Re: Low cost board with built-in USB for fast data transfer and lots of gates

hi Guys,

> > I would like to get started in the FPGA world. > I intend to use the board to perform computations. Hence connectivity to > and from the PC should be good and via usb. > > Am looking for a low cost fpga board with: > 1. Inbuilt USB > 2. Good to have - Ethernet port

When you say 'USB', are you intending to have a full USB stack on the board, so you can be an arbitrary USB endpoint (eg keyboard, mass storage, printer, camera)? Or will something like a USB-serial adaptor work - you talk to what you think is a UART, but it's converted by an additional chip to serial-over-USB.

The latter is much simpler, but imposes restrictions - you only show up as a serial port and you may be limited in speed (1 Mbps or so).

JTAG over USB is slightly different, but often has similar constraints.

Can I use low cost Papillon board for this purpose without soldering ( if > there are any cables to facilitate data transfer )?

Papilio One appears to be USB over serial (FT232).

Do you have a particular preference of FPGA vendor?

Theo

Reply to
Theo Markettos
Loading thread data ...

I didn't see a cost requirement but I would take a look at a zedboard if yo u can swing the cost... This Zynq chip blows me away with the features vers us size and cost. The chip has both the features you mention, USB (OTG) an d Ethernet however they both run in the embedded ARM side of the chip. IMH O this is the right place for those two peripherals anyhow. The FPGA side of things is an artix-7 on the zedboard which is a very good sized amount o f logic to play around with too. I bought a zedboard for $400ish, but I re member seeing a $100 discount for students if that fits you.

One fun thing I did with mine is run a reference design with full Ubuntu Li nux running. I connected to my network then a keyboard and mouse to the US B and surfed the web on it... Totally blew me away.

I am guessing there is an analogous Altera soc too if you swing that way. I do not know of an analogous Altera board like the zedboard though.

Reply to
chris talsma

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.