[sdiy] New cheap FPGA development system

[Eric Brombaugh]

Eric Brombaugh wrote:
> Developing for the microblaze soft processor which can be instantiated 
> in the FPGA requires the EDK which isn't free.
(replying to myself)

All is not lost however - Xilinx has a free processor core called 
Picoblaze that appears to be roughly the same horsepower as a PIC processor:

http://www.xilinx.com/xlnx/xebiz/designResources/ip_product_details.jsp?sGlobalNavPick=PRODUCTS&sSecondaryNavPick=Design+Tools&key=picoblaze-S3-V2-Pro

Of course you have to program it entirely in assembly, but there is a 
free graphical IDE which includes a simulator and assembler:

http://www.mediatronix.com/pBlazeIDE.htm

Eric