At 10:41 AM 6/16/2011, Chris Kleeschulte wrote:
>Please excuse me for asking a completely off topic question, but I like the
>people on this list a lot and I trust their answers.
>
>I am getting into VHDL for the purpose of programming FPGA's. I am a
>computer scientist by trade, so I am really green when it comes to FPGA and
>VHDL. Does any have a recommendation for a low cost FPGA development board
>that I can learn on using VHDL?
I have what might be a surprising suggestion: Open Logic Sniffer from
www.seeedstudio.com>
Its a joint design collaboration between Dangerous Prototypes and The
Gadget Factory (who make the Papilio) and I think that its simply awesome.
Here's why I suggest it:
1) Its a great little open-source logic analyzer. All code and
hardware is completely open.
2) It has a USB PIC on-board for getting FPGA code onto the
board. The PIC can be used as-is or you can customize it to your
specific requirements.
3) The FPGA has 32 i/o lines brought out to headers. 16 of those
lines are currently input-only because they have a 5V-tolerant buffer
feeding them. The other 16 lines are not touched in any way - they
can be inputs or outputs. Note that they are NOT 5V tolerant as
inputs and their logic 1 output is derived from 3.3V FPGA supply.
4) You can turn it back into a logic analyzer when you are finished
with it as a FPGA dev board.
I suggest that you check it out - you might be pleasantly surprised.
dwayne
--
Dwayne Reid <
dwayner@...>
Trinity Electronics Systems Ltd Edmonton, AB, CANADA
(780) 489-3199 voice (780) 487-6397 fax
www.trinity-electronics.com
Custom Electronics Design and Manufacturing