Xilinx S3DSP + EDK Board, too good to be true?

Hi All, I was looking at the Xilinx website today and saw the new Spartan 3 DSP EDK board.

It seems like a pretty good deal, as the board by itself is 295, the usb JTAG cable is 199 and the EDK, well, I couldn't work out how much that normally costs ($130?!?) , but still thats at least $100 off the price assuming the EDK is free, which is extremely tempting.

Am I missing something. Or is this just a good initial offering to get me "hooked"

Thanks

Joel

Reply to
joel.pigdon
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It's a good deal. But beware, it has DDR2 ram, were I didn't find free ip to run Mico32...

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Uwe Bonnes                bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de

Institut fuer Kernphysik  Schlossgartenstrasse 9  64289 Darmstadt
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Reply to
Uwe Bonnes

Uwe there is no free DDR2 for mico32. yet.

Xilinx EDK based designs are most likely to be only ones that uses the DDR2. from that point of view some older S3 boards with SDRAM or DDR are better as there are more choices

Antti

Reply to
Antti

Where do you get the idea EDK is free or available for a very low price?

Reply to
John_H

John_H wrote: ...

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Uwe Bonnes                bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de

Institut fuer Kernphysik  Schlossgartenstrasse 9  64289 Darmstadt
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Reply to
Uwe Bonnes

stadt.de

I'm at a directory listing. Nothing obvious there. A search for edk comes up with no matches.

Was there a specific location within that directory configuration where you get the idea EDK is free or available for a very low price?

- John_H

Reply to
John_H

Antti wrote: ...

Does this "yet" have any meaning?

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Uwe Bonnes                bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de

Institut fuer Kernphysik  Schlossgartenstrasse 9  64289 Darmstadt
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Reply to
Uwe Bonnes

sorry, I meant= not yet. and nothing known if ever, but.. well I assume it would not be so complicated to convert the MIG generated monster to the WB bus and connect to your beloved mico32 as it hasnt been done, then it means nobody cared todo it, thats all

Antti

Reply to
Antti

Joel,

Your analysis of the kit is accurate -- board, usb JTAG cable, and full seat of Xilinx Platform Studio (XPS for short and also referred to as Xilinx EDK) are included. See

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The list price for XPS is $495; when bundled with a kit is typically $130. So, you are getting a $295 + $199 + $130 value for $395.

One catch is that this is a limited time offer after which the kit pricing goes up to $595. And, of course the intention is to get you hooked.

For those wondering about DDR2 support, Xilinx provides the MIG DDR2 controller in Verilog or VHDL for free. MIG is in CoreGEN which is part of ISE WebPack or Foundation. Note that support for the 1800A part on this board is included in WebPack, which is free

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When using MicroBlaze in XPS, the MPMC core is used and is included with XPS. Example designs for MIG and MPMC are available from Xilinx and/or Avnet. The BlueCat Linux design makes use of MPMC and the DDR2. Many of the current Avnet Speedways use this board's DDR2

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and Avnet also has additional designs for this board posted here
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The board is also expandable through EXP modules

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exp), a SystemACE controller add-on
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and Digilent 6-pin ports
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.

I h> Hi All,

Reply to
Bryan

John

Uwe was "teasing" you. (is that correct word?) he wanted to point that the FREE EDK is called Mico32 :) but was too shy to say it directly.

Antti

Reply to
Antti

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