PLDs and development software

[Magnus Danielson]

>>>>> "TG" == Tim Godfrey <tgodfrey at unicom.***> writes:

 TG> Xilinx often has specials on their development tools. Currently they have a
 TG> development system for $99, It has a non-standard HDL (Abel HDL), but it
 TG> does not include VHDL, or support for the larger (above 20K gates) devices.
 TG> See http://www.xilinx.com/products/software/found/baseblst/valpromo.htm> 

It migth interest some of you people that there is a >>> Free <<< VHDL
tool that may target Xilinx 3000 and 4000 series and some other FPGAs.
The tool is really a ASIC tool but also contains FPGA support. It is
currently available for SunOS, Solaris and Linux. Oh, it is called
Alliance and you may peek into the webpage at:

http://www-asim.lip6.fr/alliance/

Sadly enougth do they no longer supply the source code. It seems to
have some trouble with some VHDL code and it also has a documented
lack of support for some other, but never the less migth it be usefull.
It is supprisingly easy to install.

Up to 3.1 they provided sources under GPL but they don't do it
anymore, most users are probably as happy but since I havee a bad
happit... well, you know... can't keep my fingers still.

Cheers,
Magnus