FPGA dev board that's cheap, simple and supported by OSS toolchain
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Re: FPGA dev board that's cheap, simple and supported by OSS toolchain
#2I was looking for a cheap ([0]: https://tinyvision.ai/blogs/processing-at-the-edge/ground-tr...
Re: FPGA dev board that's cheap, simple and supported by OSS toolchain
#3I love the emphasis on breaking out all of the GPIO pins, it is incredible today how many dev boards either leave pins as not connected or hard wire them (no jumper to disable) to some onboad peripheral. Looking at you stm32 discovery boards...
Re: FPGA dev board that's cheap, simple and supported by OSS toolchain
#4I was looking for a cheap ( [0]: https://tinyvision.ai/blogs/processing-at-the-edge/ground-tr...
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Re: FPGA dev board that's cheap, simple and supported by OSS toolchain
#5How does this compare to alternatives for learning FPGA? What's the significance of the duino suffix?
When would you choose FPGA over something like an STM32? From what an internet search leads to, they can be faster / do more things in parallel for the price. And you can add capabilities (More timers? More op amps?) with firmware updates. Is this at the core of when you'd choose one?
I've no experience with FPGA, but would like to learn. This is listed as "no longer available for sale". Which dev board do you recommend? Thank you.
Re: FPGA dev board that's cheap, simple and supported by OSS toolchain
#6Here's the board I still have from my student years. I'm curious how it compares to modern alternatives? I haven't kept up with that field at all:
Re: FPGA dev board that's cheap, simple and supported by OSS toolchain
#7I love the emphasis on breaking out all of the GPIO pins, it is incredible today how many dev boards either leave pins as not connected or hard wire them (no jumper to disable) to some onboad peripheral. Looking at you stm32 discovery boards...
The Discovery boards are a bit of a minefield over which pins you're allowed to use. It can cause surprising problems if you don't check the dev board manual's pin table, or don't know how to interpret it. Additionally, you need to plug the jumpers into the bottom of the board; it looks like you can use the top, but the jumpers tend to fall out!
The nucelo ones are even weirder. The pins aren't labeled on the board, and they're in a weird layout, with some male and others female.
Re: FPGA dev board that's cheap, simple and supported by OSS toolchain
#8Here's the board I still have from my student years. I'm curious how it compares to modern alternatives? I haven't kept up with that field at all: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/147963601.pdf
Take a look at the de10 nano. Crazy good board for the price. No OSS tool chain though.
Re: FPGA dev board that's cheap, simple and supported by OSS toolchain
#9I had fun playing with the Lattice ICE40 Ultra Plus Breakout board.
I wouldn't call it expensive (~$60) and it's pretty simple.
The toolchain by Lattice however is not the best
Re: FPGA dev board that's cheap, simple and supported by OSS toolchain
#10How does this compare to alternatives for learning FPGA? What's the significance of the duino suffix? When would you choose FPGA over something like an STM32? From what an internet search leads to, they can be faster / do more things in parallel for the price. And you can add capabilities (More timers? More op amps?) with firmware updates. Is this at the core of when you'd choose one? I've no experience with FPGA, bu…
> When would you choose FPGA over something like an STM32?
The answer is "almost never". Qualifications below.
Learn the Cortex-M4 ecosystem first. You can do a remarkable amount of stuff by abusing microcontroller systems in weird ways. The tools for dealing with microcontrollers are MUCH better than the FPGA ecosystem tools (which suck--and that's on a good day).
If you need an FPGA, generally you know it. The first sign is: "There's no way to do this with my microcontroller." That step is generally followed by: "Is there a different microcontroller that could do this?" followed by asking the old greybeard "Is there really no way to do this on a microcontroller?" And finally, "Crud, this can't be done on a microcontroller"--at that point you can consider an FPGA.
As someone who has been dealing with this for mumble too many years, I've been slowly migrating functionality of my clients away from their FPGAs and into the microcontrollers more and more. It's just way easier on too many fronts--and they don't have to learn Verilog/VHDL. The FPGAs will never go away, but they will have the minimum functionality we can get away with.
> I've no experience with FPGA, but would like to learn.
I'm likely to get some static for this, but get an actual supported dev board and not an open-source hacker board. I would recommend something like this that has an academic version:
https://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=...
Use the manufacturer tools (which, in this instance, are free) as using an "open-source toolchain" is NOT for beginners.
Once you understand FPGA's a bit more thoroughly, then you can take the leap to the open source stuff.