Self implemented UART in VHDL always skips second character - vhdl

Question

I am learning VHDL right now and I tried to implement UART (1 start bit, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit) to periodically send a hardcoded string.
Everything works as expected - I receive string every 1 second. However, there is no second character.
No matter how long the string is, which character it is. I checked this fact on a oscilloscope and there is no waveform for this particular character. 1 start bit, 8 bits for first character, stop bit, start bit and 8 bits for third character, not the second one.
Following code is for 10 MHz clock divided to send with ~38 400 bits per second, I also tried with 9600 bits per second, both the same problem.
I'm using Altera MAX10 dev board: http://maximator-fpga.org/
Short video how it works:
https://gfycat.com/JoyousIlliterateGuillemot
UART.vhd:
LIBRARY ieee;
USE ieee.std_logic_1164.all;
use ieee.numeric_std.ALL;
use ieee.std_logic_arith.all;
entity UART is
port (
clk_10mhz: in STD_LOGIC;
txPin: out STD_LOGIC
);
end entity;
architecture Test of UART is
signal txStart: STD_LOGIC;
signal txIdle: STD_LOGIC;
signal txData: STD_LOGIC_VECTOR(7 downto 0);
component TX is
port (
clk_in: in STD_LOGIC;
start: in STD_LOGIC;
data: in STD_LOGIC_VECTOR(7 downto 0);
tx: out STD_LOGIC;
txIdle: out STD_LOGIC
);
end component TX;
begin
process (clk_10mhz, txIdle)
variable clkDividerCounter : integer range 0 to 10000000;
variable textToSend : string(1 to 31) := "Hello darkness my old friend!" & CR & LF;
variable currentCharacterIndex : integer range 0 to 31;
begin
if (rising_edge(clk_10mhz)) then
if (clkDividerCounter < 10000000) then
clkDividerCounter := clkDividerCounter + 1;
else
clkDividerCounter := 0;
currentCharacterIndex := 1;
end if;
if (txIdle = '1' and currentCharacterIndex > 0) then
txData <= CONV_STD_LOGIC_VECTOR(character'pos(textToSend(currentCharacterIndex)),8);
txStart <= '1';
if (currentCharacterIndex < 31) then
currentCharacterIndex := currentCharacterIndex + 1;
else
currentCharacterIndex := 0;
txStart <= '0';
end if;
end if;
end if;
end process;
u1: TX port map (clk_10mhz, txStart, txData, txPin, txIdle);
end Test;
TX.vhd:
LIBRARY ieee;
USE ieee.std_logic_1164.all;
use ieee.numeric_std.ALL;
entity TX is
port (
clk_in: in STD_LOGIC;
start: in STD_LOGIC;
data: in STD_LOGIC_VECTOR(7 downto 0);
tx: out STD_LOGIC;
txIdle: out STD_LOGIC
);
end entity;
architecture Test of TX is
signal idle: STD_LOGIC;
begin
process (clk_in)
variable bitIndex : integer range 0 to 9;
variable clkDividerCounter : integer range 0 to 260;
variable dataFrame : STD_LOGIC_VECTOR(9 downto 0);
variable dataFrameCurrentIndex : integer range 0 to 9;
begin
if (rising_edge(clk_in)) then
if (start = '1' and idle = '1') then
dataFrame(0) := '0';
dataFrame(8 downto 1) := data;
dataFrame(9) := '1';
dataFrameCurrentIndex := 0;
idle <= '0';
end if;
if (idle = '0') then
if (clkDividerCounter < 260) then
clkDividerCounter := clkDividerCounter + 1;
else
if (dataFrameCurrentIndex <= 9) then
tx <= dataFrame(dataFrameCurrentIndex);
dataFrameCurrentIndex := dataFrameCurrentIndex + 1;
else
idle <= '1';
end if;
clkDividerCounter := 0;
end if;
end if;
txIdle <= idle;
end if;
end process;
end Test;

Answer 1

Move the line
txIdle <= idle;
from TX.vhd outside the process. Signals take their new value after the process ends.
For example:
idle <= '0';
txIdle <= idle;
Will set txIdle to '1' if idle was '1' when the two statements were executed inside a process. You should notice that this means that txIdle will be '1' for two consecutive cycles and causes currentCharacterIndex to increment twice at the start.
Note that contrary to signals, variable take their new value when the assigning statement is encountered, and not at the end of the process as signals do.
While your code is not that terrible for a beginner, I recommend to use only signal when you start learning VHDL. It is much easier to make mistake with variables, or describe sub-optimal or broken implementation.
Also, as Brian mentioned, don't use std_logic_arith, especially when using numeric_std. They are conflicting with each other (some tools deal with it though) and std_logic_arith is not a IEEE standard, while numeric_std is.
Finally, simulation is a crucial part of hardware design. To avoid uninitialized pin, add a reset to your circuit, which is generally a good idea.