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Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

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Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#81

Post by Joel_Mckay »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #80
Joel_Mckay wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hardware drivers not certified by the Microsoft lab will not install. No longer can folks dismiss the nag screen to run some bespoke piece of hardware. This is apparently being done to improve kernel security and reliability. It could be a PR disaster depending how it is rolled out... People can blame things like the old generic PC-case-bling LED driver CVE people and even its original author lost patience with years…

Hardware drivers not certified by the Microsoft lab will not install. No longer can folks dismiss the nag screen to run some bespoke piece of hardware. Again, that's been the case since Windows 7. You have to go out of your way to boot the system in "Test Mode" to install an unsigned driver. Either that, or use Zadig to self-sign the driver. (Maybe they're no longer allowing that?) Signatures were enforced only for 6…

The policy is covered fairly well:

https://windowsforum.com/threads/windows-driver-signing-bala...

We won't know the actual collateral damage till the update is released. =)

Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#83

Post by poizan42 »

Joel_Mckay wrote: post #81
CamperBob2 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hardware drivers not certified by the Microsoft lab will not install. No longer can folks dismiss the nag screen to run some bespoke piece of hardware. Again, that's been the case since Windows 7. You have to go out of your way to boot the system in "Test Mode" to install an unsigned driver. Either that, or use Zadig to self-sign the driver. (Maybe they're no longer allowing that?) Signatures were enforced only for 6…

The policy is covered fairly well: https://windowsforum.com/threads/windows-driver-signing-bala... We won't know the actual collateral damage till the update is released. =)

There is nothing in that article saying anything about any upcoming requirements. Also it is written by a ChatGPT bot account, so it would be an invalid source even if it did.

The only update even mentioned in that article is "Windows 10, version 1607 (the Anniversary Update released in August 2016)". In case you haven't noticed, that happened 9 years ago...

Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#84

Post by duskwuff »

Joel_Mckay wrote: post #78
afandian wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve always been curious why there’s no generic USB serial chip. It seems like the most obvious thing in the world. I’ve noticed ESP32 boards tend to come with one of two proprietary chips, with their own drivers. Do you know why this isn’t all standard?

The generic CDC class does not support high-speed bit-bang JTAG modes. Most ESP32 chips have a built in boot-loader for normal 3.3v UART protocols. Retro computer eMMC memory-recovery hardware like the xgecu T76 is a USB3.0 device with built in FPGA and gpio voltage-level-shifters. It may eventually solve a lot of the hobby diagnostic/recovery tool issues, but the Beta software is currently Windows only. There is a F…

minipro already runs on macOS and Linux. There's better tools out there for general-purpose IO, though - the Glasgow Explorer [1] is probably best in class, for instance. (Although one place where MiniPro-type devices outperform it is in interacting with old EEPROMs which require >5V Vpp.)

[1]: https://glasgow-embedded.org/

Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#85

Post by jevinskie »

phendrenad2 wrote: post #33
hmry wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These chips usually cost $1k-$2k when bought new individually from the manufacturer

So people are going to desolder the chip? This doesn't seem very hobbyist-doable. Are there people out there who build products based on scrapped FPGAs from ebay?

There are certainly people removing high-end FPGAs from surplus/scrap commercial products and reselling them.

Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#86

Post by jevinskie »

duskwuff wrote: post #63
sweetjuly wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vivado has free and paid tiers. The free tiers ("WebPack") support their a myriad of their smaller devices (which includes the Kria boards). The larger devices (Virtex, etc.), however, are generally only supported by the paid versions of Vivado. It's inconvenient for hobbyists, sure, but for enterprise uses the cost of Vivado for a team is largely inconsequential (which I suspect is why they get away with this).

The licensing scheme is not terribly robust, either; there are a number of cracked (full) licenses floating around if you know where to look. Given that AMD makes most of their money on hardware sales, and the software is only really useful in conjunction with that hardware, I suspect they don't care very much.

It is clear from the quality that all vendors of EDA software actively hate their paying customers.

Just wonder - why are EDA tools just now starting to get HiDPI support? I’m pretty sure Altera, Xilinx/AMD, etc haven’t bought HiDPI monitors for their own developers!

Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#87

Post by Joel_Mckay »

poizan42 wrote: post #83
Joel_Mckay wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The policy is covered fairly well: https://windowsforum.com/threads/windows-driver-signing-bala... We won't know the actual collateral damage till the update is released. =)

There is nothing in that article saying anything about any upcoming requirements. Also it is written by a ChatGPT bot account, so it would be an invalid source even if it did. The only update even mentioned in that article is "Windows 10, version 1607 (the Anniversary Update released in August 2016)". In case you haven't noticed, that happened 9 years ago...

Not sure if it potentially will break the Win11 reboot unsigned install method:

https://youtu.be/ETqvtZomqV8?si=-gd34UzaLNDNNDc7&t=50

If at some point I can recall the interview from earlier this year, than I will post a link. Otherwise, we will both have to wait and see. Best regards. =3

Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#88

Post by taneq »

Joel_Mckay wrote: post #60
poizan42 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Importantly not just counterfeit chips but also completely legal clone chips. For context, for a long time Windows did not have a driver for the CDC serial communication class out of the box. But FTDI had made good Windows drivers, and their interface was easy to clone. So for a time there was a market for making 3rd-party chips implementing FTDI's interface and copying their USB id to be recognized by their driver[0…

Many Chip VID:PID listed in > lsusb or C:\> Get-PnpDevice -PresentOnly | Where-Object { $_.InstanceId -match '^USB' } | Format-List are considered copyrighted IP in North America. Many of the paid device codes are often not like other Communication Device Class drivers or free generic HID devices listed in the USB standard. Early next year Windows 11 will be locking out unsigned drivers from the OS. Good for keeping…

I can kinda see where the idea of "copyrighting a number" makes sense when you're talking about a number that's multiple kilobytes in size, but trying to stake a legal claim to one of the 65536 possible 16-bit numbers is just wrong imo.

Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#89

Post by taneq »

matt-p wrote: post #64
Joel_Mckay wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many Chip VID:PID listed in > lsusb or C:\> Get-PnpDevice -PresentOnly | Where-Object { $_.InstanceId -match '^USB' } | Format-List are considered copyrighted IP in North America. Many of the paid device codes are often not like other Communication Device Class drivers or free generic HID devices listed in the USB standard. Early next year Windows 11 will be locking out unsigned drivers from the OS. Good for keeping…

The copycats are free to write thier own drivers though? They could even open source them. Why should they get to steal them from FDTI? I do agree the cost of the chips are insane however, they're ultimately worth paying for because of the driver support and 'just works' factor.

They're not stealing anything.

Re: Alibaba cloud FPGA: the $200 Kintex UltraScale+

#90

Post by poizan42 »

Joel_Mckay wrote: post #87
poizan42 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing in that article saying anything about any upcoming requirements. Also it is written by a ChatGPT bot account, so it would be an invalid source even if it did. The only update even mentioned in that article is "Windows 10, version 1607 (the Anniversary Update released in August 2016)". In case you haven't noticed, that happened 9 years ago...

Not sure if it potentially will break the Win11 reboot unsigned install method: https://youtu.be/ETqvtZomqV8?si=-gd34UzaLNDNNDc7&t=50 If at some point I can recall the interview from earlier this year, than I will post a link. Otherwise, we will both have to wait and see. Best regards. =3

What is "it" that might break something? There is nothing that is going to happen. The AI-slop you linked doesn't mention anything that is going to happen. It's just a summary of changes that have happened in the past and a list of pros and cons of the driver signing requirement from more than a decade ago. There is nothing to "wait and see" for.
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