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Digilent Basys2 Board
Reference Manual
Revision: November 11, 2010

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Introduction
The Basys2 board is a circuit design and
implementation platform that anyone can use
to gain experience building real digital circuits.
Built around a Xilinx Spartan-3E Field
Programmable Gate Array and a Atmel
AT90USB2 USB controller,the Basys2 board
provides complete, ready-to-use hardware
suitable for hosting circuits ranging from basic
logic devices to complex controllers. A large
collection of on-board I/O devices and all
required FPGA support circuits are included,
so countless designs can be created without
the need for any other components.

Full Speed
USB2 Port

Platform
Flash

(JTAG and data transfers)Data
port

20

Settable Clock
Source

(config ROM)

(25 / 50 / 100 MHz)

JTAG
port

Xilinx Spartan3E-100 CP132
32

2

8 bit
color

4

JA

I/O Devices

PS/2
Port

VGA Port

4

JB

4

JC

4

JD

Pmod Connectors

Four standard expansion connectors allow
• 100,000-gate Xilinx Spartan 3E FPGA
• Atmel AT90USB2 Full-speed USB2 port providing board powerdesigns to grow beyond the Basys2 board
and programming/data transfer interface
using breadboards, user-designed circuit
• Xilinx Platform Flash ROM to store FPGA configurations
boards, or Pmods (Pmods are inexpensive
• 8 LEDs, 4-digit 7-segment display, 4 buttons, 8 slide switches
analog and digital I/O modules that offer A/D
• PS/2 port and 8-bit VGA port
nd
& D/A conversion, motordrivers, sensor
• User-settable clock (25/50/100MHz), plus socket for 2 clock
inputs, and many other features). Signals on
• Four 6-pin header expansion connectors
• ESD and short-circuit protection on all I/O signals.
the 6-pin connectors are protected against
ESD damage and short-circuits, ensuring a
Figure 1. Basys2 board block diagram and features
long operating life in any environment.The
Basys2 board works seamlessly with all
versions of the Xilinx ISE tools, including the free WebPack. It ships with a USB cable that provides
power and a programming interface, so no other power supplies or programming cables are required.
The Basys2 board can draw power and be programmed via its on-board USB2 port. Digilent’s freely
available PC-based Adept software automatically detectsthe Basys2 board, provides a programming
interface for the FPGA and Platform Flash ROM, and allows user data transfers (see
www.digilentinc.com for more information).
The Basys2 board is designed to work with the free ISE WebPack CAD software from Xilinx.
WebPack can be used to define circuits using schematics or HDLs, to simulate and synthesize
circuits, and to create programming files.Webpack can be downloaded free of charge from
www.xilinx.com/ise/.
The Basys2 board ships with a built-in self-test/demo stored in its ROM that can be used to test all
board features. To run the test, set the Mode Jumper (see below) to ROM and apply board power. If
the test is erased from the ROM, it can be downloaded and reinstalled at any time. See
www.digilentinc.com/Basys2 for the testproject as well as further documentation, reference designs,
and tutorials.
Doc: 502-155

page 1 of 12

Copyright Digilent, Inc. All rights reserved. Other product and company names mentioned may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Basys2 Reference Manual

Digilent
www.digilentinc.com

Board Power
The Basys2 board is typically powered from a USB cable, but a
battery connector isalso provided so that external supplies can be
used. To use USB power, simply attach the USB cable. To power
the Basys2 using a battery or other external source, attach a 3.5V5.5V battery pack (or other power source) to the 2-pin, 100-mil
spaced battery connector (three AA cells in series make a good
4.5+/- volt supply). Voltages higher than 5.5V on either power
connector may cause permanent...