MAX II Project Ideas

[Altera_Forum]

I think MAX II is a great device, with lots of features (for a CPLD) and easy to use. I am considering doing my Masters project using MAX II. Any good ideas or suggestions? I have a MAX II dev kit. Thanks.

[Altera_Forum]

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.

[Altera_Forum]

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

[Altera_Forum]

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 :)

[Altera_Forum]

Commodore 64 - that thing was sweet. Nice idea.  

 http://c64s.com/

[Altera_Forum]

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. :)

[Altera_Forum]

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.

[Altera_Forum]

Thanks for the tips! Looks like I need to build my own board as I want to use the MAX II G device which has a lower voltage requirement at 1.8V.

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  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. :)  --- Quote End ---     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.