I am interested in your host adapters, the Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapter and the Promira^TM Serial Platform, and I have a few questions about how they handle SPI. My SPI application has two flag lines back from the spi slave device. I want to use an SPI tool, such as the Aardvark adapter or the Promira platform, to simulate the master. here are my questions:

• How do I configure the GPIO pins on the (master) tool for the "flag lines"?
• How is CRC (cyclic redundancy check) handled – is it through the device or software?

Thank for your questions!

Figure 1: Promira Serial Platform

Figure 2: Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapter

In SPI mode, both the Promira platform and the Aardvark adapter have two GPIO signals that can be configured using the software GUIs or the API.

• For the Promira platform, the software tools include the Control Center Serial Software and the Promira Software API.
• For the Aardvark adapter, the software tools for configuration include the Control Center Serial Software and the Aardvark Software API.

CRCs are not handled by the hardware, but can be supported  via the APIs. The Software APIs support multiple OS (Windows, Linux, and Mac) and multiple languages (C, Python, Visual Basic, and C#), and include examples. We recommend using the Python bindings, which is a simple language and an effective option for scripting.

• For information about the Promira Software API, please refer to section 5 of the Promira Serial Platform User Platform.
• For information about Aardvark Software API, please refer to section 5 of the Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapter User Manual.