FPGA for hobbyist ??

There is a starting point:

ISE WebPack is free.

-nets

One of Altera's HDL toolchain is free, as well.

There's also Icarus Verilog, a part of the GPL'd gEDA toolset.

You don't need to program real FPGAs to learn VHDL or Verilog and use the toolset simulators -- although eventually you'll want to.

In addition to the links above, look at

Thank you so much for the advise.

I'm a bit crazy about building my own FPGA board. Sounds cool, though I just want it to blink some LEDs :p

BTW, how can I connect the FPGA with external device (LEDs) ?

I have read in

Is it correct or do I miss something ? Is there any good reading about how to interface FPGA with external device ?

Most of books/websites that I've read just teaching VHDL/Verilog only.

Check out the app note locatations on both Xilinx and Altera sites. Be prepared for a lot of reading though. Also, consider using a CPLD (eg. coolrunner) instead of an FPGA. The CPLD has onboard memory, so you don't have to worry about external flash memory hookup. They are a little easier to use as well, and you can program them in VHDL & Verilog.

Xilinx :

Altera :

... try this:

Not that hard. Check out

Add a chunk of perf board to hold a power connector and JTAG header and you've got a custom dev board.

The best references are the device and family datasheets. In many cases you MUST read the family datasheets for the real info; the individual device sheets don't necessarily reprise all of the family info.

The more complex devices are evolving to service more precise I/O specs than in the good ol' "LS TTL" days. Depending on the device, you may be able to chose I/O voltage, slew rate, impedence, LVDS pairs, much more.

Take a look at "The Design Warrior's Guide to FPGAs" ISBN 0-7506-7604-3.