I would have a peek at the MachXO (Lattice) www.latticesemi.com
It's an FPGA CPLD crossover, and it's around 90 eur.

It's a small board with LED's, Switches, and a small prototyping area.

Martin.

"samiam" <samiamSPAMTHIS@spamalert.com> wrote in message 
news:vHsZg.77479$p86.25317@fe05.news.easynews.com...
> Figured this was the place to ask (comp.arch.embedded or comp.arch.fpga)
>
> Whats the cheapest board to study VHDL on?
>
> Ideally Id like an FPGA based board with a few inputs (dip 
> switches,toggles?), some outputs (parallel or serial connector, some
> leds) < $100
>
> I am looking on ebay now, and I see one or two boards well above $100.
> Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks in advance 

On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 16:33:31 GMT, samiam <samiamSPAMTHIS@spamalert.com> wrote:
>Figured this was the place to ask (comp.arch.embedded or comp.arch.fpga)
>
>Whats the cheapest board to study VHDL on?
>
>Ideally Id like an FPGA based board with a few inputs (dip 
>switches,toggles?), some outputs (parallel or serial connector, some
>leds) < $100
>
>I am looking on ebay now, and I see one or two boards well above $100.
>Any suggestions?
>
>Thanks in advance

You may also want to check out a very extensive list of boards at:

   http://www.fpga-faq.org/FPGA_Boards.shtml


===================
Philip Freidin
philip.freidin@fpga-faq.org
Host for WWW.FPGA-FAQ.ORG

Andy Peters wrote:
> fpga_toys@yahoo.com wrote:
> > Mike Treseler wrote:
> > > Sorry I rained on your parade.
> > > Trial and error synthesis using a logic analyzer works also.
> > > I guess I spent too many years hooking up those
> > > little clip leads and waiting for a trigger.
> >
> > Not only are HP16xxx logic analyzers cheap on eBay these days,
>
> Anyone want mine?
>
> > but making one out of an FPGA is yet another fun project.
>
> it's real easy.  The hard part is coming up with some nice host
> software!

Here is one for the Digilent/Xilinx S3 kit that comes with PC software:

http://www.sump.org/projects/analyzer/

Leon

fpga_toys@yahoo.com wrote:
> Mike Treseler wrote:
> > Sorry I rained on your parade.
> > Trial and error synthesis using a logic analyzer works also.
> > I guess I spent too many years hooking up those
> > little clip leads and waiting for a trigger.
>
> Not only are HP16xxx logic analyzers cheap on eBay these days,

Anyone want mine?

> but making one out of an FPGA is yet another fun project.

it's real easy.  The hard part is coming up with some nice host
software!

-a

Mike Treseler wrote:
> Sorry I rained on your parade.
> Trial and error synthesis using a logic analyzer works also.
> I guess I spent too many years hooking up those
> little clip leads and waiting for a trigger.

Not only are HP16xxx logic analyzers cheap on eBay these days, but
making one out of an FPGA is yet another fun project.

> Digilent has a $59 board with a 100k-gate FPGA, switches, port
> connectors, LEDs etc.
> http://digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Prod=BASYS

BINGO!!!

Id like to start there ... after I have gained some experience, I can
buy a more more expensive FPGA board with larger resources

Thanks

> I think that seeing something work in reality is an important part of
> learning, even though simulators give you more insight into what's
> happening.  Otherwise you get to your first real design after a few
> years of learning VHDL and then you ask 'what does non-synthesizable
> mean?'

I like to put equal time in reading/research as I do in "lab work".

Theres a certain joy and "ahah" factor that comes from seeing the
results in front of you.

priceless!

samiam wrote:
> Mike, I felt that having an FPGA board, where I can download the code,
> and do things ... "see" the results for myself, would only serve to 
> reinforce what I am reading
> 
> A simulator is one thing ... "seeing" the results on bare metal is
> another

Sorry I rained on your parade.
Trial and error synthesis using a logic analyzer works also.
I guess I spent too many years hooking up those
little clip leads and waiting for a trigger.

               -- Mike Treseler

samiam wrote:
> Figured this was the place to ask (comp.arch.embedded or comp.arch.fpga)
>
> Whats the cheapest board to study VHDL on?
>
> Ideally Id like an FPGA based board with a few inputs (dip
> switches,toggles?), some outputs (parallel or serial connector, some
> leds) < $100
>
> I am looking on ebay now, and I see one or two boards well above $100.
> Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks in advance

The Digilent/Xilinx Spartan 3 Starter Kit is $99, and should do
everything you want.

Leon

Frank Buss <fb@frank-buss.de> writes:

> Petter Gustad wrote:
> 
> > Altera MAXII developers kit. I think this was $99 last time I
> > checked. It has LED's, USB, LCD display, temprature sensor, PCI, etc.
> 
> Do you mean this board?
> 
> http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-maxii-1270.html
> 
> Looks like it costs $150 and it is an CPLD, only. And do you need an
> additional programmer for it? If you want to try Altera and want to spend

A byteblaster II prgramming cable is included. I got the board for $99
once. Maybe it was a special deal. The MAXII is a CPLD, but looks much
like an FPGA even though there is an internal FLASH for configuration
and user data.

The Spartan3 is a nice starter kit as well.

Petter
-- 
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in e-mail?

"jacko" <jackokring@gmail.com> writes:

> i'm thinking of getting the MAX II $100 board too. can it work external
> to the pc or pci only. does it auto program, can it be used to program
> other cpld and can the display be made external off board, for case
> mounting? i'd have to revert to on board gfx again as no free pci while
> agp in use.

It can be powered by USB so you don't need to have it in your PCI slot
unless you will be designing some PCI logic. I don't know what you
mean by autoprogram, but you download the programming file into the
internal FLASH in the MAXII. When you power it on it will load the
configuration from there. You can use it to program other devices, but
that will require you to design some logic. Actually I use the board
to program some microcontrollers over USB.

Petter
-- 
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in e-mail?