[chbot] FPGAs again ... Info so far

[WHW]

At 11:27 p.m. 26/07/2011, you wrote:
>At 02:57 p.m. 26/07/2011, you wrote:
> >Hello All
> >
> >Prompted by various bits of feedback, herewith a roll-up of all the
> >information I have been able to glean so far.
> >
> >#disclaimer. There might be some errors...
> >
> >Board
> >
> >The board of interest is the Terasic DE0-Nano which has an Altera Cyclone Iv
> >with 22k "logic elements". 32Mbytes of SDRAM, easy to access 3V3 level IO
> >pins etc etc.
> >
> >http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&No=593
> >
> >It is hard to compare effective gate size between architectures, but it is
> >worth noting that a 32-bit Nios2 CPU uses approx 700 LEs. ie a small 32-bit
> >CPU takes up approx 2.5% of the logic.
> >
> >It costs USD79 + shipping (USD10-15) = total of around USD90. For genuine
> >students there might be a $20 discount, but I'm not prepared to try cheat
> >them.
> >
> >Tools
> >
> >Free Web Edition versions of tools are available for both Windows and Linux.
> >Not 100% sure what level of support there is for Linux, but 
> scratching around
> >on the forums show people using Ubuntu, Suse and RedHat.
> >
> >The tools include the ability to generate FPGA logic images as 
> well as an IDE
> >to develop/debug Nios software.
> >
> >Soft CPUs
> >
> >The free tools include unhindered use of the Nios2/e (limited
> >stripped version
> >of the Nios2 32-bit CPU. This version lacks caches and MMU so will not run
> >Linux on the target. It will run ucLinux and various RTOSs though.
> >
> >The free tools include restricted versions of the more capable Nios2 CPUs
> >which do have MMUs anc caches and should be Linux capable. The CPU must
> >however be run either tethered to the development host or 
> otherwise only runs
> >for a fixed period before halting.
> >
> >The NIOS is interesting in that it is really easy to add up to 256 custom
> >instructions. That means interesting manipulations which might take many
> >instructions on a general purpose CPU can be potentially encoded as a single
> >instruction.
> >
> >Other soft CPUs are available from opencores.org and elsewhere and include
> >OR1K, LEON (SPARC) and others.
> >
> >Ordering
> >
> >I intend to put in an order at the end of the week.
> >
> >So far boards will be ordered for:
> >
> >Myself
> >Timothy
> >Richard
> >Volker Kuhlmann
> >Paul Davey
> >
> >Delivery should be less than 1 week.
> >
> >If you want to be added/removed from this list, please contact me on or off
> >the list.
> >
> >Regards
> >
> >Charles
>
>What about GST that might have to be paid if Customs query the value
>on entry to NZ?  That is assuming you are getting one big parcel.
>
>Looks like you have orders for 7 @ USD90.00 each = USD630.00 = approx
>NZD720.00.
>
>Customs don't bother collecting GST (15%) under $50.00.

Like, to safely save the GST each shipment value should be under NZD330.