Hello,
Not knowing better, I purchased a couple of these chips and now realize they are 'not simulation ready'. Is there a way for me to use these chips through breadboard or wiring? Or they are only supposed to be part of a PCB board? In which case, can I order PCB boards using chips? How do I do it?
Also it seems to me it's way too expensive to build special purpose IC device such as a door bell etc with fpga boards. FPGA boards are general purpose device, like computers in a sense.
Fei
SparkFun has a simple board that has a Spartan-3 (3e?) mounted along with voltage regulators. Also check out Digilent's starter boards from ~$100 to ~$150 (digilentinc.com). Also Enterpoint (enterpoint.co.uk) has Spartan-3 and 3E boards. HTH
-Dave Pollum
Unfortunately you need a local oscillator, several voltage regulators, and a config prom or other way of sending the bitstream on power up. You can get 3 pcb's for $51 from expresspcb.com If you're in a hurry you could also make your own with either UV sensitized PCB's or the toner transfer method, but that takes practice.
FPGA's are great for generating and receiving high bandwidth timing critical signals or computationally intense applications. If you just need simple logic (what more do you need for a doorbell?) use a MCU like the AVR Atmega series or a Microchip PIC. Most have the option of internal oscillators or external osc/crystals, and only require one voltage regulator.
-Brian
Hi Brian Thanks for your knowledgable reply. I only started learning fpga very recently and I don't have the tools or experience to do PCB fab myself at all.
The expressPCB option is very attractive. So I can order the boards from expressPCB assuming I can come up with a schematic that can accommodate my FPGA-3 chip, and a DB9 RS232 serial connection chp. I assume the PCB will be able to provide a oscillator and voltage regulator (through schematics) and can then be powered by batteries or power supply.
Is there a book or URL that I can learn things like this. I have read 'Art of Electronics' but it's more of a theoretical treatment of these subjects.
I will look into these options. I am more interested in some hands on experience at the moment. FPGA just feels too much programming. I have done enough software programing. I will have a bit more hands on experience/fun with electronics before going back to programming again, albeit programming the FPGA hardware.
Fei
local oscillator, several voltage regulators,
Why not just buy one of the $99 Spartan 3 Starter Kits sold by Digilent. That has everything you need on it for a door bell, and lots more.
Leon
At this end of the scale, you could also look at CPLD Boards.
CPLDs give similar tool flows to FPGA, and learning, but simpler devices and lower cost eval PCBs.
Altera have DK-MAXII-1270N
Atmel have ATF15XX-DK3, includes ZIF socket & ISP cable,
Lattice have LCMXO256C-S-EV
Xilinx have Coolrunner II HW-CRII-SK-G, and optional HW-CRII-PM-ACC-G
If you want to learn FPGA as well, then the Altera/Xilinx flow is probably preferable, as the same tools can target either CPLD/FPGA device family.
Xilinx CPLD board looks the cheapest.
-jg
(snip)
That sounds good.
More common is people used to programming and not logic design thinking of it in programming (serial) terms. If you think of it as a way to write down logic structure, you will do much better.
-- glen
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