[Noisebridge-discuss] FPGA hacking

[Lamont Lucas]

  On 10/6/10 4:55 PM, Dr. Jesus wrote:
>> http://www.actel.com/products/hardware/devkits_boards/smartfusion_eval.aspx
>>
>> 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.
> 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.
>
>

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.

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.

"SoftConsole is Actel's free software development environment that 
enables the rapid production of C and C++ executables for Actel FPGAs 
using Cortex^(TM)-M3 
<http://www.actel.com/products/mpu/cortexm3/default.aspx>, Cortex-M1 
<http://www.actel.com/products/mpu/CortexM1/default.aspx>, and Core8051s 
<http://www.actel.com/products/ip/search/detail.aspx?id=648>."

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.


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