Cheapest FPGA board to study VHDL on

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

I'm sure you have seen it on Ebay but have a look at our Raggedstone1.
Ebay wise look for the non-EEC price if you are in the US. Similar
pricing on our own website. It just about gets under you $100 mark
depending on the current exchange rate. For something much cheaper you
probably talking about a CPLD board.

John Adair
Enterpoint Ltd.

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

samiam wrote:

> Whats the cheapest board to study VHDL on?

To learn vhdl, all you need is a simulator
to verify your uut and testbench code
and quartus or ise to view the rtl schematic.

A board is of little value until
the code is complete and tested.

           -- Mike Treseler

Thanks John. Ill take a look

John Adair wrote:
> I'm sure you have seen it on Ebay but have a look at our Raggedstone1.
> Ebay wise look for the non-EEC price if you are in the US. Similar
> pricing on our own website. It just about gets under you $100 mark
> depending on the current exchange rate. For something much cheaper you
> probably talking about a CPLD board.
> 
> John Adair
> Enterpoint Ltd.
> 

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


Mike Treseler wrote:
> samiam wrote:
> 
>> Whats the cheapest board to study VHDL on?
> 
> To learn vhdl, all you need is a simulator
> to verify your uut and testbench code
> and quartus or ise to view the rtl schematic.
> 
> A board is of little value until
> the code is complete and tested.
> 
>            -- Mike Treseler

Unless you are trying to interface to something else, and need to prove
that what you designed can talk to it, a simulator will "show" you much
more than you will ever see from an FPGA board. I'm not saying there is
anything wrong with the satisfaction that is gained from seeing your
project "working in real life", but that has nothing to do with any
reinforcement of knowledge gained. I should add that the insights
gained through thorough simulation (both rtl and gate-level, post-route
timing simulations), synthesis, place & route, and static timing
analysis will far exceed those gained from "seeing" it work.

But seeing it work will probably provide more satisfaction than all
those activities.

Andy


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
>
>
> Mike Treseler wrote:
> > samiam wrote:
> >
> >> Whats the cheapest board to study VHDL on?
> >
> > To learn vhdl, all you need is a simulator
> > to verify your uut and testbench code
> > and quartus or ise to view the rtl schematic.
> >
> > A board is of little value until
> > the code is complete and tested.
> > 
> >            -- Mike Treseler

samiam <samiamSPAMTHIS@spamalert.com> writes:

> I am looking on ebay now, and I see one or two boards well above $100.
> Any suggestions?

Altera MAXII developers kit. I think this was $99 last time I
checked. It has LED's, USB, LCD display, temprature sensor, PCI, etc.

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?

Petter Gustad wrote:
> samiam <samiamSPAMTHIS@spamalert.com> writes:
>
> > I am looking on ebay now, and I see one or two boards well above $100.
> > Any suggestions?
>
> Altera MAXII developers kit. I think this was $99 last time I
> checked. It has LED's, USB, LCD display, temprature sensor, PCI, etc.
>
> 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?

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.

cheers

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
$149, this is a nice board:

http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&CategoryNo=39&No=14

Anything is included on the board, like USB Blaster for programming and it
has some nice interfaces, like video out and audio in/out and demo version
of Nios etc.

If you want to try Xilinx, Spartan3 is nice, too and costs $99 (there is
anything included, too, so you don't need any additional programmer) :

http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Prod=S3BOARD&Nav1=Products&Nav2=Programmable

I'm sure Lattice and other vendors have good development boards, too, but I
have tested both boards, the Spartan 3 starter kit (and Spartan 3E starter
kit) and the TREX C1, so I can guarantee that they are very good for this
price.

-- 
Frank Buss, fb@frank-buss.de
http://www.frank-buss.de, http://www.it4-systems.de

samiam wrote:

> Ideally Id like an FPGA based board with a few inputs (dip
> switches,toggles?), some outputs (parallel or serial connector, some
> leds) < $100

Altium LiveDesign (USD$99)

<http://www.altium.com/Products/AltiumDesigner/LiveDesign/>

Regards,

-- 
Mark McDougall, Engineer
Virtual Logic Pty Ltd, <http://www.vl.com.au>
21-25 King St, Rockdale, 2216
Ph: +612-9599-3255 Fax: +612-9599-3266