[Noisebridge-discuss] misc FPGA questions

[brandon at as220.org]

On Sat, Dec 25, 2010 at 06:22:22PM -0800, Mike Schachter wrote:

> Some day I'd like to buy an FPGA and play around with it, but
> they seem to cost like $500+. I don't really know much about them,
> and was wondering if anyone could help me with some questions:
> 
> 1) Are there free, open source IDE's available for writing code
> for a FPGA?

I use Emacs to write VHDL and/or Verilog. I simulate my designs with Icarus
Verilog and Verilator. I synthesize/route my designs and program my development
board with Xilinx ISE (the free version). I actually use a Makefile to build my
designs using the Xilinx tools from the command line.

I used Emacs+Quartus with Altera devices in school.


> 2) Where can I buy an FPGA cheaply? What is "cheap" for an FPGA?
> I want to use them for parallel processing, mostly for prototypes,
> and don't really care how much power they consume. I need a
> starter FPGA (which I will probably break) to learn the ropes.

I own a Spartan 3E dev board. I plan on buying a Spartan 6 SP605 (~$500) soon.
The SP601 variant is quite cheap BTW. I'm sure the Spartan 3E dev boards are
extremely cheap these days. The Cray Supercomputer project:
http://www.eetimes.com/design/programmable-logic/4207359/Reproducing-a-Cray-1-supercomputer-in-a-single-FPGA
used a Spartan 3E.

> 3) Does anyone know FPGAs enough to teach a class in it? I'd be
> into some sort of knowledge exchange or maybe a donation to Noisebridge
> in return for an "Introduction to FPGAs" class.

Unsure about teaching a class. I live in Oakland. Could definitely come by and
show off my workflow. Would love to talk shop.


-- 
Brandon Edens | brandon at as220.org | brandonedens.org | key 0x42248B92

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