>Hmm, the digilent board is limited for system-on-a-chip work not so
>much by the smaller FPGA, but by the limited memory, and limited
>non-volatile memory.  I currently have a 32-bit soft core running from
>block ram, and am rapidly running out of space.  On the other hand, I
>have a hard disk interface, so if I add instruction/data memory
>multiplexing, I can boot some additional code from disk to the
>on-board SRAM.
>
>This more expensive nuhorizons board does look better for SoC work - a
>bit more block ram in the larger FPGA, but mostly a lot more on-board
>memory and flash.  The problem though in my mind is the 20 io's - I
>think it would take some multiplexing to squeeze in everything I need.
> I could probably turn my IDE disk interace into a typical intel-style
>16 bit I/O bus within those 20 pins, but might end up needing a small
>additional PLD (or whatever a 74ls138 is called in 3.3v logic) to do
>adddress decode for various other peripherals, like video DAC.

Thanx for the ansver ....

I have been aware of the 20 pin limit also , but the again im a
beginner..

I have been looking at this one also
http://www.xess.com/prod035.php3

Seems like a tonzz of gates , but the i need to add ram/flash to get
something , line ethe nu horizon , and i am a noob (almost)  in making
electronics.

what do i choose ????

I would like to do some interfacing to some uC's and the Xess is NOT
5v tolerant but my prefered Atmel is also available in , 3v3.

This is tuff ....

My immediate choice is the NU , an if i run out of space , then just
buy the Xess



Carsten

Carsten <xnews1@luna.kyed.com> wrote in message news:<7or4p017s4d90nheilcfp4r9n4uqha4fdu@4ax.com>...
> I have been looking at this Spartan3 , am a FPGA beginner also
> 
> http://www.nuhorizons.com/products/xilinx/spartan3/development-board.html
> 
> It seems like tou get a lot of value for the $70 more than the Xilinx
> devel board. I guess this could run a real linux with 64MB Ram.
> Anyone have experience with nuhorizon ??

Hmm, the digilent board is limited for system-on-a-chip work not so
much by the smaller FPGA, but by the limited memory, and limited
non-volatile memory.  I currently have a 32-bit soft core running from
block ram, and am rapidly running out of space.  On the other hand, I
have a hard disk interface, so if I add instruction/data memory
multiplexing, I can boot some additional code from disk to the
on-board SRAM.

This more expensive nuhorizons board does look better for SoC work - a
bit more block ram in the larger FPGA, but mostly a lot more on-board
memory and flash.  The problem though in my mind is the 20 io's - I
think it would take some multiplexing to squeeze in everything I need.
 I could probably turn my IDE disk interace into a typical intel-style
16 bit I/O bus within those 20 pins, but might end up needing a small
additional PLD (or whatever a 74ls138 is called in 3.3v logic) to do
adddress decode for various other peripherals, like video DAC.

Chris

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 21:03:21 +1100, "C3" <_> wrote:

>Have you heard of anyone successfully running Linux on it? I'd be interested 
>to know how that turned out.
>
>I would get the board you just suggested, but it seems that interfacing 
>external devices to it would be rather limited compared to the $99 Digilent 
>board. Having on-board D-A/A-D converters is nice, but not essential, and I 
>plan to hook up my own colour LCD anyway. The volatile/non-volatile memory 
>again, is nice, but not essential for my needs.
>
>Ideally, there'd be a board with the same connections as the Digilent 
>Spartan-3 board, but with a more powerful FPGA, like the XC3S400 (as used on 
>the Nuhorizons board that you suggested). The Xess board you named seems 
>ideal if it has the what you want, but interfacing to other hardware would 
>be more work than with the Digilent board.
>
>
>C3

http://www.altium.com/livedesign/

This new Altrium (Protel) board seems like a Xilinx/Digilent but with
a 400K Gates Fpga.

Carsten

Have you heard of anyone successfully running Linux on it? I'd be interested 
to know how that turned out.

I would get the board you just suggested, but it seems that interfacing 
external devices to it would be rather limited compared to the $99 Digilent 
board. Having on-board D-A/A-D converters is nice, but not essential, and I 
plan to hook up my own colour LCD anyway. The volatile/non-volatile memory 
again, is nice, but not essential for my needs.

Ideally, there'd be a board with the same connections as the Digilent 
Spartan-3 board, but with a more powerful FPGA, like the XC3S400 (as used on 
the Nuhorizons board that you suggested). The Xess board you named seems 
ideal if it has the what you want, but interfacing to other hardware would 
be more work than with the Digilent board.


C3

> It seems like tou get a lot of value for the $70 more than the Xilinx
> devel board. I guess this could run a real linux with 64MB Ram.
> Anyone have experience with nuhorizon ?? 

I have been looking at this Spartan3 , am a FPGA beginner also

http://www.nuhorizons.com/products/xilinx/spartan3/development-board.html

It seems like tou get a lot of value for the $70 more than the Xilinx
devel board. I guess this could run a real linux with 64MB Ram.
Anyone have experience with nuhorizon ??

Or this Xess

http://www.xess.com/prod035.php3

You get a lot less on this board compared to the nuhorizon ,but you
get 1 mill gates.

The Xess is not 5v tolerant , wonder if its the same with the
nuhorizon. I might think so , as it says it has 20 3.3v io lines


Any other suggestions in the $100.. $250 class ??

Carsten

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! It looks like the Spartan 3 + a few 
add-on boards is the go for me.


C3 

Has anyone had a look at the new Protel (Altium devel board)

http://www.altium.com/livedesign/

It's $99

Carsten

"Richard" <rh86@no.spam> skrev i meddelandet
news:4189B289.2AD20E5A@no.spam...
> Ulf Samuelsson wrote:
> > With the current FPSLIC promotion, you can get the
> > FPSLIC for about $50.
>
> Can you provide details on this promo?  Nothing obvious on the website,
> and Digi-Key has the STK594 at $99.
>

I think All Atmel distis should have this offer.
Check out www.ebv.com


> (Incidentally, why is the STK94 $500?  STK500+594 seems functionally
> similar.)
>

No clue

> > You get a 4 month license, but this can be extended
>
> Not a game for the casual experimenter, it seems - $2500 for a license,
> plus $500/yr maintenance.  Are there low-cost alternatives that support
> the FPSLIC?
>
> Thanks,
> Richard


Write a nice app note, and you will get an extension for 6 months.
Atmel  pays Mentor for the toolset.
Buy a new STK594 every 4 months.
or buy a couple now at $50 form a disti which knows about the promotion.
Then activate as you need it.

The Atmel place and route is free, but you need to genrerate the *.edf file
somehow.


-- 
Best Regards,
Ulf Samuelsson   ulf@a-t-m-e-l.com
This is a personal view which may or may not be
share by my Employer Atmel Nordic AB

Ulf Samuelsson wrote:
> With the current FPSLIC promotion, you can get the
> FPSLIC for about $50.

Can you provide details on this promo?  Nothing obvious on the website,
and Digi-Key has the STK594 at $99.

(Incidentally, why is the STK94 $500?  STK500+594 seems functionally
similar.)


> You get a 4 month license, but this can be extended

Not a game for the casual experimenter, it seems - $2500 for a license,
plus $500/yr maintenance.  Are there low-cost alternatives that support
the FPSLIC?

Thanks,
Richard

"Leon Heller" <leon_heller@hotmail.com> wrote in message 
> "C3" <_> wrote in message 
> >I would like to learn more about electronics (FPGAs, programming them, 
> >interfacing with analogue circuitry etc.), so I have decided to get an 
> >FPGA.
> >
> > At first, I want to play with it to see how it works, and then I want to 
> > implement some "personal interest projects". These will require two-way 
> > communication with my PC, and if possible, my Ethernet network.
> 
> The cheapest way to get started is probably the new Xilinx Spartan-3 starter 
> kit ($99).
> 
> http://www.xilinx.com/xlnx/xebiz/onlinestore.jsp?sGlobalNavPick=PURCHASE
> 

The Digilent-made S3 board (which is what Xilinx will also sell you)
is a great package at a great price, however it's substantially more
complicated to get going than a microncontroller project, because you
have to build the microcontroller!  True, you can download other
people's projects as a starting point, but there's a lot to learn. 
What you do get for this is flexibility, and the chance to get your
fingers on every stage of the system.  Past experience hooking things
up to a processor is a big help in figuring out how to make things
work.

Some things like ethernet and USB are also pretty complicated -
do-able, but not trivial unless you can find most of the solution
ready to download somewhere or offload most of the work to a helper
board.

In theory though, an fpga of this size can do most things a
microcontoller can - so if you find someone's web page describing a
pic project that looks cool, you can probably copy the hard parts and
just adapt a few things to your setting.  You might even find a
downloadable core for the microcontroller they used!

My one major dislike of the digilent S3 board is the scarcity of
grounds on the 3 40-pin I/O connectors - ONE each!  That's okay for
slow speed I/O, but I'm worried I may have to do some surgery and
attach annother connector to the ground plane if I try to crank up the
speed on my IDE disk interface, for example.  Something that would be
really cool would be a little board to extend one of these connectors
to a few ISA bus slots, so one could play with old PC expansion cards
as a source of cheap helper chips.  Watch out for the 3.3v I/O though
- series resistors are needed on inputs that will be driven by
external 5v logic.

Also, anyone doing system-on-a-chip work in a Xilinx FPGA should at
minimum learn how to use a .bmm file so that you can replace the
program ROM without having to recompile the whole project.   If you
JTAG-configure the FPGA directly rather than programming the on-board
config rom, this gets your burn-crash-"hmm" cycle under a minute.

Chris

(btw, this email address no longer works)