Cheap FPGAs for tutorial
in [FPGA]
|
From: Mel on 1 May 2010 18:48 Patrick Maupin wrote: > On May 1, 3:42�am, Andrew Pichler <And...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >> I wanna give some student a tutorial about FPGA programming and >> I wonder if there are any cheap FPGA evaluation kits out there >> that I could get?[ ... ] > > The Digilent Basys (www.digilentinc.com) has 8 switches, 4 buttons, 8 > discrete LEDs, a 4 digit LED 7 segment display, VGA, PS/2 keyboard, 4 > 6 pin connectors, and has a built-in USB programmer / data transfer > port. $80 USD. (If the use is "academic" then only $60.) This looks good. Sparkfun has a couple of boards: <http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8458> <http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8596> but that exhausts their range. One Spartan3 and one Altera. Digilent seems more committed. In my own case, I followed Sparkfun and got the Spartan3 board, but I'm so far out of luck because the only development tools I've been able to get are Altera. When I click the download button on the Xilinx web page, the site ignores it completely. Since I'm really a microcontroller firmware developer who's trying to keep his vocabulary up to date, I leave this mostly on the back burner. Thanks to the OP for raising this question. Mel.
From: Gabor on 1 May 2010 21:31 On May 1, 4:42 am, Andrew Pichler <And...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Hi > > I wanna give some student a tutorial about FPGA programming and > I wonder if there are any cheap FPGA evaluation kits out there > that I could get? Needs to be nothing special, just a small board > with some LEDS would be fun. > > THanks for any useful links, > Andrew I have a couple of evaluation boards that I bought when they were first released with the introductory pricing, generally significantly lower than the normal price. Generally these kits are subsidized by the chip manufacturer to get new design wins. I would keep my eye out for new introductory offers if you can afford to wait. Of course I don't qualify for the educational discount which can also be considerable for some board families. Another thing to note is that Lattice has the habit of labeling some of their FPGA's as CPLD's to try to gain CPLD replacement design-ins. Make no mistake about it, the MachXO is an FPGA. The larger ones like those in the MachXO Mini Development Kit even have block RAM and phase-locked loops. Good luck, Gabor
From: Petter Gustad on 2 May 2010 03:44 Andrew Pichler <Andrew(a)yahoo.com> writes: > I wanna give some student a tutorial about FPGA programming and > I wonder if there are any cheap FPGA evaluation kits out there > that I could get? Needs to be nothing special, just a small board > with some LEDS would be fun. The BeMicro at $49 could fit that description: http://www.arrownac.com/offers/altera-corporation/bemicro/ It contains an Altera Cyclone III Petter -- ..sig removed by request.
From: Prevailing over Technology on 3 May 2010 11:18
On May 1, 1:42 am, Andrew Pichler <And...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Hi > > I wanna give some student a tutorial about FPGA programming and > I wonder if there are any cheap FPGA evaluation kits out there > that I could get? Needs to be nothing special, just a small board > with some LEDS would be fun. > > THanks for any useful links, > Andrew For training classes, I'm a big fan of Digilent products, primarly all Xilinx. They are relatively inexpensive and have plenty of available add-on peripheral modules to support a variety of applications. The BASYS II board is probably more than you need, but it's only $59 to academic customers. http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,400,790&Prod=BASYS2 There is also a more capable version version called NEXYS II that sells for $99 to academic customers. http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavTop=2&NavSub=451&Prod=NEXYS2 Another option, although a bit more complicated, is the Spartan-3A Low- Cost Evaluation Kit from Avnet/Silica. It sells for $49 and also includes a Cypress PSoC companion chip. http://www.silica.com/index.php?id=1193 http://www.em.avnet.com/evk/home/0,1719,RID%253D%2526CID%253D46501%2526CAT%253D0%2526CCD%253DUSA%2526SID%253D32214%2526DID%253DDF2%2526SRT%253D1%2526LID%253D32232%2526PRT%253D0%2526PVW%253D%2526PNT%253D%2526BID%253DDF2%2526CTP%253DEVK,00.html If you swing the other way, TerASIC has some nice kits for Altera. You can order directly from the company in Taiwan and they have some of the kits through Digi-Key. MAX II CPLD Micro Kit ($69) http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&CategoryNo=64&No=215 They also have a nice Cyclone III board for $79 for academic customers. http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&CategoryNo=56&No=364 =================================== Steven K. Knapp Prevailing Technology, Inc. Web: www.prevailing-technology.com |