[chbot] Kickstart in FPGA course...

[Charles Manning]

I'm interested too.

No matter what vendor's kit you choose you will end up with a bias and have to 
drink somebody's Kool Aid.

When you're playing with FPGAs etc the bigger question is" What's the deal 
with tools?" Are those free to download or is that a hidden cost? What are 
the limitations? Linux option or Windows only?

From what I've seen here, this board will work with the free ISE Webpack 
software which requires web access (download code to a server to compile) 
which will work with Windows and Linux. 
http://www.xilinx.com/tools/webpack.htm

The board's USB download uses some WIndows software. Pity there isn't a Linux 
version.

-- Charles



On Sunday 13 February 2011 18:31:06 Mark Atherton wrote:
> Yes, interested.
>
> You have a Xilinx bias, but don't forget about Altera and the Quartus
> II environment.
>
> Also don't forget Verilog, which is very C like and has a shallower
> learning curve than VHDL and much simpler, but quite powerful.
>
> Diligent have and Academic  price - AU$65.00, would you be willing to
> inquire about a bulk (5 ?) price purchase for a CHCH based non-profit
> educational group (this group).
>
> I am sure we can scrounge space at Science Alive or the main library
> for setup...
>
> Keep going.
>
> Mark
>
> At 05:53 p.m. 13/02/2011, hamster wrote:
> >I haven't seen much traffic on the list, so I don't know if this is
> >appropriate for the list.
> >
> >Is anybody interested in getting a kickstart in learning to use FPGAs?
> >
> >I'm toying with the idea of getting four or five people together, putting
> >a bulk order for development boards, and then arranging somewhere for a
> >few
> >evenings to get the basics going. Given the flexibility and power I am
> >amazed
> >that these devices seem to be shunned as too hard too use.
> >
> >I found that getting started was the hard bit - knowing what board to buy,
> >  getting the CAD software installed and licensed, getting the first
> >project running.
> >
> >A FPGA board costs under AU$100 for a basic "all-in-one" 100,000 gate
> >model (eg
> >http://www.blackboxconsulting.com.au/product-details/basys2-100k.html),
> >but
> >it's the shipping that costs if you order one at a time. If $ are tight,
> >you
> >could go halves with a mate for a board - a lot of time is spent on your
> >PC
> >designing... If anybody wasn't sure if they wanted to buy a board I could
> >lend them one.
> >
> >Larger/faster/feature-rich boards a not much more expensive, but you have
> >to
> >take care to ensure that your board is supported with the "free to use"
> >design tools.
> >
> >As for the evenings, I was thinking of putting together a few brief
> >show & tell  + workshops to do simple projects... an off the top of my
> >head
> >topic list would be
> >- What FPGAs are good at
> >- Getting the development software installed
> >- Getting the first project running
> >- Schematic entry and VHDL design
> >- An overview of the on-chip resources (clock generators, block RAM etc)
> >- Using a development board's resources
> >- Simulation and debugging
> >- Implementing FSMs
> >- Interfacing to other devices
> >- An overview of really advanced stuff (like calibrated sub-nanosecond
> >delay lines,
> >
> >It would just require to
> >- bring along your own laptop
> >- have a basic understanding of digital logic
> >- have an basic understanding of binary numbers
> >- familiar with a programming language - VHDL is a bit like Cobol in it's
> >verbosity
> >- ready for a steep learning curve
> >- A small fee towards room hire, course material (e.g. a few DVDs, a
> >little printing), and enough to upgrade my board.
> >- It would be nice if every board was using the same toolset - (I
> >currently use Xilinx tools).
> >
> >Time line would be to start in 6 weeks, or maybe Easter to
> >allow for organisation and delivery of the dev kits.
> >
> >Anybody interested, or know anybody who would be?
> >
> >I wonder if I could get some buy-in from a Community College?... I guess
> >it is a bit more advanced than "An introduction to digital photography".
> >
> >Mike
> >