
PulseBlasterESR DualCore 8M
II. Installing and Using Your PulseBlasterESR DualCore
Installation
To install t e board you must complete t e following t ree steps:
1) Install t e latest MultiCore SpinAPI package, available ere.
–T e DualCore PulseBlasterESR board requires a specialized version of SpinAPI called t e
MultiCore SpinAPI.
2) S ut down computer, insert t e PulseBlasterESR DualCore 8M card, and fasten t e PC bracket.
–Your system s ould detect t e board as a “PulseBlaster Multicore” device.
3) Power up and follow t e installation prompts.
Now you are ready to run t e test programs provided in t e SpinAPI package.
Note: To compile and run your own C programs, you may want to download t e SpinAPI Tools package t at
contains a pre-configured compiler; t e SpinAPI Tools package is also available for download at t e URL above.
General API Programming Information
Seven test programs (executables and t eir C source files) are available for testing. Assuming t e default
installation, t e test programs will be available on t e computer at t e following location: Start → All Programs
→ SpinAPI → Examples → DualCore Examples (t e default installation location is:
“C:\SpinCore\SpinAPI\Examples\DualCore Examples”). T e .c files can be modified and recompiled to create
custom test programs.
T e SpinAPI programming paradigm is simple:
1.Include t e “spinapi. ” in your C-file and link your executable to t e SpinAPI library.
2.Initialize t e API by calling t e function pb_init(). T is function must be called and return successfully in order
for t e API to function properly.
3.If t ere is more t an one board installed in your system, select t e correct board by calling
pb_select_board(board_number).
4.Tell t e API t e board's internal operating clock frequency. T is can be done by calling
pb_set_clock(clock_freq) wit t e appropriate internal operating frequency (500 MHz for t e PulseBlasterESR
DualCore 8M.)
5.Start programming a PulseProgram memory device. T is can be accomplis ed by calling
pb_start_programming(device). T e available devices on t e PulseBlasterESR DualCore 8M are t e
C RE0_MEM (core 0's PulseProgram memory) and C RE1_MEM (core 1's PulseProgram memory.)
6.Begin programming a PulseProgram sequence. A CONTINUE instruction can be programmed by calling
pb_inst(flag, time_ns). A STOP instruction can be programmed by calling pb_inst_stop().
Note: T e last instruction in t e PulseProgram must be a STOP instruction, or t e program will loop infinitely.
7.Stop programming t e selected device. T is can be accomplis ed by calling pb_stop_programming().
8.Select w ic cores are enabled by calling pb_core_select(core_mask). Eac bit of t e core mask corresponds
to t at core being enabled (i.e. bit 0 corresponds to core 0.)
9.Trigger t e selected cores by using pb_start(), or reset t e board wit pb_stop().
10.Close t e API by calling pb_close().
For more information on using t e DualCore SpinAPI, see t e “SpinAPI Reference Manual.pdf” found in t e
SpinAPI directory.
www.spincore.com 6 2013/08/28