1 Overview

The Flash Socket Board provides embedded systems engineers with an easy and cost-effective method of programming I2C- and SPI-based memory devices. Using Total Phase’s industry-leading host adapters and software, engineers can take full advantage of the Flash Center ^TM  programming software and the Aardvark ^TM  I2C/SPI Host Adapter and the Cheetah ^TM  SPI Host Adapter to program their Serial EEPROMs and Serial Flash memory chips.

Figure 1: Schematic of the Flash Socket Board

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1.1 Features

• Flash and burn I2C and SPI Serial EEPROMs and SPI Flash memory that are in any of these standard chip packages: DIP8, SOIC8 or TSSOP8.

• Specify 5V, 3.3V, or an external VDD Source at any voltage level.

• Connect or disconnect Slave Select (SS) and change the polarity of SS.

• Gang-Program multiple devices by using multiple socket board and programming adapter sets in parallel on the same host computer.

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1.2 What’s Included

The Flash Socket Board comes complete with:

• Flash Socket Board 

• 8-pin split ribbon cable

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1.3 Flash Center Software 

The Flash Center Software is a free software package that allows engineers to quickly erase, program, and verify I2C- and SPI-based EEPROM and Flash memory chips that are interfaced through an Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapter and/or Cheetah SPI Host Adapter.

Figure 2: The Flash Center Software is a free memory chip programming software

Features

• Fast speeds - the Flash Center Software can read a typical 4 Megabyte flash memory in 0.7 seconds.

• Gang programming support - the Flash Center Software can program multiple devices in parallel by connecting to multiple Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapters and/or Cheetah SPI Host Adapters on the same computer.

• Extensible device support - the Flash Center Software has an extensible XML-based memory device library. By adding or modifying the XML descriptions of target memory devices, developers can instantly support almost any I2C- or SPI-based EEPROM or Flash memory.

Minimum Requirements

• Linux (kernel 2.6 and above), Windows 2000 (SP4 or later), or Windows XP (SP2 or later)

• One or more available High-speed USB 2.0 ports

• One or more Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapters and/or Cheetah SPI Host Adapters

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1.4 Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapter

The Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapter is a fast and powerful I2C bus and SPI bus host adapter through USB. It allows a developer to interface a Linux or Windows PC to a downstream embedded system environment and transfer serial messages using the I2C and SPI protocols.

Figure 3: The Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapter is a USB to I2C and SPI adapter that allows developers to interface their computers to target embedded systems.

Features

• I2C Master and Slave (1-800 kHz)

• SPI Master (up to 8 MHz) and Slave (up to 4 MHz)

• General Purpose I/O

• Windows and Linux support

• Free software and royalty-free API

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1.5 Cheetah SPI Host Adapter

The Cheetah SPI Host Adapter is a high-speed SPI adapter that is capable of communicating over SPI at up to 40+ MHz. The Cheetah adapter is specifically designed to communicate with high-speed, SPI-based flash memory. It is an ideal tool to develop, debug, and program SPI-based systems.

Figure 4: The Cheetah SPI Host Adapter is a high-speed SPI Master-only adapter. It is capable of signaling from 1 to 40+ MHz with no inter-byte delays.

Features

• SPI Master signaling up to 40+ MHz

• Maximum throughput with no inter-byte delays

• User-configurable timing delays

• Windows and Linux support

• Free software and royalty-free API