[chbot] FPGAs again

[hamster]

grand!

I have enough credits in place with the family for a night out, my
Mandelbrot viewer to run as a demo, and a VDHL textbook I can lend to
anyone who wants to borrow it.

I have also recently downloaded the latest set of xilinx tools (4.2gb)
which includes both windows and Linux binaries. Strangely enough the ship
it all as a tar.ga file. They can be used without a board, and projects
just simulated.

That is quite a few ducks in a row.... 

Mike


On Fri, 22 Jul 2011 18:42:31 +1200, Paul Davey <plmdvy at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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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