Good FPGA introduction book ?

Have you checkedthe data sheet?

It's got all the info you need. You will probably have to read it at least 6 times - more will make sense each pass.

You can learn a lot of details and what's behind them if you follow this newsgroup.

For Xilinx parts like Spartan2 there are both datasheets and user guides. They are not on the same web page so you need to look for the user guide. The user guide has lots of detailed information that isn't always easy to grok in the datasheet.

Also on the Xilinx site are tons of app notes and a plethora (if plethora is the word I want to use) of tech tips.

Look through some older threads on board products and you'll find links to interesting sites like:

Good Luck, Gabor

CLB - Configurable Logic Block : Glob of logic. Different vendors will call their flavors different names, but typically there is logic and flip-flop(s); sometimes small memroy. Related terms: LUT, LE, PFU.

IOB - Input-output Block : Goes in, goes out; sometimes both. Some vendors may throw some extra neat features in, such as termination, variable drive strength, selectable delays...

Block RAM - small memory, but much bigger than what can fit in a CLB. Typically registered; often, variable dimensions.

Sorry, I actually haven't read any "books" on FPGAs; I've just been designing with them for a decade. Xilinx, Altera, Orca (ATT/Lucent/Agere/Lattice?). PALs/PLDs before that. In the future, who knows.

Would a book be all that useful? Might be, but I don't think it's necessary. There is a wealth of information (app notes, user guides, data sheets, tutorials) available for free on the internet, but sometimes it's useful to have all the information in one place.

Jason

I went through the same thing and ended up with that same book based on looking at everything available at the local tech bookstore. It's been a while since I picked it up (haven't had time to play with FPGA lately) so I can't really offer any other comment than this looked like the best one available.

G.

Did you check Clive Maxfield's The Design Warrior's Guide to FPGAs ?

Much nicer to read than a databook anyway.

Bert Cuzeau

Easy reading, a bit chatty. Uneven covereage, dwells on the subjects he understands well, is short where he doesn't. But, don't we all... ;-) Peter Alfke

Aahh...the guy who wrote that Linus Torvalds is from Sweden (o;

rick

Well. European geography was never a US forte. Confusing Sweden with Switzerland is much worse than mixing up Finland and Sweden. Hell, for a few hundred years, before Napoleon, those two were actually together. In Europe, I have asked people whether they know the difference between Michigan and Minnesota, and I got a blank stare... Peter Alfke

Sorry to push this thread further off topic, but...

a) Michigan and Minnesota, while as large as many European countries are not countries, while Finland and Sweden are.

b) You'd get a lot of blank stares in the US, too.

c) At least you didn't confuse Sweden and Norway, you could be shot for that ;-)

When it would have been mentioned somewhere in a newspaper or whatever media I wouldn't had paid much attention..

Just attracted me since in this FPGA book an own chapter is devoted to opensource and Linux EDA software...

...so in this context it's better to make your homework right (o;

...anyway nice weekend rick

ps: a .ch living in .fi born somewhere else (o; contact: RK2991-RIPE

Right. I was in Norway twice and got an impression that most of the jokes were about Sweden :)

Well, AFAIK Linus is from Finland but his first language is Swedish. Not that hard to get confused.