FPGA tips - one for micro users

Hi all,
I've just written a report called "Single Top FPGA Tips". May be of interest 
for micro users who want to get started using FPGAs...
http://www.burched.com/BurchED_Single_Top_Tips.pdf

I tried to think of the best tip that I could give to a microntroller 
designer who has just started with FPGAs. That one is Single Top Tip #3. I 
hope that is useful!
Kind regards,
Anthony Burch

"Tony Burch" <tony@burched.com.au> wrote in message 
news:47a9b614$0$30016$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
> Hi all,
> I've just written a report called "Single Top FPGA Tips". May be of 
> interest for micro users who want to get started using FPGAs...
> http://www.burched.com/BurchED_Single_Top_Tips.pdf
>
> I tried to think of the best tip that I could give to a microntroller 
> designer who has just started with FPGAs. That one is Single Top Tip #3. I 
> hope that is useful!
> Kind regards,
> Anthony Burch
>

Nice. I've been doing FPGA stuff coming from the micro/software side and the 
"think Hardware" resonated with me.

Andrew 

Tony Burch wrote:
> Hi all,
> I've just written a report called "Single Top FPGA Tips". May be of interest 
> for micro users who want to get started using FPGAs...
> http://www.burched.com/BurchED_Single_Top_Tips.pdf
> 
> I tried to think of the best tip that I could give to a microntroller 
> designer who has just started with FPGAs. That one is Single Top Tip #3. I 
> hope that is useful!
> Kind regards,
> Anthony Burch

How can you have 'Single Top tips' ?
If it is single, there is just one, and it
is surely a Single Top Tip,
and if there are half a dozen, or ten, they are not single
any more ??

-jg

Anthony,

You've hit on many topics that cause beginers problems, but I would
add some more "meat" to the document. Show VHDL or Verilog examples of
right and wrong ways of doing things. Your document points out good
things, but doesn't really provide any answers.

The Design Warrior's Guide to FPGAs by Clive "Max" Maxfield provides
the same info, but gives examples.

Eric

"andrew queisser" <andrew.queisser@hp.com> wrote in message 
news:focph2$2s2$1@usenet01.boi.hp.com...
>
> "Tony Burch" <tony@burched.com.au> wrote in message 
> news:47a9b614$0$30016$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
>> Hi all,
>> I've just written a report called "Single Top FPGA Tips". May be of 
>> interest for micro users who want to get started using FPGAs...
>> http://www.burched.com/BurchED_Single_Top_Tips.pdf
>>
>> I tried to think of the best tip that I could give to a microntroller 
>> designer who has just started with FPGAs. That one is Single Top Tip #3. 
>> I hope that is useful!
>> Kind regards,
>> Anthony Burch
>>
>
> Nice. I've been doing FPGA stuff coming from the micro/software side and 
> the "think Hardware" resonated with me.
>
> Andrew

Thanks Andrew!
Yes, when first seeing VHDL or Verilog for the first time, some guys from 
the micro/software side think "OK, this looks a bit like C or other code". 
As you know, it's important to be aware straight away that the code is 
actually a "description of a circuit" rather than an instruction sequence.

Anthony 

"Jim Granville" <no.spam@designtools.maps.co.nz> wrote in message 
news:47aa0f40$1@clear.net.nz...
> Tony Burch wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> I've just written a report called "Single Top FPGA Tips". May be of 
>> interest for micro users who want to get started using FPGAs...
>> http://www.burched.com/BurchED_Single_Top_Tips.pdf
>>
>> I tried to think of the best tip that I could give to a microntroller 
>> designer who has just started with FPGAs. That one is Single Top Tip #3. 
>> I hope that is useful!
>> Kind regards,
>> Anthony Burch
>
> How can you have 'Single Top tips' ?
> If it is single, there is just one, and it
> is surely a Single Top Tip,
> and if there are half a dozen, or ten, they are not single
> any more ??
>
> -jg
>

Hey Jim, that's a fair comment:)
My idea was to consider each type of person, with different levels of 
experience. Then write a "single top tip" for each person.
For example, I considered that if I was talking to an absolute beginner, 
what single tip would I give them. And if I was talking to a "Microntroller 
designer who has just started with FPGAs", what single tip could I offer 
them, and so on. So I imagined 6 different people at 6 different places.

Kind regards,
Anthony
http://www.BurchED.com

"Eric" <ericjohnholland@hotmail.com> wrote in message 
news:63849313-5b3c-488f-b401-9d753b4abe03@s19g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
> Anthony,
>
> You've hit on many topics that cause beginers problems, but I would
> add some more "meat" to the document. Show VHDL or Verilog examples of
> right and wrong ways of doing things. Your document points out good
> things, but doesn't really provide any answers.
>
> The Design Warrior's Guide to FPGAs by Clive "Max" Maxfield provides
> the same info, but gives examples.
>
> Eric

Thanks Eric for your suggestions & recommendation. I'll check out Clive's 
book.
I'll make some changes for Revision 1.1 of this tips document but I will 
probably also write another report that is more focused on providing 
good/bad design examples rather than just tips.

Kind regards,
Anthony
http://www.BurchED.com

"Tony Burch" <tony@burched.com.au> writes:
> As you know, it's important to be aware straight away that the code is 
> actually a "description of a circuit" rather than an instruction sequence.

Partway through my "learning verilog" projects, it occurred to me that
I could have expressed myself better with a schematic for one of the
blocks, if only it were faster to type in.

"Tony Burch" <tony@burched.com.au> wrote in message 
news:47a9b614$0$30016$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
> Hi all,
> I've just written a report called "Single Top FPGA Tips". May be of 
> interest for micro users who want to get started using FPGAs...
> http://www.burched.com/BurchED_Single_Top_Tips.pdf
>
> I tried to think of the best tip that I could give to a microntroller 
> designer who has just started with FPGAs. That one is Single Top Tip 
> #3. I hope that is useful!

The "learn about synchronous design" tip resonates with me - simply 
because *no-one should be allowed near digital logic unless they know 
about synchronous design* ;). Ever!

Same applies to software too, but hey, one crusade at a time...

Steve
http://www.fivetrees.com 

DJ Delorie wrote:
> "Tony Burch" <tony@burched.com.au> writes:
>> As you know, it's important to be aware straight away that the code is 
>> actually a "description of a circuit" rather than an instruction sequence.
> 
> Partway through my "learning verilog" projects, it occurred to me that
> I could have expressed myself better with a schematic for one of the
> blocks, if only it were faster to type in.

I agree that sometimes a description can be done quicker in a schematic. 
And, it has the benefit of being self-documenting - at least for smaller 
circuits.

The nice thing about HDLs is that text files - unlike schematic 
databases - aren't proprietary. And, except for the unix/windows end of 
line differences, text files are portable.