[sdiy] uC with mul

[patchell]

    Xilinx does have free tools you can download from their website.  I assume
that you were using the Foundation tools at work.  I have not downloaded the free
Xilinx tools myself.

    However, I have downloaded the free Altera tools.  When I downloaded the free
altera tools, they would work up to 100,000 gate parts (ACEX), and I will tell
you, you would be amazed at what you can put into one of those.

    I have a couple of tubes of Xilinx XC4003A parts that I am still trying to
figure out what to do with.  I wanted to put a top octave generator in them, but,
for what I wanted to do, they were just a smidge too small (which surprised me,
since you can put a lot even into 3000 gates, but for making counters, the thing
ran out of fast carry blocks, some how).  I can, however, put two 24 bit phase
accumulator type NCO's into the parts, so, I might use them for that.

    FPGA's rule....(ooopppss, I said a digital thing!).

harry wrote:

> HiYa...
>
> I just finished my first project in an FPGA... a Spartan XL.
>
> It just replaced about 30 IC chips... maybe a wash on price...
> big savings on space...  The revisions are really EASY :^)
>
> Now if anyone knows where I can get some cheap development
> tools... I'd be doing synth-diy as well.
>
> The package we have at work is a little TOO rich for my blood...
>
> I'd also like to hear from any PAL users out there... I'm thinking
> of that as a cheap entry point for programmable logic.
>
> H^) harry
>
> Paul Maddox wrote:
>
> > JB,
> >
> > > Although I've always had the feeling that these Xilinx / Altera thingies
> > > required quite a lot of engeneering & time, like development platform,
> > > learning curve, development time etc. and because of their packages
> > > weren't that easy to implement on the DIY project & PCB.
> >
> > Ooh, I can think of at least two people on the list know their stuff when it
> > comes to FPGAs, it could probably knock something up for you ina few hours
> > (hi guys)
> >
> > > I might be wrong but I had the feeling that a 16x16 multiplier was a more
> > > attractive solution, or at least featured the right balance between type
> > of
> > > package, ease of implementation etc in a DIY context... Haven't checked
> > > the price yet though...
> >
> > I would go for a small FPGA, I mean if you didnt want a multiplier, you
> > could reconfigure it do other stuff at a later date
> >
> > Paul
> > _______________________________________
> > Wavesynth home page;-
> >     Http://www.wavesynth.com
> > Modulus synthesizers home page;-
> >     Http://www.modulus.wavesynth.com
> > PPG Synthesizer pages;-
> >     Http://www.PPG.wavesynth.com
> > Opensynth Project;-
> >     http://www.opensynth.wavesynth.org/
> > Waveterm C Project page;-
> >     Http://www.waveterm.com
>
> --
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--
 -Jim
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