Multilinx, Parallel Cable III 

and XChecker Cables
oMultiLINX
o Parallel Cable III  (HW-JTAG) 
o XChecker Cable  (HW-XCHCBL) 
o Cable Software
o To order stand alone cables contact the local distributor or international rep in your area. 
Get Acrobat to view the pdf PDF files below. 

Multilinx

The new MultiLINX TM cable takes advantage of the USB port found on newer PCs. MultiLINX delivers the ultimate in download performance: Up to 12 Mbits/second throughput. MultiLINX features an adjustable voltage interface that enables it to talk to systems and I/Os operating at 5, 3.3, or 2.5 volts. 

Software support for the MultiLINX cable is provided in version 2.1i of the Alliance Series and Foundation Series software products. 
 
pdfGetting Started With the MultiLINX Cable - Application Note Purchase Xilinx Device Programming Cables
For more technical detail click hereInternet Link. 

Parallel Cable III  (HW-JTAG-PC)

The Parallel Download cable is a PC-only based cable that attaches to the parallel port of a designer's computer. The cable supports the following families: 
 
- XC4000XL/XV/EX/E
- Spartan & Spartan-XL 
- XC5200
- XC9500 & XC9500XL
- Virtex & Virtex-E


Two rows of "flying wires" are shipped with the cable.  They are attached at the end of the cable to the designer's target system. XC9500 & XC9500XL devices use the "JTAG" row of wires. The FPGAs listed above also have JTAG ports. Users can use the same "JTAG" connections if the user inserts the JTAG symbol in their design. 

Designs for FPGAs without the JTAG symbol inserted into their designs can still use the "FPGA" row of wires for configuration of the FPGA. 
 
pdf HW-JTAG-PC Cable Drawing
pdf HW-JTAG-PC Cable Schematic		 Purchase Xilinx Device Programming Cables

XChecker Cable (HW-XCHCBL)

The XChecker Download and Readback Cable is supported on PC and workstation platforms. The XChecker attaches to the host computer's RS232 serial port. The cable supports downloading and JTAG on the following families: 
 
- XC4000E/EX
- SPARTAN 
- XC5200
- XC9500 


A 3V adapter is available by ordering HW-XCH3V. With the addition of this 3V adapter, the cable supports downloading and JTAG on the following families: 
 

- XC4000XL/XV
- SPARTAN XL
- XC9500XL


Designers can verify device operation by uploading information from a configured FPGA and compare it to the original data that was downloaded.  An innovative feature of XChecker cable is the "read back" capability offered for some of the devices supported.  This capability is currently limited to devices with densities smaller than the XC4013XL or devices requiring less than 512Kbits of configuration data. 

Internal logic nodes and signals can also be probed by taking a "snapshot" of the FPGA and uploading the data via XChecker. XChecker can control a user's system clock, allowing a design to be single-stepped and displayed for each clock cycle. 

pdf HW-XCHCBL Cable Drawing
pdf HW-XCHCBL Connections to Serial Port Drawing

Cable Software

The Parallel and XChecker cables are supported by both the Xilinx Foundation and Alliance series development systems software packages.  Although a complete installation is not necessary to use the features of the cables, the JTAG programmer software must be installed to use the Parallel cable with the on-chip JTAG port.  The Hardware Debugger software must be installed in order to use the XChecker cable.  The Hardware Debugger software must also be installed to use the Parallel cable for FPGAs using the FPGA download row of wires.