Spartan 3 Starter Kit and ISE WebPACK

Yes, you will be able to complete a VHDL design for the Spartan-3 Starter kit using the ISE Web Pack software.

Shal> I am plann>

Shalin Sheth wrote: : Yes, you will be able to complete a VHDL design for the Spartan-3 ^^^^ : Starter kit using the ISE Web Pack software.

s/will/should

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

Institut fuer Kernphysik  Schlossgartenstrasse 9  64289 Darmstadt

Thats very good, that means i will buy it :-)

Is it only possible for a limited time, or is there no time limit ? What I mean is, I don't want to use an evaluation version of some software that costs me a lot to buy later when the evaluation period is over ! And I need more that a few month to complete the project i have in mind ....

(To the best of my knowledge) It isn't time limited in any way. I thin

the largest Spartan 3 fpga the free version will work with is aroun

400K gates.

For more info:

The question I would ask though is the 200K gates on the Spartan board going to be enough for your design

-- HDLnewbiewww.totallychips.com - VHDL, Verilog & General Hardware Design discussion Foru

Thanks, I can select these devices in Project Navigator, I just thought I read somewhere it will only support the 50K version ....

Well, I am a FPGA newbie and have to start somewhere. I just want to learn and make some experiments ....And I don't want to stop after

3 month of trial.

When my designs don't fit into this device, I can easily switch to a bigger one :-) I think 99$ is a very good price, if there is free software available as well ....

Kroko.

Just to clarify what comes with the Spartan-3 Starter Kit, it includes two software license codes. One code is for the Xilinx WebPack software (CD-ROM included), which never expires. WebPack supports the XC3S200 FPGA found on the Starter Kit board as well as the smaller XC3S50 and the larger XC3S400 FPGAs.

The other code is a 60-day license for the full-featured, no-holds-barred ISE Foundation software. This is a superset of the WebPack software and supports additional software features like CoreGenerator and supports _all_ Xilinx devices. If you decide that you don't want to upgrade to ISE Foundation, then you can continue using the WebPack software. Again, there is no expiration date for the WebPack software.

Here's a link comparing the various software versions. Hey, these options often confuse me and I work for the company!

Spartan-3 Starter Kit Board

[snip]

--------------------------------- Steven K. Knapp Applications Manager, Xilinx Inc. General Products Division Spartan-3/II/IIE FPGAs

--------------------------------- Spartan-3: Make it Your ASIC

If they're the usual Xilinx evaluation CDs, they'll work as both a time-limited full-featured ISE evaluation, and as a non-time-limited Webpack. You can use the time-limited evaluation to decide whether the features missing from Webpack are worth purchasing.

I've found that WebPack is sufficient for doing some fairly sophisticated things, though I sometimes wish it had the FPGA Editor.

: Just to clarify what comes with the Spartan-3 Starter Kit, it includes two : software license codes. One code is for the Xilinx WebPack software (CD-ROM : included), which never expires. WebPack supports the XC3S200 FPGA found on : the Starter Kit board as well as the smaller XC3S50 and the larger XC3S400 : FPGAs.

: The other code is a 60-day license for the full-featured, no-holds-barred : ISE Foundation software. This is a superset of the WebPack software and : supports additional software features like CoreGenerator and supports _all_ : Xilinx devices. If you decide that you don't want to upgrade to ISE : Foundation, then you can continue using the WebPack software. Again, there : is no expiration date for the WebPack software.

Is this 60-day license also a time-based license (TBL)?

tells: The Time-Based License does provide for "archival use" of the software. That is, any designer who needs to modify a design or fix a bug after the one year license has ended is permitted to do so.

Bye

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

Institut fuer Kernphysik  Schlossgartenstrasse 9  64289 Darmstadt

Thanks, I finally understand :-)

Kroko.

Anyone know why the FPGA Editor is not included in the Web version? Seems that there shouldn't be any licensing issues. Is it just a matter of not giving you everything because they want to sell it?

--
Rick "rickman" Collins

rick.collins@XYarius.com

I think the eval version is a time-out license, i.e. it stops working after

60 days...unlike the purchased ISE-FND, which is a TBL which provides for archival use...and should not be used for new designs after 12 months unless you renew the TBL