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From: Nial Stewart on 6 Nov 2009 11:43
>>> No, this is different. OpenBus is a propreity Altium thing that
>>> allows you to design an FPGA project in a visul "flow chart" type
>>> manner. i.e. drop a processor into your system and then connect
>>> external memory and periphers etc. You won't need any VHDL or other
>>> HDL code to get your project working if all the building blocks you
>>> want are in the Altium library.

....And if the building blocks you want aren't in the Altium Library?

What sort of simulation tools do they provide? A decent simulator is the
most important tool for FPGA development once your designs get in any
way complex, it's the only way of ensuring a decent sized design will work.

And what do you do if your design doesn't meet the clock speed you need what
do you do?

I went to an Altium demo a few years ago where the example build didn't
meet timing, the presenter glossed over this. This is the equivalent
of sending a PCB out that's failing design rule checks, it'll be flaky or
won't run at all.

In this instance to fix the problem would have meant delving into Quartus
so you might as well have been using it 'raw' in the first place.

>> That's a major advantage of
>> HDLs; all you need is a text editor and you're good to go.
>
> Sure, but tell that to a beginner trying to crack into the world of FPGA's...

But when they've got past the 'beginner' phase what do they do?

Modern FPGAs are complex capable beasts, even at the low end. Can you
access all the functionality available with Altium tools?

I'm probably about to buy a full Altium license for the Schematic capture
and PCB design tools but I fully expect to continue to use Textpad/Modelsim and
Quartus/ISE for FPGA development.


Nial.





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