Hello I am new and just bought digilent tdgl018 usb JTAG cable

[Smitty]

Hello I am new to programming CPLD chips and FPGA chips and I recently bought a   digilent tdgl018 to program an Atmell atf 1508 asl-25au100. I was led to believe that this is possible. I also read somewhere of another person doing the same thing but lost the link and the solution. I have downloaded the software and no where do I see any Amtel programing devices for programing in the software or selections for voltage. Maybe I am confused but I was assuming to plug the ground, and voltage and data likes for JTAG on to the header of my board with the device on it and header pins to corresponding pins on the device then press go.  Maybe my JED file needs to be compiled somewhere? Maybe I need some software for  Atmel device from Atmel? Maybe this cable is not capable of performing this process on this device. Maybe this is a question not for the introduction section? Which I apologize for, but this is why I am here, so I ask upon hello. 
 

so Hello, and please help. 
 

Edited August 13, 2021 by Smitty

[zygot]

JTAG is a boundary scan standard use for a lot of purposes. It has a hardware layer used by a lot of companies for a myriad of purposes, including programming internal device resources.  OpenOCD and OpenJTAG might be useful places to visit for information.

You should not be expecting that every company using the JTAG hardware interface has a consistent programming algorithm. There are a lot of differences between devices.

If you want to program Atmel components I'd suggest starting with Atmel (now MicroChip ) resources. You an find a lot of useful information there.

On 8/13/2021 at 4:10 PM, Smitty said:

was led to believe that this is possible.

Maybe, maybe not. It can get expensive relying on word of mouth or partial information. It's up to buyers to do their homework before spending money... this is a lesson that you don't want to repeat. Make sure that you have the full story before acting on a hunch.

Anyway, as you suspect there's more to JTAG than a hardware interface and a cable. You have to format the data properly and have the correct software to perform the actual programming algorithm required by a specific device.