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Hey guys (newby here), I am looking for a cheep development board with a few cool additions on it. My sole reason (one of them anyway) is to move from coding that we do in class (3rd year, EE) to the actual development of home projects that I can keep. From moving from C++ to uControllers, I found a huge improvement in my coding ability... and my overall understanding of embedded systems. Heres what I have found so far... A XSA-100 board (32mb sram, XC2S200 fpga, xc9572sl cpld) ~149.00 http://www.xess.com/prod034.php3 Altium Live Design (EP1C12F3324/XC3S400 fpga, sram, audio, several ports) ~ 99.00 http://www.altium.com/livedesign/ C-nit (Spartan-II 100K gate fpga, sram, only headers) ~90 http://www.c-nit.net/ Digilent Pegasus (XC2S50 fpga, ports/buttons/leds)~89 https://digilent.us/Sales/Product.cfm?Prod=PEGASUS fpga4fun.com Pluto (EP1K10TC100 fpga, no ports, bare bones) ~50 http://www.fpga4fun.com/board_pluto.html fpga4fun.com PlutoII (EP1C3T100 fpga, same as above) ~80 http://www.fpga4fun.com/board_pluto-II.html I think having VGA, PS2 or serial, plus a few other leds/ 7 segments would be nice, but not entirely necessary. Does anyone know of other cheep boards hopefully under 100usd that could be considerd a good starter kit? Thanks, Chris |
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New to FPGA development
Started by ●January 23, 2005
Reply by ●January 23, 20052005-01-23
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Get one of the Pluto boards....you can make your own VGA, PS2, serial connectors easily from scrounged parts or a few $$$ at Digikey or your local electronics store. And...you'll have a much greater sense of accomplishment and truly understand what's going on. -marc On 1/23/05 1:49 AM, "sirtiffguy" <> wrote: > Hey guys (newby here), > > I am looking for a cheep development board with a few cool additions > on it. My sole reason (one of them anyway) is to move from coding > that we do in class (3rd year, EE) to the actual development of home > projects that I can keep. > >> From moving from C++ to uControllers, I found a huge improvement in > my coding ability... and my overall understanding of embedded > systems. > > Heres what I have found so far... > A XSA-100 board (32mb sram, XC2S200 fpga, xc9572sl cpld) ~149.00 > http://www.xess.com/prod034.php3 > > Altium Live Design (EP1C12F3324/XC3S400 fpga, sram, audio, several > ports) ~ 99.00 > http://www.altium.com/livedesign/ > > C-nit (Spartan-II 100K gate fpga, sram, only headers) ~90 > http://www.c-nit.net/ > > Digilent Pegasus (XC2S50 fpga, ports/buttons/leds)~89 > https://digilent.us/Sales/Product.cfm?Prod=PEGASUS > > fpga4fun.com Pluto (EP1K10TC100 fpga, no ports, bare bones) ~50 > http://www.fpga4fun.com/board_pluto.html > > fpga4fun.com PlutoII (EP1C3T100 fpga, same as above) ~80 > http://www.fpga4fun.com/board_pluto-II.html > > I think having VGA, PS2 or serial, plus a few other leds/ 7 segments > would be nice, but not entirely necessary. > > Does anyone know of other cheep boards hopefully under 100usd that > could be considerd a good starter kit? > > Thanks, > Chris > > > To post a message, send it to: > To unsubscribe, send a blank message to: > Yahoo! Groups Links |
Reply by ●January 23, 20052005-01-23
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----- Original Message ----- From: "sirtiffguy" <> To: <> Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2005 6:49 AM Subject: [fpga-cpu] New to FPGA development > Hey guys (newby here), > > I am looking for a cheep development board with a few cool additions > on it. My sole reason (one of them anyway) is to move from coding > that we do in class (3rd year, EE) to the actual development of home > projects that I can keep. > > From moving from C++ to uControllers, I found a huge improvement in > my coding ability... and my overall understanding of embedded > systems. > > Heres what I have found so far... > A XSA-100 board (32mb sram, XC2S200 fpga, xc9572sl cpld) ~149.00 > http://www.xess.com/prod034.php3 > > Altium Live Design (EP1C12F3324/XC3S400 fpga, sram, audio, several > ports) ~ 99.00 > http://www.altium.com/livedesign/ > > C-nit (Spartan-II 100K gate fpga, sram, only headers) ~90 > http://www.c-nit.net/ > > Digilent Pegasus (XC2S50 fpga, ports/buttons/leds)~89 > https://digilent.us/Sales/Product.cfm?Prod=PEGASUS > > fpga4fun.com Pluto (EP1K10TC100 fpga, no ports, bare bones) ~50 > http://www.fpga4fun.com/board_pluto.html > > fpga4fun.com PlutoII (EP1C3T100 fpga, same as above) ~80 > http://www.fpga4fun.com/board_pluto-II.html > > I think having VGA, PS2 or serial, plus a few other leds/ 7 segments > would be nice, but not entirely necessary. > > Does anyone know of other cheep boards hopefully under 100usd that > could be considerd a good starter kit? The Xilinx starter kit is $99. It's actually made by Digilent. Leon -- |
Reply by ●January 23, 20052005-01-23
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Chris wrote: > I think having VGA, PS2 or serial, plus a few other leds/ 7 segments > would be nice, but not entirely necessary. > > Does anyone know of other cheep boards hopefully under 100usd that > could be considerd a good starter kit? Spartan 3 starter kit, available from either Xilinx or Digilent, has exactly the I/O you described, and 1MB of SRAM (256K*32), using an XC3S200. It costs $99: http://www.xilinx.com/products/spartan3/s3boards.htm https://digilent.us/Sales/Product.cfm?Prod=S3BOARD Digilent has in the past also offered the same board with an XC3S400 for a slightly higher price, but that doesn't seem to be available at the moment. Digilent also offers some expansion boards. I bought a starter kit from Xilinx, and have been very happy with it. If you want to use a PC keyboard or mouse with the PS/2 port, it is likely that you have to move a jumper that configures the port voltage. For no apparent reason, Digilent designed it to support 3.3V PS/2, which doesn't exist, and that is the default setting. Eric |
Reply by ●January 23, 20052005-01-23
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> >Message: 4 > Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2005 06:49:54 -0000 > From: "sirtiffguy" <> >Subject: New to FPGA development > >Hey guys (newby here), > >I am looking for a cheep development board with a few cool additions >on it. My sole reason (one of them anyway) is to move from coding >that we do in class (3rd year, EE) to the actual development of home >projects that I can keep. > >>From moving from C++ to uControllers, I found a huge improvement in >my coding ability... and my overall understanding of embedded >systems. > >Heres what I have found so far... >A XSA-100 board (32mb sram, XC2S200 fpga, xc9572sl cpld) ~149.00 >http://www.xess.com/prod034.php3 > >Altium Live Design (EP1C12F3324/XC3S400 fpga, sram, audio, several >ports) ~ 99.00 >http://www.altium.com/livedesign/ > >C-nit (Spartan-II 100K gate fpga, sram, only headers) ~90 >http://www.c-nit.net/ > >Digilent Pegasus (XC2S50 fpga, ports/buttons/leds)~89 >https://digilent.us/Sales/Product.cfm?Prod=PEGASUS > >fpga4fun.com Pluto (EP1K10TC100 fpga, no ports, bare bones) ~50 >http://www.fpga4fun.com/board_pluto.html > >fpga4fun.com PlutoII (EP1C3T100 fpga, same as above) ~80 >http://www.fpga4fun.com/board_pluto-II.html > >I think having VGA, PS2 or serial, plus a few other leds/ 7 segments >would be nice, but not entirely necessary. > >Does anyone know of other cheep boards hopefully under 100usd that >could be considerd a good starter kit? > >Thanks, >Chris > Personally i really like the Digilient Spartan-3 board ( https://digilent.us/Sales/Product.cfm?Prod=S3BOARD ) though id opt for the larger FPGA when ordered... Can never have enough .. Too bad they dont offer the even bigger chips. Its a tad over 100 with the 'upgrade'.. Although a bit more expensive the stuff @ http://www.trenz-electronic.de/prod/proden20.htm also look interesting as you have many ports, and a wider array of FPGA options ( they are plugin modules ). |
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Reply by ●January 24, 20052005-01-24
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Tony wrote: >> >> >> >Personally i really like the Digilient Spartan-3 board ( >https://digilent.us/Sales/Product.cfm?Prod=S3BOARD ) >though id opt for the larger FPGA when ordered... Can never have enough >.. Too bad they dont offer the >even bigger chips. Its a tad over 100 with the 'upgrade'.. Rumour says a larger version of the S3 kit may be comming soon. Only thing a second ps2 port would be nice. Can make your own or one of the addons with another ps/2. The usb addon is great(but should be builtin on new boards from them) and still haven't got around to trying the ethernet addon. The module boards look good for robotics etc. On a board with larger fpga would be nice to have: 2 ps/2 , 1 vga (but at least 8bit or more color) , serial , usb jtag(on board), leds , switches, compact flash / system ace or flash, more ram . Alex -- |
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Reply by ●January 26, 20052005-01-26
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Is this a serious rumor, a marketing test or just a hope? I would really like to buy another Starter Board if it had a MUCH larger FPGA. One million gates would be good although I could get by with 300k or 400k. --- In , Alex Gibson <alxx@t...> wrote: > Tony wrote: > > >> > >> > >> > >Personally i really like the Digilient Spartan-3 board ( > >https://digilent.us/Sales/Product.cfm?Prod=S3BOARD ) > >though id opt for the larger FPGA when ordered... Can never have enough > >.. Too bad they dont offer the > >even bigger chips. Its a tad over 100 with the 'upgrade'.. > > > > > > Rumour says a larger version of the S3 kit may be comming soon. > > Only thing a second ps2 port would be nice. > Can make your own or one of the addons with another ps/2. > > The usb addon is great(but should be builtin on new boards from them) > and still haven't got around > to trying the ethernet addon. > > The module boards look good for robotics etc. > > On a board with larger fpga would be nice to have: > 2 ps/2 , 1 vga (but at least 8bit or more color) , serial , usb jtag (on > board), > leds , switches, compact flash / system ace or flash, more ram . > > Alex > -- > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.7.2 - Release Date: 21/01/2005 |
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Reply by ●January 26, 20052005-01-26
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--- In , "rtstofer" <rstofer@p...> wrote: > > > Is this a serious rumor, a marketing test or just a hope? I would > really like to buy another Starter Board if it had a MUCH larger > FPGA. One million gates would be good although I could get by with > 300k or 400k. There *is* a version of an S3 eval board which uses the XC3S400. Nuhorizons sells it for $164 at http://www.nuhorizons.com/products/xilinx/spartan3/development-board.html It has lots of features on the board, but only provides 20 user IOs. Still, this seems to be a pretty good bargain to me if it suits your needs. |
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Reply by ●January 26, 20052005-01-26
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Not really. I erased my 'rant' about IO before I posted the message. I absolutely hate the idea that the JTAG signals are present on EVERY connector plus the dedicated header. I also don't see any utility in having the SRAM address and data carried out to the connectors. If someone is willing to give up that much IO, do it through the FPGA by duplicating the signals! My biggest complaint about the Starter Board is the paucity of IO at the connectors. Well, maybe my second biggest complaint... I am trying to build a 32 bit logic analyzer. Do you think that there is one single 40 pin connector where I can bring in 32 signals plus a trigger and external clock. Nope. But I can program it no matter how I hook it up. Seriously, one of the best features of the BurchED B5-300 board is IO. The only dedicated pin is the single LED and I suppose it could still be used as an input since it has a 2.7k resistor. The downside is that everything else is off board. Why have a 256 BGA with 20 IO for the user? Ok, that's enough ranting. I like both boards and I am happy I have them. They both fill a niche and I will keep them. Ranting when I have time... --- In , dsprelated@a... wrote: > > --- In , "rtstofer" <rstofer@p...> wrote: > > > > > > Is this a serious rumor, a marketing test or just a hope? I would > > really like to buy another Starter Board if it had a MUCH larger > > FPGA. One million gates would be good although I could get by with > > 300k or 400k. > > There *is* a version of an S3 eval board which uses the XC3S400. > Nuhorizons sells it for $164 at > > http://www.nuhorizons.com/products/xilinx/spartan3/development- board.html > > It has lots of features on the board, but only provides 20 user IOs. > Still, this seems to be a pretty good bargain to me if it suits your > needs. |
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Reply by ●January 26, 20052005-01-26
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Well, how about this board? http://www.enterpoint.co.uk/moelbryn/broaddown2.html It uses a 456 pin package and multiple choices of FPGA with the XC3S400 being the *smallest*. --- In , "rtstofer" <rstofer@p...> wrote: > > Not really. > > I erased my 'rant' about IO before I posted the message. I > absolutely hate the idea that the JTAG signals are present on EVERY > connector plus the dedicated header. |
