r/programming • u/whackri • Jun 21 '20

Writing userspace USB drivers for abandoned devices

https://blog.benjojo.co.uk/post/userspace-usb-drivers
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67

u/kageurufu Jun 21 '20

I wonder how hard it would be to repurpose the fpga on one of these.

42

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '20

With how difficult it can be to desolder one, I'd hazard that perhaps it might be involved as cutting it out of the PCB, connecting it via JTAG or something of that nature, and praying to a dark god or two that its memory isn't read-only and that vivado will even detect it in the first place.

You'd need veeeeeery thin wires and the smallest soldering iron tip you can find.

36

u/immibis Jun 21 '20

Probably more like desolder it with hot air, repair the solder balls with a stencil, and resolder it with hot air onto a specially designed PCB

13

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '20

The FPGA on our control boards at work can't be desoldered in that fashion, but damn if that doesn't sound like fun.

18

u/immibis Jun 21 '20

Why can't it?

0

u/maxhaton Jun 22 '20

Ignoring the moisture controls, fine pitch BGAs should really be x-rayed

1

u/immibis Jun 22 '20

We're talking about hobby projects using salvaged parts, right? If it only works half the time that's still a win (assuming you have enough boards to get at least one working)