Homebrew PCBs

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