What is the latest Lattice eval board?

It may be worth to check out Olimex, they offer a couple of low-cost dev boards for Lattice parts (quite nice, the Olimex boards include SRAM too).

Good old Olimex.  It's been some time since I checked them out.  Thanks for bringing them back on my radar.   

The biggest FPGA that Olimex support with a board is on the iCE40HX8K-EVB

But this is an early generation ICE40 and not as useful (in most cases ) as the later iCE40UltraPlus parts.

Look here for Lattice's suggestions for iCE40 boards:

https://www.latticesemi.com/solutionsearch?qiptype=982db688d64345bbb3af29e62fee1dc3&active=board

The iCE40 is not very suitable for soft_core work but that has no relevance if you are just starting to learn VHDL or Verilog.

(There is some soft core support for soft-cores on the iCE40UP5 but the UP5 is really too small for a decent soft-core)

This boards is all you need to get started:

https://tinyvision.ai/products/fpga-development-board-upduino-v3-1

There are much cheaper boards based on the Gowin FPGAs available from AliExpress

https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-fpga-dev-board.html

They also have pretty cheap Altera or AMD/Xilinx boards as well but you might find that it is hard to get going with the level of support you will get from these. But you will get a much bigger FPGA for your money.

IMO the Lattice tools are the easiest for a complete beginner to get started.

MK

Nandland's Go Board along with the book is best for beginners.

 michaelkellett  when you were at the olimex site did you notice the GateMateA1-EVB board.  (Full disclaimer, it's not Lattice so it's a bit off topic).  Anyway, on the positive side it has 20,480 logic cells and 64Mbit of PSRAM.  Of course you have to use open source YOSYS for development so that will be a commitment for some.  On my end, I am still wrapping my mind around what exactly PSRAM is and whether or not I can use it as easily SRAM.  Perhaps the most disappointing thing for me is that the GPIO tops out at 2.5V... does that mean I've lived long enough to see the phasing out of 3.3V for single ended logic?

Hello  dang74 

I did notice it and dismissed it as not being in line with the OP's aims (VHDL.Verilog, learing and interest in soft cores.

It is just possible that Cologne Chip will get this architecture off the ground but right now it just doesn't have the support and eco system to make it an attractive proposition for small scale or DIY use.

They will need to offer a range of packages and support for industry standard IO (which still definitely includes 3.3V).

The only mainstream distribution is via Digi key and the only package is 324 ball 0.8mm BGA  (at $21.59 10off).

It's just a lot easier to get started with Efinix, Lattice, Altera, Xilinx  or Gowin.

Lattice offer hand solderable (just) 48 pin packages for the iCE49UP5k, easier to use and install tools and lower entrance costs.

The GateMate part is interesting in that it has an architecture quite  a bit different from the others but it isn't where I would recommend a beginner to start.

MK

michaelkellett said:

Lattice offer hand solderable (just) 48 pin packages for the iCE49UP5k, easier to use and install tools and lower entrance costs

One Lattice family I am interested in is the ECP5 series.  It's what I'd characterize as medium density.  At any rate I could have sworn that they were only available in BGA package.  I checked again yesterday and the 24,000 and 44,000 LE devices are available in 144 pin TQFP packages... needless to say, I was very happy to see this.

I too would have sworn on my favourite pet's life that the ECP5 was only available in BGA but it seems to also exist in TQFP144:

I looked it up on Octopart and Mouser have stock at a reasonable price. The prices from Microchip USA and Worldway  are hard to understand.

Mouser warn of long delivery times on the website but the 292 in stock seems to be true.

MK

Some of their other newer families have added similar packages.  Good move on their part... because BGA imposes a barrier of entry in terms of board cost and assembly.