BuddhaCPLDUpgrade
Buddha CPLD Upgrade
Caution: Please do not attempt a CPLD upgrade unless you know for sure that your controller really needs it. It is very likely that by now (2019), every controller in the field has the latest CPLD version installed. Buddha Flash 20-year Anniversary Edition controllers that have been shipped prior to february 23rd, 2018, have an old CPLD revision that implements the exact timing of the Buddha Phoenix Edition. However, it has turned out that newer IDE devices (made 2004 or later) do not like this timing, and that certain A2000 accelerators can completely break compatibility with practically all IDE devices. We have therefore continued development and provide a CPLD upgrade that fixes compatibility with newer IDE devices, SATA adapters, DOM modules and CF cards. This upgrade is free to all Buddha Flash 20-year Anniversary Edition customers. Although anyone can download it, only those who own the controller have a license. The files may not be used to offer a paid upgrade service.
We are working on a tool that lets you apply the upgrade with an Amiga computer. If you already own a Xilinx-compatible JTAG cable (Xilinx Platform cable for USB or Parallelport cable), we are providing the CPLD upgrade in two industry-standard formats: Jedec and XSVF, whatever your software supports. Download: File:Buddha CPLD.zip.
You may need to adapt the pinout of your JTAG cable to the pinout of the Buddha controller. Please refer to the picture on the right for the exact pinout. The header is a standard 1/10" (2.54mm) 2x5-pin header.
The pinout is the one originally used by Altera for the ByteBlaster and USB-Blaster JTAG adapters. The same pinout has been illustrated for the low-cost version of the Xilinx "Parallel cable III". It has the advantage of being tolerant to misalignment and wrong polarity. In addition to the writing in the picture on the right, here's the signal names once again:
| pin# | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Signal name | TCK | GND | TDO | 3.3V IO voltage | TMS | N.C. | N.C. | N.C. | TDI | GND |
Make your own programmer cable
The CPLD of the Buddha Flash 20-year Anniversary Edition can be re-programmed by the Amiga, using a cable that goes from the the Parallel port to the JTAG port of the Buddha. The recommended length is 50cm (20 inches). A total of six lines have to be connected:
Connection to parallel port, top view
Connection to parallel port, bottom view
| JTAG pin# | Parallel pin# | Signal name |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6+7 | TCK |
| 2 | 20 | GND |
| 3 | 3 | TDO |
| 5 | 4 | TMS |
| 9 | 5 | TDI |
| 10 | 13 | GND |
We are documenting this cable ahead of production - this is a service to those customers who don't want to wait until production of the upgrade cables has been completed. If you are not the type of person to make this cable on your own, just wait for the cable to arrive in the mail. We will send a free cable to every customer who has bought a Buddha Flash 20-year anniversary edition with the old CPLD contents. However, you'd do us a favour and let us know if you do NOT need the cable, as this will save us the cost for shipping. We hope to finish and ship all cables before the end of march 2018.
Using the Upgrade cable
Header inserted into IDC-10 connector
No soldering on the Buddha required: Push sideways to make contact
A second Amiga is not required. It is possible to use the same Amiga for running the upgrade tool that the Buddha is installed in.
Insert a 2x5-pin header into the IDC connector at the JTAG-end of the cable as shown in the picture on the right. Place the male DB25 connector into the parallel port of your Amiga. Insert the pin header into the open holes of the Buddha controller and push the connector sideways to make safe contact. In the picture in the right, the connector is "pushed down". Once you've established this connection, start the Buddha upgrade tool in a shell of your Amiga. It will check the connection and prompt you to press "Y". That's shift-Y for a capital Y - you may want to use caps lock, since you have one hand occupied by the connector.
After pressing Shift-Y, hold the connector safely in place for about 15 seconds while the upgrade is performed. If it takes longer than that: Don't panic! Non-accelerated Amigas may take up to 45 seconds, but will do the job just as well. The mouse pointer of the Amiga will be frozen while the upgrade tool is working; this is required to make sure that no other software is accessing the parallel port during the upgrade process. The screen will flicker while data transfer is happening, so you have constant feedback from the computer that it didn't crash.
The self-starting upgrade disk can be downloaded here: File:Buddha upgrade disk.lha - just unpack, write to a floppy disk and boot from that floppy.
