FAQ/Errata for Lab 1

Errata

• on page 2 just above figure: "Connect the input to logic '1' and repeat the measurement." It used to say "Connect the output..." which would, of course, be a bad idea.

• You need a 74HC00 for Exercise #1. If you don't have one, see Arlin at the 6th floor instrument room desk.

Logging into the lab machines

Use your Athena username with an initial password of "changeme". To change your password using a lab machine type CTL-ALT-DELETE and click on Change Password.

If you get a message "Cannot connect to the domain server" when trying to logon, the machine is experiencing network problems. The 6th floor network switch might be having problems with particular ports, so try another machine.

Programming your PAL

The software system we use to convert Verilog to PAL programming files is called Warp, a product of Cypress, one of the PAL manufacturers. The actual program we want to run is Galaxy. To start Galaxy on the lab machines go to Start => Programs => Cypress => Warp R6.34 => Galaxy.

The prom/pal programmers are located in the row of benches furthest from the entrance (the row against the west wall of the lab). You'll need to use a floppy to bring your JEDEC programming file -- the one created by WARP -- over to programmer PCs.

Using the oscilloscope

Always connect the ground lead on the oscilloscope probe to GND on your lab kit before making a measurement. Make a little "U" of bare wire and stick into a GND column on the protoboard, preferably in a location near to where you're making your measurement. This gives a good place to clip the scope's ground lead.

It's a good idea to test your scope probes before making your first measurement. Try connecting them to +5 and GND to make sure they are operating correctly and that the waveform display is what you expect. Wire up the 1.8432Mhz oscillator chip (see Exercise #3) and attach the scope probes to its output; use the scope to measure the period/frequency of the output waveform.