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Blue Books & The Review

The final is Friday May 14th from 12:30-3:30pm in 10 Evans, BRING BLUE BOOKS (2 per person) !  The review is 4-7pm tonight and it will be webcast.

Cardkeys

UCPD is working to restore cardkey service.  Greg will take care of getting people into the lab for the review.

Finals Week Office Hours

Update (5/10/2004): Eric and Gabe's hours added

Professor Katz: 1-4pm Tuesday, 9-11am Wednesday
Greg: 3-5pm Tuesday, 12-2pm Thursday
Final Review: 4-7pm Wednesday
Eric: 10-12am Thursday
Gabriel: 2-3pm Monday, 203pm Wednesday

Practice Final #2 and Course Review

They're both on the calendar page.  Don't forget the first example final posted a while back.  Also, Professor Katz's IAB slides are availible.

Grades!!

Check your grades online!  The project, report, HW10 and the final have not been recorded.  Everything else should be online now.  If there is a problem please see us immediately.

Final Exam Room

The final exam is Friday May 14th, from 12:30-3:30pm in 10 Evans!  Don't miss it!

Movies in the Lab

Update (5/4/2004): Pizza has been arranged by Professor Katz (Woohoo)!  Party starts about 7pm.  Bring a movie you wanna watch, we have a DVD and VHS player and roughly 60 some odd screens including 2 plamas and a BIG projector.

This friday, movies start at 8pm.  We're trying to arrange pizza somehow, so show up early if you want food.  Check back here for details later.  This is your chance to unwind from a tough project and make good use of the expensive projector in the lab.

Checkoffs & Reports

Congratulations!  You survived!

Checkoffs went well.  Thank you for taking part in our project this semester.  Don't forget reports are due at 4pm SHARP on Friday, May 7th!  Project and report grades will be released at the final, probably not before then.

Grades

The website grades have been updated to include HW8, sorry about any confusion, I got the HW9 grades early.

Test Networks

Update (4/30/2004): These networks can still be crashed by bad projects.  They may not always be working.

The Blue, Green and Yellow networks have been enabled.  Every set of facing computers is grouped together (the 6 which face each other, not the 6 on one desk).  That means that ever 6 computers has three seperate test networks.  The white network is still broadcast.  Please note, the networks can still be crashed by bad projects.

Lab Lecture 13

The webcast is online finally.  Watch it carefully!  It contains instructions for checkoff!

Broadcast Extra Credit

You must forward broadcast packets coming in on one port to the other three ethernet ports in addition to playing them to get the extra credit points.  You may assume there are no loops in the network (for broadcast only, dynamic routing might have loops) and that there is only one broadcast source in the network.

FPGA_TOP2 in Simulation

There was minor fix to FPGA_TOP2.  If you couldn't simulate reading from SDRAM before you can now.  It wont affect synthesis at ALL.

Lectures and Homework

No Lecture Thursday April 22nd!  DO NOT MISS LAB LECTURE FRIDAY APRIL 23RD!

Homework10 Problem3 is extra credit!  If you do it you can get 3/2 on homework 10.

Making SRAM Work

ModelSim will complain about not being able to find the glbl module.  Add these lines to the top of your test bench:

module glbl;
    wire GSR;
    wire GTS;
endmodule

FPGA_TOP & FPGA_TOP2

The following line had a typo inherited from a previous semester.  Unless you fix this Green Network Transmit wont work (receive will work fine).  The files on the downloads page have been updated.

output [3:0] PHY_TXD2; /*synthesis xc_loc = "B27,C27,D27,A26"*/

Cal Day

Tomorrow during Cal Day, we will be holding a demo of EECS150 projects (including yours) from 11-2pm in 125 Cory.  During this time there will be people wandering through and tours of the lab.  Please plan your work schedule accordingly.

Checkpoint4 Tester

In order to test your Checkpoint4 Ethernet loopback, you will need to download this file.

Example Final

An old final exam has been posted and will be covered in discussion next week.

Update to EthTx

We added a "ready" port to EthTx which indicates that it is ready to accept a new packet.  Using this will help with Checkpoint4 and the project but will require changes to MAC_Top and FPGA_TOP to move the signals.

The Project

All of the documentation, lab lectures (12, 13), zip files (Checkpoint4) and such for the project is now online.  We recommend that you take a quick look at the report outline before too long, just so you have an idea of what that will entail.

Updated Top Level Files

FPGA_TOP and MAC_TOP have been updated yet again to deal with reset related problems. We suggest you get the new versions.

Looking Ahead

This friday's lab lecture #12 on routing is already posted.  Added to the documents page are a detailed block diagram of the project and a datasheet on the Xilinx SRAM.

Homework #9 Problem1

The state machine is a Moore Machine.  The outputs are as follows:
S0: 0
S1: 0
S2: 0
S3: 1
S4: 0
S5: 1
S6: 0

Lab Lecture 11 Video

If you have questions about Checkpoint4 please watch the video and attend your dicucssion this week.  We are aware that the actual video dies part way through (the audio is okay).  Technical difficulties prevented us from synchronizing the slides or getting a good video feed.  Our apologies.

Checkpoints

Update (4/13/2004): Checkpoint2 Solution has been updated!  It now includes an Audio_Top black box.

Checkpoint4 is online.  Checkpoint3 is updated.  Checkpoint2 solution is online.  Note that our solution uses an extra FIFO which you are not allowed to use, that's because its useless but we're too lazy to remove it.

Update to Checkpoint3

Update (4/9/2004): MAC_TOP.V had a second fatal bug.  Greg hangs his head in shame.  Download the new zip.

Update (4/8/2004): FPGA_TOP.V had a few typos.  MAC_TOP.V had a fatal reset related bug.  Download the new version now.

There was a major bug in the EthTx.ncf file in Checkpoint3.zip.  You must download the new version to be able to place and route your solution.

Grades are Online

Update (4/6/2004): The summary grades now only include the assignments that are due so far.

Update (4/6/2004): Each grade section (labs, homework, project, course) now has a summary grade based on course grading scheme.

You can now check your grades online!  If something you have turned in is missing you should bring the matter to our attention immediately.  Please note, the grade book will not be updated immediately, assignments might take a little while to appear online.

Homework #8

Its out.  Due friday the 9th.

Midterm 2 Solutions

Update (4/4/2004): Midterms are graded and ready to be collected.  The grade histogram is up.  The mean was 35.6/50, the standard deviation was 7.71.

They're posted here (and of course on the calendar page).  We hope to have midterms back next week, grading is slightly delayed due to professor Katz's absence.

Course Grading

The course grading breakdown is finally on the syllabus page.  Sorry about the delay, we didn't realize it wasn't posted.

Checkpoint2 Deadline

In light of the fact that this is midterm season.  Checkpoint2 Part1 will be accepted for 100% credit through the first 10min of NEXT week's lab (a 1 week extension).  HOWEVER THERE WILL BE NO LATE CREDIT FOR CHECKPOINT2 PART1.  This means that after those 10min are past, you cannot get ANY credit for checkpoint2 part1.  This will be the final change to the posted lab deadlines.  The deadlines pdf has been updated.

Checkpoint2 Errata

Please look at Lab Lecture #9 for a list of errata about checkpoint2.  Most important is that the SDataIn data will most likely appear one cycle early on the board, whereas it will appear at the correct time in simulation.  This is another clock and data skew related issue.  Sorry.

Solutions

Homework solutions for all homeworks are now posted.  Enjoy.

Deadlines!

We have now posted the official deadlines for all lab and project components.  Please review it.  It is also availible on the syllabus page.

Midterm II

Update (3/28/2004): You are allowed ONE 8.5x11" double sided sheet of notes on the midterm!

Update (3/19/2004): Midterm info can be found here.

The midterm will be in class Tuesday, March 30th.  The review will be Sunday, March 28th 4-6pm in the lab.  The review will be fully webcast, but question driven.  If no one shows up, it will be a VERY short review.  We are currently working on homework solutions and a midterm topics list.  So chill out.

Slight Update to Checkpoint2

The files AC97Codec.V and FPGA_TOP.V had some minor syntactical errors.  Those are fixed.  FPGA_TOP is more complete.  And there was a slight change to section 2.2, "Given Models."  Namely we added a line about how to deal with "Const.V" which contains compiler directives and constants.

Another Power Outage

Update (3/16/2004): After the third outage last night we updated the machines.  Power problems in downtown Berkeley will no longer affect ModelSim.  Please report any major ModelSim problems.

Power went out in downtown Berkeley.  However we set up a backup server to keep ModelSim running.  It may load and run a bit slowly, but it should be fully functional.  If ModelSim does not run, reboot the computer you are on, it may not have been rebooted since the backup server was installed.

Homework #7

Its posted.  Its due the day before spring break.  Sorry about the delay on getting it online.

Logging Into the Website

Update (3/16/2004): The verilog IEEE reference link has now been fixed.  Sorry about that.

Lab downloads and the textbook chapters now require you to log into the website.  Your login is you cs150-xxx login, your password is your SID.  If you have trouble, post to the newsgroup (do not post passwords/SIDs obviously).  However you can now do things like look at the verilog standard from home!

Chapters 11 and 12

Chapters 11 and 12, which were omitted from the reader are now availible from the documents page.

Extra Office Hour

Zohair will be holding makeup office hours 11-1pm on Thursday.

ModelSim Outage

Update (3/9/2004): The decision has been made to officially extend the deadline on checkpoint1 by 24hrs.  That means you have until 24hrs after your normal lab would start to hand in a signed checkoff sheet.

Update (3/9/2004): ModelSim is once again availible in the lab.  Deadlines are not likely to be changed.  You must still do a design review this week if you are in the cancelled lab (your TAs office hours would be a good time)

Due to a power outage in downtown Berkeley, ModelSim is unavailible.  Monday 5-8pm lab is officially cancelled, we recommend that you show up for a quick design review if you can or do your design review during your TAs office hours or another lab.  Make sure you use your own TA, since you must do all design reviews with the same TA.  Feel free to attend alternate labs this week.

ModelSim Help

For those of you having trouble with ModelSim and Checkpoint1, the most likely cause is Xilinx.  Basically the Xilinx tools don't deal well with testbenches that instantiate multiple other modules.  You should use ModelSim directly.  Instructions are on the documents page.

Checkpoint 1 Notes

Update (3/8/2004 @ 6pm): Turns out the column address is 9 bits not 10, I fixed the paragraph below.  When in doubt read the datasheet.

The memory takes 23bits of address, 2 for bank, 12 for row, 9 for column.  You should use 21bit address counters and fix the lowest two column address bits at 2'b00 (think bursts).

For time select you should not have a multiplier or a shifter (both are wasteful).  You should use two counters, one that counts up to 10ms and the recycles and one which counts 10ms intervals.  It is important that you make the time intervals ~10ms, if they are too large or short you will not pass checkoff (we will notice).

Design Reviews

Design review signup sheets are in the lab near the TA station.  You must be revieved by the same TA each week, but not necessarily at the same time.  TAs will be more helpful during the earlier time slots (ie 5pm is better than 7:40pm).  YOU AND YOUR PARTNER MUST BOTH BE PRESENT!

Midterm Regrades

The final day to hand in midterm regrades is Tuesday 3/9 in class.  Write up your request, including the problem, why you lost points and why you believe you should get them back and staple it to the front of your midterm.

Checkpoint1 Update

There is a sensitivity list bug in PNGen.V from checkpoint1.  Our apologies.  The zip file has been updated.

CaLinx2

Update (3/1/2004): Please download and use the NEW FPGA_TOP if you're using FPGA_TOP2.  Otherwise you will get errors relating to AP_RESET_ and Y5_CLK.

Update (3/1/2004): Lab2, Lab4, Lab5 and Checkpoint1 have been updated for CaLinx2.

The boards in 125 Cory are being upgraded from CaLinx1 to CaLinx2 boards today.  Please don't hinder the ESG staff doing the work.  Please make sure you use the correct bitfiles!  Old bitfiles will not work on the new boards.  You must resynthesize your design with BOTH FPGA_TOP and FPGA_TOP2 in it (see the documents page).  FPGA_TOP2 is simply a wrapper to adapt old projects to the new board.  Alternatively you may use FPGA_TOP2 directly.

Project Partners

Update (2/29/2004): If you STILL don't have a partner post to the course newsgroup and watch for replies.  You MUST have a partner.

For those of you still in need of a project partner please see Greg after Friday's lab lecture.  You should also post something to the newsgroup (ucb.class.cs150), that's a good place to find a partner.

Zohair's Extra Office Hour

Thursday (2/26) 12-1pm.

Checkpoint #1 Lab Lecture

This friday's lab lecture (Feb 27) will be the first checkpoint.  We wont be covering project details just yet, but your checkpoint 1 will be much harder if you miss this.

Lab #5 Update

The file BrokenCounter.EDF in the old version was, well... broken.  In more ways than we intended.  Just get the new version.

Midterm Solutions and Grades

The midterms have been fully graded.  The high was 50points and the mean was 34.5points with a standard deviation of 9points.  The grade distribution and solutions are on the calendar page.  You may pick up your midterm during discussion, lab or office hours this week.

Life Goes On

Homework #4 is up.  So is Lab Lecture #5.  In addition to lab lecture there is a demo video of chipscope that you will need to watch before you can do lab 5.  Also availible is a write-up of how to use chipscope, and the files used in the demo video.  Please take a look at the documents page.

Midterm

Update (2/19/2004): Hope everyone survived the midterm.  Solutions and grades should be up Tuesday.

The Review: There is a midterm review scheduled from 6-8pm tonight in 125 Cory.

The Midterm: The midterm is scheduled for in class on Thursday the 19th.  Please see HERE for more detailed information.  All material covered in lecture (including the lecture on the 17th) will be on the midterm.  Material covered on the 17th will be deemphasized.

Kramnik

Instructions for using kramnik are now availible (see the documents page), and you should be able to log in from off campus.  Now you can run simulations from home and get lots more EECS150 work done.  Please, don't shout for joy all at once.

Extra Office Hours

Update (2/17/2004): Eric will hold extra office hours 10-11am and 2-3pm Wednesday the 18th.

Update (2/16/2004): Zohair will hold an extra office hour 11-12pm Thursday morning

Professor Katz will hold extra office hours following the lecture on Tuesday the 17th.  His extra office hours will be from 3:30 to 5pm, in addition to his normal 1-2pm office hour.

Homework

Update (2/17/2004): Solutions to homework #1 and #2 are out.  If its your homework we posted, you'll get it back a bit late.  Homework #1 has been graded and returned, homework #2 should be done by friday.

We're still working on getting homeworks and solutions out.  We hope to have solutions for homeworks 1 & 2 posted tuesday, homeworks will be returned in the homework return box in the lab.  The solutions will be pulled from the submitted homeworks, so if you did a problem well you might see your own work in the solutions.

Documents and Datasheets!

The documents page has finally been set up and all the documents collected.  We've got FPGA_TOP.V files, the IEEE Verilog Reference (requires login) and more datasheets than you could ever want.  Keep an eye on this page, if/when we post verilog helper modules and demonstrations they'll be on this page.  The documents page is the second most important page on the course website right after this page of news.

Lecture Schedule & Slide Updates

The lectures are a bit behind the calendar.  Lectures will probably catch up tuesday before the midterm.  Also the lecture slides for February 5th have been updated.

MIDTERM!!

Update (2/17/2004): The midterm review is scheduled for 6-8pm, location TBA on Tuesday the 17th.  The room may change, we'll know for sure in class tuesday.

Update (2/12/2004): Miderm Info is HERE and on the calendar for Thursday the 19th

There is a midterm coming up on Thursday the 19th.  It will be held in class that day.  Please be sure to attend.  All of the material covered through Thursday the 12th will be emphasized, material covered on Tuesday the 17th may appear on the test, but will not be emphasized.  The Tuesday lecture will NOT be review, but the TAs will organize at least one after hours review session.

Monday Lab & Discussion

Since this coming monday is a holiday, lab, dicussion and office hours will not be held monday.  Students should attend any other lab or dicussion next week, we will also be happy to check off their lab #3 during office hours.  Please make sure to get the signed Lab #3 checkoff sheets to a TA next week.

Lab Lecture Webcast #3

Update (2/9/2004): The webcast for Lab Lecture #3 is now online.  Thank you for your patience.

There was a glitch with the lab lecture recording from last week.  We will try and post it ASAP, but we make no promises.  In the future we'll be more careful.  If you missed the lecture and something doesn't make sense about the lab, talk to your TA, Michael or Greg.

Homework Due Time Changed!

Homework is now due at 2pm SHARP.  We will collect it before lab lecture.  Once the lecture starts, homework is late.

Updated Lab2

Lab #2 has actually been updated to include better instructions in section 4.5 for the timing accurate simulation.  If you have already been checked off we will not require you to go back and do this part, but we HIGHLY recommend that you do.  We have also updated section 4.3 to explain the timing analyzer.  The file "Lab2_cir_timesim_testbench.v" is the updated version of "Lab2_cir_timesim.v" the name change is important.

Homework Typo

There was a typo on problem 1a of the homework.  The first term was written A'BC', when it should have been A'B'C'.  The assignment has been updated.

Changing Discussion!

The Thursday morning 9-10 discussion section has been changed to Monday morning 11-12.  Michael's office hour will be rescheduled shortly.  Please take a look at the schedule page.

Changing Discussions?

We're thinking to move the Thursday 9-10 discussion to Monday 11-12 (instead of Michael's office hour).  We'll take a vote Friday during lab lecture and during that discussion tomorrow.  Please attend if you want your opinion heard.

Computers in 125 Cory

All of the start menu shortcuts on the machines in 125 Cory should work just fine now.  Feel free to start iMPACT from the desktop or the start menu.  If you have computer troubles, talk to you TA.  If a machine is broken e-mail Greg with the station ID of the broken machine (its on a sticker under the oscilliscope, something like 125-23) and the exact problem or error message.  If you need a computer account e-mail Greg with your first and last name and your SID.

Office Hours

Update (1/28/2004): All TA Office hours are now online

The TAs are starting to set office hours, please see the schedule page.  All office hours will be held in 125 Cory, and we will be happy to help with homework problems, answer lab related questions and even do checkoffs on completed labs.  If you can't make a specific TAs office hours, or if (later in the semester) you need extra help with the project, e-mail us and we can set up a time to meet you.

Lab Sign-In

All students will need to sign in during lab this week.  Please be on time to lab.  If for some extraordinary reason you cannot make your lab (or the lab you're switching to) this week you will need to come to the beginning of some lab (to sign in), or contact Greg individually.  If you do not sign in we will assume you have dropped the course.

Lab Lecture Webcast

The webcast for lab lecture #1 is now availible on the calendar page.

Homework #1 & Website updates...

• Homework #1 is up, as is the first webcast.  Watch the calendar for homeworks and webcasts in the future!
• As it says here, homework is due at 12 noon (SHARP ) on fridays.  The homework box is below the glass fronted display case just outside the lab (125 Cory).  There is a slot labeled "CS150 Homework."
• Please take a look at the newsgroup policy on the syllabus page, as well as the note on academic honesty.
• Webnews, AUS (how to access the newsgroup from home) and webcast links have been moved to the links page.
• News items from previous weeks can be seen here.  Make sure you've read ALL the news items!
  (The old news link is at the bottom right of this page)

Lab and Discussion Sections

Discussion: Attend the one you signed up for, at least for a week or two.  Otherwise some discussions will be much too large.  After about the second week of discussion (third of lecture) feel free to attend any discussion you like as long as attendance at that one is reasonable.  We recommend one taught by one of your lab TAs.

Lab: E-mail Greg (gdgib@uclink) with your full name, and which section you're switching from and to, and then attend the lab section you would like to be in.  Evening labs tend to be pretty full, so we may not be able allow all morning to evening switches.  We recommend morning labs! Because there are fewer students your TAs wont be overworked, and therefore they'll be much happier to help.  If you already have a project partner in mind, the two of you must be in the same lab.

Remember: NO LAB OR DISCUSSION THIS WEEK!

Lecture Webcast

The link to the lecture webcast site is now on the links page.  Live webcasts start 10min after class.  Individual webcast links will be added to the calendar page.  Lab lecture webcasts will be availible from a different website, which is not completed yet.

Lab TAs Announced

Check the schedule page for a listing of which TAs will at which sections to find out who your TAs are.  They will be your best resource for lab, project and course questions...

Webcasts and Lab Lecture

Lecture will definitely be webcast.  Lab lecture will probably be webcast as long as attendance is relatively high.  It is vital that you attend lab lecture: the students who failed to build working projects last semester were the ones who missed lab lecture.  Missing lab lectures will cost you weeks of wasted time as well as greatly increasing your odds of failing the class.

Textbooks

Textbook info is now up on the syllabus webpage.  Thanks to the student who pointed out this omission.

Sections Cancelled!  Rooms Changed!

Please look at the schedule page immediately!  Sections and labs have been cancelled, most have moved rooms.  Everything but the lecture will be held in the lab, 125 Cory.  Make sure that you have no conflicts with lab lecture, it is VITAL that you attend regularly, perhaps more so than lecture, missing lab lecture will leave you behind and confused in lab with no good chance to make up.

First week of Instruction

There are no labs or discussions during the first week of instruction.  There is a lab lecture on Friday the 23rd in 125 Cory!  YOU MUST ATTEND!  Cardkey access and computer accounts will not be availible until the second week of instructions.  So don't ask until Monday, January 26th

Website is now up!

Welcome to the EECS150 website.  Please check this website daily (and we MEAN daily) for class related updates.  Labs, lecture slides, news and datasheets will be posted to this website.  Check the calendar for assignments, slides and webcasts.  Please read the syllabus immediately.  Please report any problems with the website to Greg (gdgib@berkeley).