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On 10/6/10 4:55 PM, Dr. Jesus wrote:<br>
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cite="mid:AANLkTi=Jx9zKcwrJ+LX4QHcsto3LfbuMGywfENPHZNcA@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
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<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.actel.com/products/hardware/devkits_boards/smartfusion_eval.aspx">http://www.actel.com/products/hardware/devkits_boards/smartfusion_eval.aspx</a>
That's $99 from mouser, btw, and only requires a usb interface to program.
I'd like to get back into it so need a small verilog project to start
back up with.
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Do you know of a way to get the tools for free or cheap? I love the
Actel SmartFusion parts, but the licenses seem excessive to me for
hobbyist stuff.
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<br>
No, I just used the libero IDE that came for free with the eval
kit. I don't remember if it was locked to just the eval board or to
only the lowest-grade chips, but I can spin it up and check. Oh,
and Libero IDE now runs under redhat, though I've only run the
windows version.<br>
<br>
I do note that in the 6 months since I've last touched it they're
now touting a "SoftConsole" eclipse interface for loading compiled
ARM code in. Looks like they've settled on using the libero IDE to
configure the FPGA, connecting pins to CPU peripherals, but after
that you can compile as much C as you want and load it into the
hard-wired CPU in the center. <br>
<br>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal;
font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal;
line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform:
none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;
font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span"
style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Arial,Garuda,sans-serif;
text-align: left; font-size: small;">"SoftConsole is Actel's
free software development environment that enables the rapid
production of C and C++ executables for Actel FPGAs using<span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a
href="http://www.actel.com/products/mpu/cortexm3/default.aspx"
title="ARM Cortex-M3 for Actel FPGAs" style="color: rgb(0, 61,
120);">Cortex™-M3</a>,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a
href="http://www.actel.com/products/mpu/CortexM1/default.aspx"
title="ARM Cortex-M1 for Actel FPGAs" style="color: rgb(0, 61,
120);">Cortex-M1</a>, and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a
href="http://www.actel.com/products/ip/search/detail.aspx?id=648"
title="Actel Core8051s" style="color: rgb(0, 61, 120);">Core8051s</a>."</span></span><br>
<br>
When I was taking the FPGA design class at SFSU, I ended up using
the free gEDA icarus verilog compiler along with the textual output
mode to do most of my development, only using the windows-only
non-free tools at the last minute to verify, route and upload.<br>
<br>
<br>
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