ColorCNC Colorlight 5A-75E/5A-75B as FPGA controller board

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02 Dec 2021 15:14 - 02 Dec 2021 15:22 #228191 by romanetz
This is the topic to discuss my contribution into Linuxcnc. The project is named "ColorCNC" because it's a firmware driver for Chinese board Colorlight 5A-75B, which was originally intended for control of LED video screens.A lot of stuff about this board is discussed here: github.com/enjoy-digital/colorlite and here: github.com/q3k/chubby75 My firmware is based partly on the liteeth project github.com/enjoy-digital/liteeth and partly on known pluto-p firmware from Linuxcnc repo. As of now, it implements in this $15 board:6 step generators24 di12 do3 pwmUnused possibilities:risc-v CPU synthesized processor core (provides 32 bits, 50 MHz CPU)and2M*16 SDRAM (totally 4 Mbytes of memory)It's open source and highly configurable. The firmware is built using yosys nextpnr toolchain.
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Last edit: 02 Dec 2021 15:22 by andypugh.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Bari, tommylight, verser, tivoi, besriworld, daiman444, tuzki, muvideo, AlessandroEmm, Bongo

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02 Dec 2021 15:22 #228193 by andypugh
That looks rather intriguing, thanks.

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13 Dec 2021 06:22 #228992 by Cncninja
Any more info pinout etc ? I would love to give it a try Thanks for the MESA alternative.

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14 Dec 2021 19:50 #229072 by muvideo
That's very interesting,
I'm running my mill with a raspi + uC board and I was considering to switch to an FPGA.
Any more infos/source?
I'd like to try.
Fabio

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15 Dec 2021 01:36 #229088 by cakeslob
github.com/LinuxCNC/linuxcnc/pull/1422

how many logic elements does it use? I have to look into it more, but this could be used with the common ice40 fpgas' could it not?

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15 Dec 2021 05:43 #229096 by Bari
Maybe we should put this into a dev branch and clean it up and test this out for a while.

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15 Dec 2021 10:43 - 15 Dec 2021 10:44 #229108 by muvideo
Thanks for the link,

From a superficial code reading it seem to me that there are encoders already designed in fpga but they are not connected yet to linuxcnc.
Am I correct?
I like what I'm seeing: if the encoders will be functional in future, it will be all
that I need for a while.
I've ordered a pair of Colorlight 5A-75B for testing.
Thank you for sharing this!
Last edit: 15 Dec 2021 10:44 by muvideo.

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15 Dec 2021 11:23 #229113 by ALittleOffTheRails
What boards support input via the headers, if any ?

After a quick scan through the docs it seems that the ports are one way, apart from the RV901T which has a Spartan 6 FPGA.

Just thinking out loud....(not having access to a schematic)
It would seem that to get input on the Lattice based boards some of the 74HC245s would need replacement with 74LVC245s and a mod to change direction. These are 3.3v devices that have 5v tolerant inputs.

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15 Dec 2021 11:46 #229114 by muvideo
I was thinking about the input interfacing.
If the '245 that are on the board are HC and not HCT it would be enough to
connect their Vcc to 3V3 and invert Dir. This will enable for 3V3 inputs,
If the '245 on the board are HCT or one need 5V inputs, then a IC swap is necessary.
The limitation is that all the pins connected to one IC will be either all inputs or all outputs.

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15 Dec 2021 22:55 - 15 Dec 2021 22:56 #229171 by Bari
Last edit: 15 Dec 2021 22:56 by Bari.

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