Recommend a beginners FPGA development kit

Barry,

Thank you for the reply.

The Spartan 3   boards are a little more thant $50 dollars from what I found. XILINX   - HW-SPAR3AN-SK-UNI-G

This one looks like a good   starter kit, what do you think? XILINX   - SK-CRII-L-G - CoolRunner-II CPLD Starter Kit

Cabe

My two cents: I also use ispLEVER, haven't made the switch to Diamond yet.  I also use Xilinx and Altera tools.  They ALL have problems.  Xilinx Webpack(free) is available for Linux, I don't know about the rest.  If I might editorialize: I have migrated away from Altera because their support SUUUUUUCKS. If you're just starting out vendor support is particularly important. (I hope somebody from Altera is reading this.)  Altera's tools and devices are fine, but that's only part of the equation.

Barry

Gbulmeruk,

An FPGA capable of emulating an entire processor is under $20

Point me in the right direction.

C

Barry,

Your claims on Altera have me thinking twice about their boards. Can you post some links with info pertaining to ispLEVER?

Cabe

The Altera Cyclone III can use the NIOS2 softcore which is an ARM core that can run Linux.

Again, check out the BeMicro $49 USB dev stick.

As far as support goes, you have to remember that those who spend the most $$'s will get the most attention from the chip vendor.  It's the Golden Goose analogy. The company I worked for used a lot of Altera parts and they got good support because they bought tens of thousands of $$'s worth of parts a year from Altera.

Us little guys have to stick together and help each other out. OpenCores.org is a perfect example of this mentality. Check them out for support too.

In the end, you have to choose yourself which FPGA vendor to go with. They are all competitive. It's just like Ford vs. Chrysler vs. Chevrolet. Or, for others, it's just like Soda vs. Beer vs. Whiskey. Pick your own poison.

No matter what choice is made, you *will* have to invest time and effort to learn how to program VHDL. That should be your bigger concern at this time.

@ezekiel,

The NIOS2 is not an ARM - it is Altera's own processor architcture.

If you want to use ARM + FPGA on one chip then look to Xilinx (big chips, big ARMs, very expensive) or Actel (much lower down the price range, Cortex M3 ARM - but now under new and uncertain ownership).

IMO beginners with FPGA should steer well clear of embedded processors (soft or hard) .

Cabe - Lattice have a soft 8-bit and 32-bit processor

The 8-bit is at http://www.latticesemi.com/products/intellectualproperty/referencedesigns/8bitmicrocontrollermico8.cfm

They say "The core consumes minimal device resources, less than 200 Look Up Tables  (LUTs) in the smallest configuration, while maintaining a broad feature  set."

I checked their 32-bit soft core recently, and it would easily fit on something like a low-end, 5,000 LUT, XP2, e.g.

http://uk.farnell.com/lattice-semiconductor/lfxp2-5e-5tn144c/fpga-5k-luts-100-i-o-dsp-144tqfp/dp/1571999

which is in a DIY-able QFP (not BGA) package.

I think a key point is the toolchain.

Fortunately, you can download the tools for free and try them.

They should all come with a simulator. If it doesn't don't bother with it (my chums recommend beginners to debug designs using simulators, especially when on a low budget, i.e. few pieces of gtest equipment)

So your friend could futz around with the toolchain, without any hadware, and see what they like.

At the risk of diverting this thread from it's original focus (which is usually the nature of discussions) my comment about Altera's support is relative to Xilinx and Lattice support.  We are a small customer of all three, but Xilinx and Lattice are far superior in support.  If I post a support request on the Xilinx site I normally get a response within 24 hours.  For Altera I have waited days for any kind of response.  Lattice, being the little guy, seems to be the most responsive.  Also, Avnet, the Xilinx distributor, has an FAE who is very helpful.

Barry

I think that you point is probably the central motivator for the selection of a chip vendor.

I think you hit the nail on the head with your last comment about the FAE. If you have an excellent *local* FAE then you will get excellent support. This is my experience too. Our local Arrow office hired (stole) the local Altera FAE and so they can give same day customer support to some key clients in our city. This is why I'm cheering on Altera.

As an update to my BeMicro dev stick, I found the following webpages from its manufacturer:

BeMicro FPGA-stick:  http://www.hitex.com/index.php?id=1489&L=2//controllers/My

BeMicro SDK:  http://www.hitex.com/index.php?id=3180&L=2//controllers/My

You will find info about the prototyping expansion board, its connector and the software development kit.

Yes, I now see that the NIOS2 is not an ARM.

I was thinking about this webpage:

http://www.altera.com/products/ip/processors/32_16bit/ipm-index.jsp

The first item on the list is an M0 ARM core. The NIOS2 is the second to last item on the list.

My memory was foggy. I guess it needed a refresh.

My apologies.

Yes, I now see that the NIOS2 is not an ARM.

I was thinking about this webpage:

http://www.altera.com/products/ip/processors/32_16bit/ipm-index.jsp

The first item on the list is an M0 ARM core. The NIOS2 is the second to last item on the list.

My memory was foggy. I guess it needed a refresh.

My apologies.