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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

yea the Altera DE2 has 2x 40-pin connectors that directly hook up to the FPGA and are intended to be used for either Altera's own expansion boards (for things like Ethernet, USB, HDMI, etc) or for custom ones depending on what the user/company that bought the boards needs them for.
the pinout (and schematic for the entire FPGA board) is publicly available so it was simple to design a PCB for it.

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

Thanks! I use a similar approach (though much less elegant, I'm afraid) whenever I'm working on a new design and I'm not yet ready to go to PCB. For example, here's the current prototype of the next iteration of my VGA interface, bolted on top of a Lattice ICE40 breakout board:




It basically works like a hat, and I just add bits and pieces of circuit to it as I go along; if I want to experiment with anything else, I simply pull it out and replace it with another one. It's pretty handy.

(Side note: I'm just a newbie, but this breakout board from Lattice feels extremely overengineered… I much prefer the barebones one for the Altera Max II!)

Oh, wow, those are expensive! I managed to get my hands on some headers with long pins from China. They were very inexpensive (I literally bought a BOX of them for a few dollars), but they are not all that sturdy, unfortunately.

Thank you, André!