Hello folks, I have done FPGA design some years ago using a Schematic Design tool from Xilinx, so I am not totally "green". What I now want to do is to specify a design in VHDL and synthesize it into an FPGA. I am doing this as a hobby venture, so I can't pay thousands of $$ for design software. Can the experts of this newsgroup suggest a demo board and free/cheap software that fulfill those requirements ? Maybe a board from Xilinx and their ISE software? (I could not find out whether ISE actually includes VHDL synthesis...) As an alternative, I would be willing to specify my design in C if there is a free/cheap synthesis tool...
I am interested in the same thing as you are now (building hardware on FPGAs for hobby, on low budget). I want to use this to learn HW design and more importantly, microarchitecture specification to achieve desired performance.
For starters., I have done some research already on (project ideas, books to buy, HW and SW to buy etc). I also have about 6 years in SoC Verification and know Verilog / digital design pretty well. Let me know if you are interested in pursuing this "hobby" together.
Webpack as already suggested is a good choice. It is the same now as the ISE full toolset but with a more limited range of devices supported and does cover the board I'm about to suggest.
For a board I will of course suggest our Raggedstone1 GBP=A350(+VAT if applies) - approximately US$95 for the RS1-400(Spartan-3 XC3S400-4FG456C) and if you want to work outside of a PC get the PCI I/O Header as it also gives you circa 50 I/O that are 5V tolerant as a side benefit. Bundle price is GBP=A365 - also currently a slightly better offer if join our newsletter subscription. Details here
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Low cost worldwide shipping is GBP=A310 or approx US$19.
Well, err, and how am I supposed to program your board ? Maybe your solution is indeed better than Xilinx's offering, so please tell us about your VHDL compiler and synthesis tools !
Some other questions to the experts: When I worked with those FPGAs a couple of years ago (I think that were the XC3000s), I used a 10/100Mhz (repeating) Scope and an HP16500 logic analyzer. Well, now I am working as a software engineer and don't have access to that machinery. What do you experts think is the minimum required equipment for FPGA hobby development ? I guess I could do quite a few things with a used
50Mhz analog scope, a soldering iron and some kind of TTL multiplexing circuits attached to the PC parallel port. What do you suggest ?
Some other questions to the experts: When I worked with those FPGAs a couple of years ago (I think that were the XC3000s), I used a 10/100Mhz (repeating) Scope and an HP16500 logic analyzer. Well, now I am working as a software engineer and don't have access to that machinery. What do you experts think is the minimum required equipment for FPGA hobby development ? I guess I could do quite a few things with a used
50Mhz analog scope, a soldering iron and some kind of TTL multiplexing circuits attached to the PC parallel port. What do you suggest ?
Webpack contains all the tools for VHDL or Verilog synthesis, back end mapping, place and route and not to forget programming. The Raggedstone1 comes with a parallel port cable (Cable III look alike) to make the physical connection.Webpack is "free" to download from Xilinx.
As to comparisons of boards they vary with what you think you need. Our philosophy is to provide a minimalist board but with a big FPGA (for the price target) and a lot more of I/O compared to our competitors. We also support stripboard add-ons by virtue that our I/O is on simple 0.1 inch spaced headers. These headers will even take directly 3.3V DIL based components if you can find some still out there.
Webpack contains all the tools for VHDL or Verilog synthesis, back end mapping, place and route and not to forget programming. The Raggedstone1 comes with a parallel port cable (Cable III look alike) to make the physical connection.Webpack is "free" to download from Xilinx.
As to comparisons of boards they vary with what you think you need. Our philosophy is to provide a minimalist board but with a big FPGA (for the price target) and a lot more of I/O compared to our competitors. We also support stripboard add-ons by virtue that our I/O is on simple 0.1 inch spaced headers. These headers will even take directly 3.3V DIL based components if you can find some still out there.
You can often pick up old HP 1650s for peanuts on ebay, especially if you're prepared to improvise some cables as units with these missing go particularly cheaply.
You have certainly picked an appropriate time to get interested in FPGA's as a hobby, as there is a cornucopia of low-cost boards on the market. When I first got involved with FPGA's, you couldn't find an affordable (for most hobbyists) board - and were pretty much restricted to PAL's and xPLD's.
Hit the Xilinx web site, and check out development boards. The Spartan
3e "starter kit" is an amazing buy at $150 - and comes with a perfectly serviceable x3s500e FPGA as well 64MB of DDR SDRAM, plenty of buttons an lights, a 16x2 LCD panel, and connectors for ethernet VGA, and serial. However, Xilinx had the board developed by Digilent, who are claiming to have a new version of the board with a larger part. In the past, that meant an extra $50 or so for each step-up, but that was for the Spartan 3 family.
If you are looking for cheap(er), Digilent also has a CPLD starter kit with Coolrunner II and XC95 parts for $50, as well as a serviceable Spartan 3 starter kit for $99. The Spartan 3e board is a much better buy, but $99 still gets you a Spartan x3s200, 512KB of SRAM, serial port, VGA port, PS/2 port, and ton of connectivity. If you look around, you might even be able to pick up a Spartan 3e "sample pack" for free (or low cost) - they were a Xilinx promotional board that demostrate the 3e booting from a commodity NOR FLASH. (small part, x3s100e, but still quite useful)
Although I haven't used them, XESS makes some low-cost FPGA boards as well. There are others, but they seem to all be overseas (Europe and Australia)
Altera's offerings are a little less cheap, but Terasic makes some nifty boards with the Cyclone and Cyclone II devices. I have the DE2 board, which has a Cyclone II 2c35. Minimal RAM and Flash (8MB SDR SDRAM, 4MB FLASH) compared to the starter kit, but the DE2 does have a separate USB host and ethernet controller - which means you don't have to buy or design cores for those functions. It has a nice array of switches and lights, as well as 8 7-segment displays and a 16x2 LCD.
A cheaper DE1 is scheduled to be out soon that dispenses with the USB,
16x2 LCD, and ethernet, has a smaller 2c20, but will probably only cost half as much. Otherwise, the core board appears to be the same - AC97 controller, VGA DAC, 8MB SDRAM, 4MB FLASH.
The best part is, tools for all of these boards are free. Both Xilinx and Altera have free webpack's of their design tools. Altera even lets you use their SignalTap logic analyzer system if you turn on the talkback feature.
There are hundreds of boards listed at the FPGA-FAQ site:
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Xilinx provides their full suite of software for support of their smaller products for free. It is called WebPak. This includes synthesis (VHDL and Verilog), simulation, place and route, bit stream generation, and download software.
Check the Xilinx web site for the part numbers supported by the free sw, and pick your board accordingly.
Note that for hobby use, what Xilinx calls small (as in supported by WebPak) is in fact quite large. Quite sophisticated designs can be done in these parts.
Philip
=================== Philip Freidin snipped-for-privacy@fpga-faq.org Host for
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