I’m looking for some suggestions for good/stable openOCD compatible adapters for use on the BeagleV fire and ahead boards.
Any suggestions or experience with this?
Also any sources for various cable adapters for different style debug connectors would be helpful if you have one you like.
Thanks!
For the BeagleV-Fire, you currently need to use Microchip’s ecosystem to Debug the FPGA:
Tag Connect Cable: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/tag-connect-llc/TC2050-IDC-NL/2605367
Tab Connect Clip: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/tag-connect-llc/TC2050-CLIP-3PACK/12318009
FlashPro5: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/microchip-technology/FLASHPRO5/4935862
For the BeagleV-Ahead, debug isn’t documented anywhere. Same two cables would ‘connect’ hardware wise… (Software someone needs to figure it out…)
Tag Connect Cable: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/tag-connect-llc/TC2050-IDC-NL/2605367
Tab Connect Clip: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/tag-connect-llc/TC2050-CLIP-3PACK/12318009
Regards,
@royfranz Tag-Connect is the physical board connector. I believe there is a T-Head compatible debug adapter that is needed for the TH1520. Fu Wei showed it to me once on a video chat. I need follow up as to how to purchase one. I also would like to have it.
I’ve never been able to find that model either, I believe someone handed him an adapter and it just worked… some ftdi chipset.
Thanks, this is all helpful.
My aim is to get openocd running against some RISCV chips, so the microchip specific tools don’t help there. The links for the clips/cables is very helpful, I think that would have taken me a long time to find.
Now that you mention it, I did get a debug dongle with the Licheepi4a I ordered. It looks like it is this:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803273983536.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2usa4itemAdapt
and it uses a microcontroller to emulate a FTDI FT2233D device.
I need to look up how to connect it to the licheepi. This should be able to be connected to the beagleV-Ahead with the cable that Robert provided above.
Thanks for sharing and ordered… we will still have to adapt the signals. 
Regards,
OK, got the cables to connect to the BeagleV-ahead. I can find no documentation on using openocd on the licheepi 4a, and I don’t see anything that looks like a debug header connection. I’m guessing that the signals are shared with some other IOs on the header. I’m planning to look at the Ahead schematic to identify the JTAG signals to see if those are on the header - hopefully there will some commonality between the licheepi and Ahead.
(Edit)
I found the debug connections on the Licheepi, and they will require a different pogo pin setup. I guess this is why there is no documentation regarding this - likely noone outside of Sipeed uses this connection.
Fu Wei responded to me that he uses the Sipeed SLogic Combo 8 and it supports T-Head’s CLINK debugger protocol.
He gave me this link and I’ve just ordered one:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805836659411.html
My stimated delivery date is Dec 7, 2023, so I’ll follow up with more details once I get it and Fu Wei shows me how to set it up.
I’ll have to pick one of those up as well.
Any idea how he connects it to the Licheepi board? (If he does this?)
I guess this should enable debugging of the Ahead board, as I ordered the debug pogo connector from Digikey.
Roy
@royfranz I ordered quantity 3 of the SLogic Combo 8 which should work with T-Head CLink. I don’t need 3, so I’m happy to mail you one if you’d like since we are not too far away.
I’ll follow-up with Guo Ren and Fu Wei to see if either can share any pictures of the setup.
I did find this photo on the Sipeed wiki:
https://wiki.sipeed.com/hardware/en/lichee/th1520/lpi4a/6_peripheral.html#JTAG
Hi Drew - I appreciate the offer, but I’ve ordered a couple for work, and they are paying 
I’ll be interested in any info you uncover on setup and usage, especially physical connections to the licheepi. I think right now
the BeagleV Ahead will be a better bet since I have the pogo connector for that coming.
Roy
Fu Wei told me that he will document how he has it setup and share it. I’ll post here when it is ready.
@royfranz Fu Wei has not had time yet to set it up and document, but he did share this link with me:
https://wiki.sipeed.com/hardware/en/logic_analyzer/combo8/use_cklink_function.html
SLogic Combo 8 features high-speed CK-Link functionality, with a speed that surpasses CK-Link Lite and comes close to CK-Link Pro, making it a great tool for debugging RISC-V chips. In this mode, it also has a high-speed serial port (20Mbps).
And further down:
On both Windows and Linux systems, you can directly refer to Using CDK + Sipeed RV-Debugger Plus for Compilation and Debugging and T-HEAD Debug Server User Manual, the usage is exactly the same.
I’ve not tried out anything yet, but my Sipeed Combo8 should be here by the end of next week. I also ordered an RV-Debugger Plus but that won’t be delivered for a few more weeks.
do you know if there is a tag-connect.com connector (or some other) that works with Sipeed SLogic Combo 8 Slogic Analyzer (got 2 of these on order) for connecting to the BeagleV-aHead board ??
I think the same tag connector will work for both the fire and ahead boards, although I have not tried that yet.
See:
You may need to adapt the pinouts, as those likely don’t directly match.
I’ve got the FP5/cable but I get the error that FPexpress cannot connect to the BeagleV-Fire. Tried both Linux and windows. 4 UART/COM ports are created but FPExpress says “No programmer is connected”. In Linux I removed ftdi_sio and run as sudo to make sure perms are not an issue. In windows I re-installed the drivers so they show up as “FlashPro5 Port” using the .inf from Microchip Program&Debug. It seems this has been reported but no answer:
Is this some sort of fake trail to defeat the enemy ? Or is digikey now selling fake programmers (craftily copied in China obviously).
Looks like you are about 10 years late to the party, I just had look, don’t have one of these.
Not sure what is stale, the docs most certainly are.
Can you see the USB IDs (VID and PID) of the FlashPro5 when it is connected? Try this on Windows on first.
That documentation is old. Treat FlashPro3 and FlashPro4 as obsolete.
Thanks @Vauban. I’m referring to FlashPro5. The VID/PID shows up as 0403/6011, not the FlashPro5 VID/PID (1514/2008). Hence my suspicion that it may not be a genuine programmer.
