[sdiy] Xilinx 3E webpack and its gotcha's!

[Eric Brombaugh]

Paul Maddox wrote:
> Full blown ISE = Expensive, top class 'pro' software with excellent 
> support (including telephone).

The biggest problem I've found with the support you get on Full-blown 
ISE (which I have) is that _no_matter_what_ your problem is, the first 
thing out of their mouth will be "Send me a test case."

Now, that's well and good, but if you're working with a design that's 
based on proprietary algorithms and a problem that only shows up at the 
top level of a 1.6Mgate design, cooking up a test case the demonstrates 
the issue can be a major undertaking. The flipside is that trying to 
convince management in your company to let you send out a test case that 
includes trade secret information vs taking the time to build one up 
from scratch from generic code is just about a wash.

My experience so far has been that without the test case, they quality 
of support you get will be suggestions along the line of "Is your 
computer plugged in?" You can do better than this by simply searching 
their online answer database, which as far as I can tell is free to 
everyone. A few situations like this and even the thickest person starts 
to get the message and doesn't even bother asking for help.

I realize that this isn't likely to be an issue for anyone on this list, 
I just had to get that off my chest. I feel better now. :)

Eric