi-Key (part number 880-1042-ND) to show stock so I can save $50 instead of buying another Starter kit with peripherals I don't need.

The lead time estimate now says "11/8/2012 [mm/dd/yyyy] - Delivery Date Past Due". Will it be in stock any time soon?

[ale500]

It would be great if the Core board also included the XTAG-2 to PCIe-type adaptor... some of us have already a XTAG-2. And a kit with SDRAM+Display would be also great.

[mhelin]

I've got the Audio Slice Card (XA-SK-AUDIO) and would like to connect it to XK-1A. Is it ok to change the port mappings for some functions from single bit ports to multibit ports? How about the PLL pin, is it used for something, seems the PLL chip isn't even soldered on the PCB?

[pstnotpd]

A critical remark and some questions.

I know this was raised earlier in this thread but as a complete noob I have to say the core/thread/tile renaming, apart from the "ethics", is just confusing now. Documentation is not all up to date so you have to keep wondering, where a "core" is mentioned, if this is a "core v2" or a thread.

That being said, I like the kit! So here for some questions:

Would it be possible to connect up core boards using standard PCIe x1 extender cables, or would this create timing problems. Instead of chaining horizontally I'd prefer to stack core boards so I gather a 180 turn would then do the trick.

Also, if timing is not a issue, I could imagine cutting up a PCI extender to a breadboard for experiments.

I saw the 1v1 connectivity advisory. Will it be possible to "fix" 1v1 boards? If so, how?

The hardware documentation states the actual chip used on the core board is a XS1-L2-QF144. What is that exactly, as this doesn't seem to exist as a silicon device? Is it 400 or 500Mhz.

I read somewhere the "G" range is probably going legacy. I'd love to see some sort of "multi-tile" slice. (for instance 4 L2s on a slice). Is something like that in the works?

That's all for now!

[Bianco]

A critical remark and some questions.

I know this was raised earlier in this thread but as a complete noob I have to say the core/thread/tile renaming, apart from the "ethics", is just confusing now. Documentation is not all up to date so you have to keep wondering, where a "core" is mentioned, if this is a "core v2" or a thread.

That being said, I like the kit! So here for some questions:

Would it be possible to connect up core boards using standard PCIe x1 extender cables, or would this create timing problems. Instead of chaining horizontally I'd prefer to stack core boards so I gather a 180 turn would then do the trick.

Also, if timing is not a issue, I could imagine cutting up a PCI extender to a breadboard for experiments.

I saw the 1v1 connectivity advisory. Will it be possible to "fix" 1v1 boards? If so, how?

The hardware documentation states the actual chip used on the core board is a XS1-L2-QF144. What is that exactly, as this doesn't seem to exist as a silicon device? Is it 400 or 500Mhz.

I read somewhere the "G" range is probably going legacy. I'd love to see some sort of "multi-tile" slice. (for instance 4 L2s on a slice). Is something like that in the works?

That's all for now!

You should be able to use an PCIe extender cable. If you do run into timing troubles you can always decrease the link speed.

The slicekit coreboard has a 500MHz rated part (C5). You can check the chip markings.

You can "fix" peripheral boards using the holes and a ty-rap if this is what you mean?

XMOS had a 64-coretile board based on the G4 (XMP-64). Currently the University of Bristol is expirimenting with a modular board using 8 L2's per board. Both aren't commercially available (or not anymore). If i have to do a guess, it is unlikely that XMOS will create a commercially available board with 4 or more L2's. There is not enough demand for it.

[pstnotpd]

You can "fix" peripheral boards using the holes and a ty-rap if this is what you mean?

No, I mean the #RST & flash problems mentioned here. There's going to be a board revision 1v2 apparently, but I wonder if 1v1 can be adjusted to fix this. Maybe I should ask support?

[mhelin]

You should be able to use an PCIe extender cable. If you do run into timing troubles you can always decrease the link speed.

Quite the contrary, you cannot use just any PCIe extender cable, you need one with 1-to-1 pin mapping. For an example I got one from ebay (or was it from dealextreme or something) and it's got all PCIe specification's ground and Vcc pins connected together on the piece of PCB with the socket, so it doesn't work with sliceKIT. So what I'm doing with audio slice is to design a PCB with the PCIe socket and two headers (in my case for connecting to XK-1A).

[pstnotpd]

Quite the contrary, you cannot use just any PCIe extender cable, you need one with 1-to-1 pin mapping. For an example I got one from ebay (or was it from dealextreme or something) and it's got all PCIe specification's ground and Vcc pins connected together on the piece of PCB with the socket, so it doesn't work with sliceKIT.

Ah, does anybody know which (if any) extender cables are 1 to 1 then?

So what I'm doing with audio slice is to design a PCB with the PCIe socket and two headers (in my case for connecting to XK-1A).

That sounds interesting, in the sense that this also seems to imply the reverse.

Would it then also be possible to create a "slice" pcb with a header for the XK-1A? I.e. to make it possible to expand cores by chaining XK-1As the usual way? I believe someone mentioned the L1 and L2 are incompatible....

[mhelin]

Ah, does anybody know which (if any) extender cables are 1 to 1 then?

Mine is exactly like this one sold in Amazon:



Move the mouse pointer over the smaller images to see how the gnd and power pins are connected.

Would it then also be possible to create a "slice" pcb with a header for the XK-1A? I.e. to make it possible to expand cores by chaining XK-1As the usual way? I believe someone mentioned the L1 and L2 are incompatible....

You mean Xlink? Might be impossible because of the possible incompatibility, haven't checked.

Anyway, it would be nice to have some kind of matrix for mapping the slice port (except for power and ground pins) pins to any oins in old style headers. That way the same adapter could be made work with old style kits easier.