Altera MAX II - Manual (Page 30)

2–22 Development Kit Version 1.1.0 Altera Corporation
MAX II Development Kit Getting Started User Guide July 2005
Reference Designs
The Visual Basic project consists of the GUI and various pieces of code
that control the transmission and reception of data and control characters
to and from the MAX II board. All data is interpreted based on which
command buttons are pressed. After a command button is pressed, it is
disabled until the PC receives data for the corresponding component.
When this data is received, the PC interprets it based on which command
button is disabled and then processes it appropriately. After all data has
been processed, the command button is enabled again.
The Visual Basic project relies heavily on drivers provided by Future
Technology Devices International (FTDI), the company that
manufactures the USB MAC. FTDI has several drivers available on their
web site along with bits of Visual Basic code, C code, and documentation.
Designers looking to interface to a PC in the same manner as this
application are advised to investigate the driver solutions provided by
FTDI. This application is formed around FTDI’s Virtual COM Port
drivers. These drivers essentially mimic a COM port on the PC, making
the sending and receiving of data relatively easy.
The board is set up so that users can implement designs based on the
other drivers provided by FTDI, but this does require a hardware
modification—the footprint labeled J10 is for an EEPROM socket that can
be added to the board and then populated with the designer’s choice of
EEPROMs. This EEPROM then allows designers to set the USB Product
ID and Vendor ID, as well as allowing for USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 (High Speed)
interfaces to be developed.
Reference Design 2: The Slot Game Reference Design
The MAX II Slot Game Reference Design highlights the high density of
the MAX II device. The reference design uses approximately 1050 logic
elements during implementation This total logic cell usage is equivalent
to roughly 800 macrocells in the legacy MAX architecture. Legacy MAX
devices contained a maximum of 512 macrocells, making designs such as
this impossible to implement without purchasing multiple devices.
Using the Slot Machine Reference Design
The MAX II Slot Game Reference Design is based on standard
casino-style slot machine behavior. It uses a linear feedback shift register
to determine the values of three simulated slot reels on the MAX II
board’s LCD. A player controls the progress of the game using three
buttons on the MAX II board.
The object of the game is to build a total bankroll of $1000 or more by
using three levels of wagering. The game is initiated by hitting the Bet
button (S2), at which time the player is given a default total of $199. By