On Nov 12, 10:41*am, Didi <d...@tgi-sci.com> wrote:
> On Nov 11, 11:13*am, -jg <jim.granvi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ....
> > I've sent Dimiter a disk image of an .ABL project compiled into a
> > XCR3128, so he can check what has changed....
>
> While having my morning coffee at 11 PM (still half full) I tried
> the newest version I have here (ISE11) on my test project, the one
> with the one toggling bit shifting through another five.
> I got a warning that the project would be converted to a new
> format not usable by older versions; and a promise the old
> version would be zipped somewhere (yet to check that, but I
> have the source on my DPS disk beyond any alien access anyway).
> The the project got open, but the Abel source was gone; the
> top source now was its translation to vhdl.
Fair enough, I thought,
> I was warned for that sort of thing.

Err No. I'd say NOT fair-enough.
WHY should they need to replace YOUR source code ?

If they have Abel-to-VHDL working, then simply run that in the
background.

I was told by a friend a couple of years back, that was how Xilinx
handled his abel - it did VHDL spins, but they were 'hidden', and it
took Xilinx a few months to knock the edges off that change, but it
DID sound like it all worked.

> What I was not warned of
> was the fact that it would no longer work... It just won't
> compile, I think it does not preserve the pin numbers I
> have assigned in the Abel file.
> I suppose it can be tweaked to eventually work, if there
> were any sane reason why someone would want to do that.
> I don't, that's sure :-).
> But I was reminded once more why it is so important
> to have all design tools under control, the coolrunner
> series is the finest programmable silicon I have seen and
> I clearly will have to adapt my lc to the 3 and perhaps
> 2 series, hopefully they will live for another while.

Have you looked at the Atmel ATF1508RE ?
I use the CUPL tool flows on their ATF15xx family.
It compiles in a fraction of a second, has a stable, flash-Drivable
image and it can create test vector files.
Hooked to a button in my favourite text editor.
Simple.Stable.Bulletproof (well, almost: Zero Angst)

-jg