.RBF file to download in serial configuration ?

[Altera_Forum]

i have a little question, 

 i use a ep3c40q240c8 (cyclone iii) with epcs16 (serial configuration) and i have a microcontroller also.   i would like to upgrade the fpga code inside the serial configuration with my microcontroller and i found the srunner on you site but he use the .rpd format file and it’s very big file !!!!!!! it’s possible to used the .rbf file to download in the serial configuration (compressed of course) ?   i would like to use page 0 for original code and page 1 for the upgrade code  How do I know the addresses or go write for page 1 ?   Thank you,   Jean

[Altera_Forum]

Hi Jean: 

 It's possible to load the Cyclone III directly from the microcontroller instead of the EPCS, so you can basically have the microcontroller, do all the grunt work, and just load the RBF. It's basically just shifts out one byte at a time. With the clock bit.   Basically this is the "Passive Serial" form of loading, and is decribed in the various Cyclone device handbooks.  We use both methods here. The only thing we had to do was bit reverse the RBF so the TI McBSP would shift out the bits in the correct order, but that was a limitation of the OMAP. To save code space and run-time we basically ran a script that bitreversed the rbf before we stored it to flash.  Pete   Pete

[Altera_Forum]

Hi Jean: 

To reduce the .RPD file size, refer to page 12 of SRunner app note, AN418.pdf. We can remove 0xFF data at the tail and the reshaped .RPD file size is supposed to be comparable to the .RBF.  ---  EOFZ

[Altera_Forum]

Thank you EOFZ and anakha, 

 It’s possible to used the RBF format to download in serial configuration ?   I often load directly to the FPGA, but not a serial configuration.   Jean

[Altera_Forum]

Hi Jean, 

We need to program Active Serial mode bit stream into EPCS. I don't think we can make a .RBF file for Active Serial mode. So, you have to use .RPD data in Active Serial mode for EPCS programming.  ---  EOFZ

[Altera_Forum]

hi Jlewis ! 

 How did you modified your C code of SRunner to use it with a microcontroller because i try to configure a cyclone II with a ST10F168.  Thanks for your answer.