Digilent parallel JTAG cable

[Bender]

Is there any support for using the old Digilent parallel JTAG cable (2004 vintage)? Xilynx ISE 14.7 Impact doesn't appear to support it and Adept has the parallel button grayed out.

[JColvin]

Hi @Bender,

Unfortunately, there isn't any real support from Digilent for this particular JTAG cable, no.

You might try using the Digilent Plugin for Xilinx tools, https://digilent.com/reference/software/digilent-plugin-xilinx-tools/start, but I don't have this cable (nor ISE) so I don't know if you'll have any luck with it.

I don't know what variant of ISE 14.7 you are using, but I know the Windows 10 variant of ISE 14.7 only supports Spartan 6 devices and from what I vaguely remember, only some of the old Spartan 3 devices needed the JTAG Parallel cable.

Thanks,
JColvin

[Bender]

JColvin,

Unfortunately the Digilent Plugin for Xilinx tools in the link above  only provides support for the Digilent USB JTAG cable.

The Windows 10 variant of Xilinx ISE 14.7 that runs under Oracles Virtual Box uses Red Hats version of Linux  and supports Spartan 3 devices including the Digilent Spartan-3 starter board. 

My original Spartan-3 Starter Board came with the Digilent parallel port/JTAG cable which is the reason for the question on this forum. 

I recently acquired a second Spartan-3 Starter Board that came with the Digilent USB/JTAG cable which can also be used to program my original Spartan-3 Starter Board.

Thanks,
Mark