[chbot] FPGAs again

[Paul Davey]

On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 3:37 PM, Charles Manning
<manningc2 at actrix.gen.nz> wrote:
> Folks
>
> I believe the last discussion on FPGAs was silenced by the Feb earthquakes.
>
> Any interest in waking this up again?

I am interested in picking this up again, we shall be learning VHDL at
university as part of the course this semester.
I have an Actel Smartfusion board because I thought it looked fun and got one.


>
> I've been scratching around again and I think there are two options that look
> quite good. All are based on the Altera Cyclone parts and provide the ability
> to investigate logic design as well as programming soft processors etc.
>
> One is the De0-nano USD79 (USD59 for students).
> http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&No=593
>
> The other is the BE-Micro borad we looked at (and liked) before USD49.
> http://www.arrownac.com/offers/altera-corporation/bemicro/index.html
>
> Then there is the BeMicroSDK: Big brother to BEMicro with more RAM and an
> ethernet port. $79
>
>
> The DE0-nano has a lot more accessible IO making it easier to fiddle with at
> the hobby level. It has 32Mbytes of RAM - enough to do some significant
> software. It also has onboard ADCs and 3-axis accelerometer
>
> The BEMicro has less assessable IO and has far less software capability (only
> 5122k or RAM). While you can still learn the same basic stuff on it, there
> are less features.
>
> Apart from specific features, either part is going to use the same tools etc.
>
> The choice is really between:
> * Cheapest: $49
> * Pay a bit more but get much more toys (DE0-nano): $39.
>
> My inclination is towards the DE0-nano for the extra peripherals, ease of
> wiring in more stuff and enough RAM to even run Linux.
>
> I intend to order one of these next week and if you want one, tell me and we
> can get cheaper shipping.


I would be interested in one of these.


>
>
> -- Charles
>
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