Synplify vs Precision

There are two good software tools for logic synthesis targeting FPGAs, Synplify and Precision.

The current version of Synplify supports fast logic synthesis. The option can be found at Project->Implementation Options->Options, where the 1st choice is the one, "Fast Synthesis". This feature was introduced since the 2010.9 version. It was claimed by Synopsys "Synplify Premier's FAST logic synthesis mode now offers up to a 4X speed improvement over traditional logic synthesis when using a single processor." at

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-products/electronic-product-releases/other/4209211/Synopsys-Enhances-Synplify-FPGA-Synthesis-Software-With-up-to-4X-Faster-Runtime-and-New-Team-Design-Capabilities

Precision is Mentor Graphics’ flagship FPGA synthesis solution offering good advantages for commercial applications and for mil-aero and safety-critical systems.

Usually synthesis results from these two tools showed Precision uses more resources but have better performance. For example, for ABS(X) * Y + Z, Synplify may need two steps, but Precision may only need one step.

Carl Icahn bids Mentor Graphics for $1.9 billion

On February 11, 2011, Carl Icahn mentioned Mentor Graphics should be sold or acquired since he is not happy with Mentor executives. Mentor is a leader in the electronic design automation (EDA) business. Essentially, this means developing software tools to help build circuit boards and other advanced hardware. Today Carl Icahn proposed a bid for $1.9 billion although he did not want to be the sole owner of Mentor but try to put bids higher. See more detail in

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2011/02/carl_icahn_offers_to_buy_mento.html

Multimedia Processing Site

There are lots of web links regarding to multimedia processing in

http://www-ee.uta.edu/Dip/Courses/EE5359/

including h.265 or HEVC, and many video and audio codecs.

Genesys Logic External PHY

The GL9714 is a 4-lane PCI Express PHY Layer Controller, which is compliant with PCI Express Base Specification rev. 1.0a and Intel’s PHY Interface for the PCI Express Architecture rev. 1.0. It integrates a quad SerDes and the Physical Coding Sub-layer (PCS) which performs 8b/10b encoding and decoding, elastic buffer and receiver detection, data serialization and deserialization for each lane. The quad SerDes in the GL9714 supports an effective serial interface speed (2.5 Gb/s) of data bandwidth for each lane, intended for use in ultrahigh-speed bi-directional data transmission system.

See more in

http://hitechglobal.com/Components/PCIEPHY4.htm

For example, it is used on

Xilinx Spartan 3 x4 PCI Express Evaluation Board

DALSA High resolution High speed CMOS camera

http://www.dalsa.com/mv/products/cameras.aspx

There are several models in this website. Dalsa claimed that it utilize proven global shutter technology, embedded high speed analog-to-digital conversions, large full well for excellent high dynamic range, and digital control interface for simplified sensor configuration and control.

Dalsa is also one of two major companies (the other is Kodak) to make chip for state-of-the-art 22 MP medium format camera.

Mentor Graphics Should Be Acquired or Sold: Carl Icahn

by

Daniel Nenni

Published on 02-12-2011 03:42 PM

Getty Images Carl Icahn

The big EDA news last week of course was the CNBC interview (HERE) with infamous corporate raider Carl Icahn. Carl is not happy with Mentor Executives, nor is Mentor investor Donald Drapkin who said, and I quote, "It's just a sleepy company run like a country club”. Carl and Donald’s combined MENT investment is 20%+ so expect fireworks at the Mentor Graphics shareholder meeting on May 6^th. See more in

http://www.semiwiki.com/forum/content/363-mentor-graphics-should-acquired-sold-carl-icahn.html

TI Multicore TMS320C6678 DSP and SVC, MVC, H.265

Recently TI announced a series of Multicore DSP including TMS320C6678. This series of DSP integrated fixed- and floating-point capability in the same DSP core and will be a major technical trend (see TI's white paper "TI’s new TMS320C66x fixed-and floating-point DSP core conquers the ‘Need for Speed’"). TMS320C6678 features eight 1.25 GHz DSP cores with 320 GMACs and 160 GFLOPs of combined fixed- and floating-point performance on a single device, and so provides users many rooms to develop new algorithm from Matlab or tools, to consolidate multiple DSPs to save board space and cost, as well as reduce overall power requirements.

It is very interesting that many new codecs and functions including Universal SVC, MVC, AVC Intra and H.265 are also supported on the C6678 DSP. Other available portfolio of video codecs includes the H.264, H.263, MPEG4, MPEG2, JPEG, VC1, Soren Spark encoders and decoders The portfolio of audio codecs includes the AAC, AACv2, AC3, MP3, WMA8, WMA9 encoders and decoders. The codec portfolio also includes a comprehensive set of wireline and wireless voice codecs.

TI will provide the multicore software developer's kit (MC-SDK), suite of multicore tools, and free codecs. The light version of C6678 EVM is sold for $399 in TI estore.

The EVM also includes a free MC-SDK, Code Composer Studio (CCS) integrated development environment, and suite of application/demo codes to allow programmers to quickly come up to speed on the new platform. Pricing for the C6678 DSP starts at $169 for 1Ku, according TI press release.

Ubuntu Linux on Android with Tegra 2 Tablet (Viewsonic G-Tablet)

Tegra 2-Powered ViewSonic G-Tablet has excellent capability for web surfing and HD video conference. A custom ROM, ZPad Clean v3.0, claims to include the very latest nvidia libraries. It also includes many updates from Tnt Lite. Installation of Ubuntu on the top of G-Tablet Android with Tnt Lite is not easy because perhaps Tnt Lite does not support loop devices. Thanks to excellent works from http://forum.xda-developers.com, including

http://androlinux.com/android-ubuntu-development/how-to-install-ubuntu-on-android/

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=909944

Ubuntu on Tegra 2 Tablet Android can be done now. Here is what how I did:

1. Download Ubuntu package from

http://hotfile.com/dl/92426365/63801e6/hd2-ubuntu_0.3.zip.html

rename "rootfs.ext2" under linux to "ubuntu.img"

2. Download setting scripts from in the following Ubuntu package

Ubuntu.zip at Uploading or
Ubuntu.zip at Easy-Share or
Ubuntu.zip at FileFactory

unzip and copy over the whole ubuntu directory to ubuntu directory on the internal SD card of your Android smartphone/tablet device.

3. Replace "ubuntu.img" in the one in the (2) package with the (1) ubuntu.img.

4. Download Zpad Clean 0.3 from

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ST5E1F63

It contains the standard Android update package update.zip and recovery directory.

5. Download Zpad Clean 3.0 from

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=853310

then replace the corresponding files in the Zpad Clean 0.3 with the ones in Zpad Clean 3.0

6. Put the update.zip and recovery directory on the root of SD card.

7. Re-flash G-Tablet by tap power button and volume + button in the same time. Or using Clockworkmod.

8. Open terminal application on G-Tablet. Type the following commands:

$su root

$cd /sdcard/ubuntu

$sh ./ubuntu.sh

$sh ./bootubuntu

Then it is done. There is no error message as shown when trying Tnt Lite v4.2.2.

Android Enterprise (802.1x) EAP Wireless Connection

(1) Add the following network definition to /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf

network={ ssid="ssidname"

scan_ssid=1

key_mgmt=IEEE8021X

eap=TTLS

identity="wfiusername"

password="wifipassword"

phase2="auth=PAP"

priority=1

}

or

network={
ssid=""
scan_ssid=1
eap=PEAP
identity=""
password=""
phase2="auth=MSCHAPV2"
}

(2) Change ownership:

i. su root

ii. cd /data/misc/wifi

iii. chown system.wifi wpa_supplicant.conf

Android Terminal Editor - nano

Download nano:

Unzip the file and place nano on the root of the sdcard (i.e. /sdcard/nano)

Open up the terminal and enter

$ su root

# mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system

# cp /sdcard/nano /system/bin

# chmod 755 /system/bin/nano

Tnt Lite 4.2.0 Boot Loops Recovery

Suggested by

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=842004

(1) Try to reflash first, using the microSD.
(2) Try to reflash to 1.0.1 TnT stock or the 1.0.0 vanilla homebrew - again using the microSD.
(3) Install clockworkmod recovery (see below) using the microSD, which will give you extra capabilities. Then, run clockworkmod recovery and wipe your user data.
(4) Re-run clockworkmod recovery and re-partition your SD card. Suggested setup (as of Jan 2011) is 2048 and swap of 0. (this last step will wipe the /sdcard data, so keep that in mind).

I tried (4) and got recovery. Then I upgraded to Tnt Lite 4.2.2. So far so good.

Android Terminal Emulator and Tnt Lite 4.2.0

The accessible Android Terminal Emulator on Google Market is not compatible with Tnt Lite 4.2.0. The one developed by Jack Palevich seems work well with Tnt Lite 4.2.0. It can be downloaded here

http://www.freewarelovers.com/android/download/temp/1284421563_Android_Terminal_Emulator_1.0.4.apk

Viewsonic G-Tablet Rooting and Tnt Lite 4.2.0

Viewsonic G-Tablet is Nvidia Tegra 2 based. Tegra 2 has Dual-core Arm Cortex-A9 MPCore and hardware codec processor to support H.264 1080p encoding and decoding. However, Viewsonic G-Tablet native UI software (TapnTap) is so bad, users have to use other overlay software such as Tnt Lite. The latest version of Tnt Lite is 4.2.2.

A video clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY_FvJnWNEw

shows how to install Clockworkmod and Tnt Lite 4.2.0. The Clockworkmod v0.8 can be downloaded from

http://www.mediafire.com/?dvleg4oatkfxm7w

Tnt Lite 4.2.0 is in

http://www.mediafire.com/?n66bk29kokyo9s6

Just follow the visual instruction, it is very easy to get both Clockworkmod and Tnt Lite 4.2.0 installed. Even a MicroSD card is not required. After installation, G-Tablet is already rooted. z4root is also not needed anymore.