Does anybody have any suggestions for a cheap and basic development kit 
to practice VHDL on? It doesn't need to do much more than toggle a few 
output pins and I'm happy to make up my own programming leads etc. UK 
based distributors would be preferred. 

"Tom Lucas" <news@REMOVE_tlcs_THIS_dot_TO_fsnet_REPLY_dot_co.uk> wrote in 
message news:1...@proxy01.news.clara.net...
> Does anybody have any suggestions for a cheap and basic development kit to 
> practice VHDL on? It doesn't need to do much more than toggle a few output 
> pins and I'm happy to make up my own programming leads etc. UK based 
> distributors would be preferred.


Maybe something here?  :o)

http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=xilinx

-- 
Regards,
Richard.

+ http://www.FreeRTOS.org
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"FreeRTOS.org" <n...@address.com> wrote in message 
news:HZsMi.24379$c...@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> "Tom Lucas" <news@REMOVE_tlcs_THIS_dot_TO_fsnet_REPLY_dot_co.uk> wrote 
> in message news:1...@proxy01.news.clara.net...
>> Does anybody have any suggestions for a cheap and basic development 
>> kit to practice VHDL on? It doesn't need to do much more than toggle 
>> a few output pins and I'm happy to make up my own programming leads 
>> etc. UK based distributors would be preferred.
>
>
> Maybe something here?  :o)
>
> http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=xilinx
>

You'd have thought there would have been something but it all seems thin 
on the ground. I managed to dig out an old lattice development kit at 
work but someone's had the board away and just left the books.

Cypress do cheapish CPLD dev kits so perhaps that might be a better road 
to follow - VHDL is the same on CPLDs and FPGAs, right? I might even 
have a copy or Warp somewhere around. 

Have a look at our range http://www.enterpoint.co.uk/boardproducts.html.
We may have some old rev Raggedstone1s coming onto Ebay in the next
few days with either a small or no reserve. We found some in a box
that didn't get sold.

John Adair
Enterpoint Ltd.


On 2 Oct, 15:39, "Tom Lucas"
<news@REMOVE_tlcs_THIS_dot_TO_fsnet_REPLY_dot_co.uk> wrote:
> Does anybody have any suggestions for a cheap and basic development kit
> to practice VHDL on? It doesn't need to do much more than toggle a few
> output pins and I'm happy to make up my own programming leads etc. UK
> based distributors would be preferred.

Tom Lucas wrote:
> Does anybody have any suggestions for a cheap and basic development kit 
> to practice VHDL on? It doesn't need to do much more than toggle a few 
> output pins and I'm happy to make up my own programming leads etc. UK 
> based distributors would be preferred. 

If the objective is to learn vhdl, all you need is

1. A simulator to verify and debug
the uut and testbench code and

2. Quartus or ise to view the rtl schematic.

If the objective is to toggle a few output pins,
then buy a board and run the demos.

       -- Mike Treseler

Mike Treseler wrote:
> 1. A simulator to verify and debug
> the uut and testbench code and

I've recently been learning VHDL myself and have
found GHDL to be quite useful and *free* with-out
all that dreadful IDE stuff. Combined with gtkwave
under Linux, it is a nice little system. ymmv.

<http://ghdl.free.fr/>;

-- 
Michael N. Moran           (h) 770 516 7918
5009 Old Field Ct.         (c) 678 521 5460
Kennesaw, GA, USA 30144    http://mnmoran.org

"So often times it happens, that we live our lives in chains
  and we never even know we have the key."
"Already Gone" by Jack Tempchin (recorded by The Eagles)

The Beatles were wrong: 1 & 1 & 1 is 1

On 2 Oct, 19:09, "Michael N. Moran" <mnmo...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
> Mike Treseler wrote:
> > 1. A simulator to verify and debug
> > the uut and testbench code and
>
> I've recently been learning VHDL myself and have
> found GHDL to be quite useful and *free* with-out
> all that dreadful IDE stuff. Combined with gtkwave
> under Linux, it is a nice little system. ymmv.
>
> <http://ghdl.free.fr/>;
>
> --
> Michael N. Moran           (h) 770 516 7918
> 5009 Old Field Ct.         (c) 678 521 5460
> Kennesaw, GA, USA 30144    http://mnmoran.org
>
> "So often times it happens, that we live our lives in chains
>   and we never even know we have the key."
> "Already Gone" by Jack Tempchin (recorded by The Eagles)
>
> The Beatles were wrong: 1 & 1 & 1 is 1

Try this out for really cheap boards for beginners -

http://www.knjn.com/

also try this for some "fun projects" -

http://www.fpga4fun.com/

On 2 Pa , 18:54, Mike Treseler <mike_trese...@comcast.net> wrote:
> Tom Lucas wrote:
> > Does anybody have any suggestions for a cheap and basic development kit
> > to practice VHDL on? It doesn't need to do much more than toggle a few
> > output pins and I'm happy to make up my own programming leads etc. UK
> > based distributors would be preferred.
>
> If the objective is to learn vhdl, all you need is
>
> 1. A simulator to verify and debug
> the uut and testbench code and

Good solution is a Aldec Active-HDL 7.2 SE (student edition). Very
good simulation and verification tool. Nice schematic diagrams, easy
waveform manipulation. Very good choice (personal opinion) for
learning. Moreover, for this purposes it is free :)

"Tom Lucas" <news@REMOVE_tlcs_THIS_dot_TO_fsnet_REPLY_dot_co.uk> wrote in 
message news:1...@proxy01.news.clara.net...
> Does anybody have any suggestions for a cheap and basic development kit to 
> practice VHDL on? It doesn't need to do much more than toggle a few output 
> pins and I'm happy to make up my own programming leads etc. UK based 
> distributors would be preferred.
>

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250169954376

No affiliation by the way.

Red

"John Adair" <g...@enterpoint.co.uk> wrote in message 
news:1...@w3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> Have a look at our range 
> http://www.enterpoint.co.uk/boardproducts.html.
> We may have some old rev Raggedstone1s coming onto Ebay in the next
> few days with either a small or no reserve. We found some in a box
> that didn't get sold.
>
> John Adair
> Enterpoint Ltd.

I'll keep an eye out for those then.

> On 2 Oct, 15:39, "Tom Lucas"
> <news@REMOVE_tlcs_THIS_dot_TO_fsnet_REPLY_dot_co.uk> wrote:
>> Does anybody have any suggestions for a cheap and basic development 
>> kit
>> to practice VHDL on? It doesn't need to do much more than toggle a 
>> few
>> output pins and I'm happy to make up my own programming leads etc. UK
>> based distributors would be preferred.
>
>