Cyclone V E A7 into A2 migration

[Altera_Forum]

Hi 

  I would like to make a new design with a Cyclone V E. I could calculate that a A2 or A4 would be enough for this application.  But for engineering I would like to use a A7 to have more memory etc... What would be the best way to start with my pcb design?  I was thinking to take the schematic from the cyclone V e A2 and just place a A7 onto my first boards. Do you see there any problem?  The A7 should be more powerful and has more IOs as the A2. Is there mayba a good way to check if really every pin function from the  A2 is supported in the A7?   As peripherie I will use a LPDDR2 SDRAM, a SDRAM, a ethernet phy, a flash and some user IOs   Thanks a lot!

[Altera_Forum]

I short - yes. That sounds perfectly reasonable. However, I suggest you do something more and let the tools help. 

 Quartus supports device migration allowing you to put a design together and target it at a number of device family members. When you select a target device in Quartus there is a 'Migration Devices...' button. In here you can select all the devices that you might like to put your design into.  You will have to target a particular device each time you compile your project. However, providing you've selected all the devices via the migration option, Quartus will ensure only pins that suit all the devices are used. This also means any of the pin report files generated will help you to ensure that all the pins are connected appropriately for all the migration parts.  Cheers, Alex

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  Hi   I would like to make a new design with a Cyclone V E. I could calculate that a A2 or A4 would be enough for this application.  But for engineering I would like to use a A7 to have more memory etc... What would be the best way to start with my pcb design?  I was thinking to take the schematic from the cyclone V e A2 and just place a A7 onto my first boards. Do you see there any problem?  The A7 should be more powerful and has more IOs as the A2. Is there mayba a good way to check if really every pin function from the  A2 is supported in the A7?   As peripherie I will use a LPDDR2 SDRAM, a SDRAM, a ethernet phy, a flash and some user IOs   Thanks a lot!  --- Quote End ---    Device migration, is not as simple as that unfortunately. Many times there are pins that are NC and/or VCC/GND differences between the device families, so some IO are not available for migration.  Unfortunately, Altera doesn't support (Although I've been asking them too for years) a device migration safe pinout for the various packages, so I end up doing an elaborate spreadsheet to verify what pins are available.  if when you setup your quartus project and you setup the device migration options, it will warn you when you use a pin that doesn't migrate, but that doesn't help you very much when you are working on your PCB schematic, unless you already have all your pins defined. Even then, you may come into other pin issues, when dealing with LVDS or other IO's with more esoteric rules. (IE space from differential to single ended io's and SSO rules, etc).  I have a couple for cyclone V, but unfortunately, I can't share them because they have customer specific pinouts in them.  But I've attached one the I'm working on for the MAX10 DA devices in the F256 package so you can see what I mean.   Anyone looking at using this, be warned, this comes with no guarantees. The pinouts could change from now until when all the family members are released, so it is AS-IS.  Look at the common tab, and you will see the highlighted differences between family members.  The signals tab is where I would start applying my signals. (sorted by bank)  The rest of the tabs are scraped from all the MAX 10 devices pinout files.  If you find this useful, let Altera know that is the type of pinout file you would like to see! :)   Pete

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, just like to check which package of Cyclone V E devices that you are using because from the "I/O vertical migration for Cyclone V devices" not every package can be migrated between Cyclone V E A2 and A7 devices. When you enabled the migration feature in Quartus II as suggested by a_x_h_75 above, you should always follow the common pin placement as stated in the Quartus II software Pin Migration Window in the Pin Planner and make sure your design has followed the pin location accordingly to the migration results which are common pin functions to all migration devices. 

 For further understanding on migration feature, you may have a read on the following solution: https://www.altera.com/support/support-resources/knowledge-base/solutions/rd11232012_758.html

[Altera_Forum]

Further to Pete's comments... 

 I've found the device migration in Quartus extremely good. I have a board with exactly this migration path for Cyclone V in a 484 pin package. Yes, it requires you to put a Quartus project together. However, it will ensure you do not inadvertently use pins that are NC on one package and not another.  You can consider capturing a PCB based on the device pinouts alone. As Pete suggests, this requires careful consideration of multiple pinout files. For many designs this can be extremely successful. A spreadsheet is the obvious way to do this.  However, given your intention to use the peripherals you mention I cannot recommend strongly enough (as I do frequently on this forum) that you put a Quartus project together before committing to your PCB. You certainly don't want to get your prototype back only for Quartus to say 'no' to your pinout. Yes, this requires a little effort. However, this effort won't cost you anything unlike a prototype board that you can't use.  Cheers, Alex