FPGA -> SATA?
in [FPGA]
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From: Martin E. on 25 Aug 2006 14:41 I am looking for a way to read/write to a SATA drive from an FPGA. I've looked around. Nothing seems to fit the bill. Any ideas worth considering? Thanks, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Martin To send private email: email = x(a)y.com where: x = "martineu" y = "pacbell.net"
From: Antti on 25 Aug 2006 15:51 Martin E. schrieb: > I am looking for a way to read/write to a SATA drive from an FPGA. I've > looked around. Nothing seems to fit the bill. Any ideas worth considering? > > Thanks, > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Martin Hi Martin, good question :) ML300 and digilent XUP V2Pro both have SATA connectors on them but can not actually be used for SATA as of compliance issues. (OOB and CDR lock range mainly) ASFAIK those issues are no longer present with V4FX that should be fully SATA compliant without external workarounds. So you can just get the ML410 and start working :) sure you would still need the IP core from some vendor though Antti
From: Austin Lesea on 25 Aug 2006 16:30 Martin, SATA worked, but not when it used the spread spectrum clocking. There was also some out of band signaling issues, where you needed a transistor and a couple of resistors. So, it could be a point solution for a known drive that did not have spread spectrum, but it was not able to deal with the the broad spectrum of SATA product. Austin Antti wrote: > Martin E. schrieb: > >> I am looking for a way to read/write to a SATA drive from an FPGA. I've >> looked around. Nothing seems to fit the bill. Any ideas worth considering? >> >> Thanks, >> >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >> Martin > Hi Martin, > > good question :) > > ML300 and digilent XUP V2Pro both have SATA connectors on > them but can not actually be used for SATA as of compliance issues. > (OOB and CDR lock range mainly) > > ASFAIK those issues are no longer present with V4FX that > should be fully SATA compliant without external workarounds. > So you can just get the ML410 and start working :) > > sure you would still need the IP core from some vendor though > > Antti >
From: Martin E. on 25 Aug 2006 17:17 We are designing with a V2P30 right now for migration to an equivalent V5 Q1'07. The SATA solution won't be needed until early next year. Would V5 work then? Also, is SATA IP commercially available? I guess an alternative might be to go PCI X/e and then use an off-the shelf SATA controller that talks to PCI. The problem is that I need lots of drives in parallel (I do mean LOTS) for this application. It'd be easier to hang them right off an FPGA with a PHY (which seem to be impossible to get). Thanks, -Martin "Austin Lesea" <austin(a)xilinx.com> wrote in message news:44EF5DD5.5040502(a)xilinx.com... > Martin, > > SATA worked, but not when it used the spread spectrum clocking. There > was also some out of band signaling issues, where you needed a > transistor and a couple of resistors. > > So, it could be a point solution for a known drive that did not have > spread spectrum, but it was not able to deal with the the broad spectrum > of SATA product. > > Austin > > Antti wrote: >> Martin E. schrieb: >> >>> I am looking for a way to read/write to a SATA drive from an FPGA. I've >>> looked around. Nothing seems to fit the bill. Any ideas worth >>> considering? >>> >>> Thanks, >>> >>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>> Martin >> Hi Martin, >> >> good question :) >> >> ML300 and digilent XUP V2Pro both have SATA connectors on >> them but can not actually be used for SATA as of compliance issues. >> (OOB and CDR lock range mainly) >> >> ASFAIK those issues are no longer present with V4FX that >> should be fully SATA compliant without external workarounds. >> So you can just get the ML410 and start working :) >> >> sure you would still need the IP core from some vendor though >> >> Antti >>
From: Austin Lesea on 25 Aug 2006 17:28
Martin, No, and No. Sorry, even V5 does not have the frequency tracking agility to track the SATA spread spectrum clock. And because of that, we have no IP for it, either. The ASSP vendors are very protective about their business: they continue to make their little applications as tough to do as possible, to keep out the 'big bad FPGA vendors' who seem to be eating up all their businesses. (Hey, we are just trying to make our customers happy!) Too bad: when an industry is spending time being defensive, they have already lost - any time spent not innovating means you are doomed to failure. Austin Martin E. wrote: > We are designing with a V2P30 right now for migration to an equivalent V5 > Q1'07. The SATA solution won't be needed until early next year. Would V5 > work then? > > Also, is SATA IP commercially available? > > I guess an alternative might be to go PCI X/e and then use an off-the shelf > SATA controller that talks to PCI. The problem is that I need lots of > drives in parallel (I do mean LOTS) for this application. It'd be easier to > hang them right off an FPGA with a PHY (which seem to be impossible to get). > > Thanks, > > -Martin > > > "Austin Lesea" <austin(a)xilinx.com> wrote in message > news:44EF5DD5.5040502(a)xilinx.com... >> Martin, >> >> SATA worked, but not when it used the spread spectrum clocking. There >> was also some out of band signaling issues, where you needed a >> transistor and a couple of resistors. >> >> So, it could be a point solution for a known drive that did not have >> spread spectrum, but it was not able to deal with the the broad spectrum >> of SATA product. >> >> Austin >> >> Antti wrote: >>> Martin E. schrieb: >>> >>>> I am looking for a way to read/write to a SATA drive from an FPGA. I've >>>> looked around. Nothing seems to fit the bill. Any ideas worth >>>> considering? >>>> >>>> Thanks, >>>> >>>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>>> Martin >>> Hi Martin, >>> >>> good question :) >>> >>> ML300 and digilent XUP V2Pro both have SATA connectors on >>> them but can not actually be used for SATA as of compliance issues. >>> (OOB and CDR lock range mainly) >>> >>> ASFAIK those issues are no longer present with V4FX that >>> should be fully SATA compliant without external workarounds. >>> So you can just get the ML410 and start working :) >>> >>> sure you would still need the IP core from some vendor though >>> >>> Antti >>> > > |