Breadboard FPGA for $69

[cbmeeks]

What do you guys think about this FPGA dev board from Xilinx?

http://www.xilinx.com/products/boards-a ... lhae0.html

I could see dropping that into a SBC to do all kinds of useful stuff. Maybe running side-by-side with a real 65C02.

[BigEd]

Just to summarise what you get for $69:
- just .7” by 2.6” and in 48 pin breadboard format
- 46 I/Os from the FPGA
- Xilinx® Spartan®-6 LX4 FPGA with 24k block RAM and 600 slices
- USB port
- 4 LEDs and two buttons

[commodorejohn]

Of course it all depends on what you need and in what kind of form factor, but this looks like a lot better deal to my (admittedly inexpert) eyes.

[hoglet]

Are you specifically interested in something with a DIL form factor?

How important is 5V tolerance?

If it's important, make sure you check out the OHO GODIL modules:
http://www.trenz-electronic.de/products ... ronik.html

They use an older Spartan 3E FPGA (XC3S250E/XC3S500E), but do have on-board 3.3V/5V level shifters, so you can plug into an system that uses 5V levels.

I used these in the ICE-T65/Z80/6809 work:
https://github.com/hoglet67/AtomBusMon/wiki

Dave

[BigEd]

Quote:

this looks like a lot better deal

Which is to say, the Arty board from Digilent, $99 for 5200 slices, 100k RAM, Artix-35T FPGA, 256MB of 16-bit wide SDRAM, with USB and Ethernet. And 8 LEDs!

Much more of a standalone board than a component in its own right - much bigger. And needs up to 3.5 Amps.

It has 32 I/Os in PMOD form factor and 49 I/Os in Arduino form factor.

(I agree with Dave, the OHO products are very handy, although a bit outdated they are at least 5V compatible. I think there are yet some clever projects to be made using the GOP module too - it has fewer I/Os but has on-board SRAM.)

[cbmeeks]

I should have been more specific.

For me personally, the DIL packages are very interesting. Honestly, I didn't think there were many of them around. Which is why I was surprised when I saw it.

I will certainly check out that OHO too.

My interests would be for memory decoding, video generation, etc.

[BigEd]

I think you did find a new one!

It's possible you'll also see something interesting at
https://www.enterpoint.co.uk/products/

[commodorejohn]

cbmeeks wrote:

I should have been more specific.

For me personally, the DIL packages are very interesting. Honestly, I didn't think there were many of them around. Which is why I was surprised when I saw it.

Ah, gotcha.

[hoglet]

A few more with a DIP form factor:

The Micro-Nova Mercury
- Spartan XC3S200A + 512Kx8 10ns SRAM
- DIP-64 package
- $79
- http://www.micro-nova.com/mercury

The XESS XuLA2-LX9
- Spartan XC6SLX9 + 16Mx16 SDRAM
- 2"x1" DIP (ish) package
- $69
- http://www.xess.com/shop/product/xula2-lx9/

The XESS XuLA2-LX25
- Spartan XC6SLX25 + 16Mx16 SDRAM
- 2"x1" DIP (ish) package
- $119
- http://www.xess.com/shop/product/xula2-lx25/

As far as I know, the GODILs are unique in their ability to arbitrarily configure (with jumpers) the VCC and GND pins. This allows them to act as plug-in replacement for pretty much any DIP-40 packaged device.

Dave

[BigEd]

Thanks for those links!

There's a previous thread for the general case but it's good to have a thread for the DIP case.
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1787

[Bregalad]

To my personal experience, FPGA development has always been a nightmare, due to the lack of well-designed tools, and this is much more a deal killer than the price. If it would be, say, $690 instead of $69, but came with tools that were easy to use, and do not reqiure particular PC hardware not using any kind of licence, then I'd be much more interested.

[BigEd]

This might be a good point to mention Lattice FPGAs and the open source tools people have built for them.
http://www.clifford.at/icestorm/

[cbmeeks]

I have to admit, those GODIL's look pretty nice.

http://www.trenz-electronic.de/products ... ronik.html

I like the idea of drop-in replacements and 5v tolerant pins. Seems like there would be more of a demand for these...especially in the retro communities.

[BigEd]

You do see a trickle of GODIL projects in the 8 bit world. Not a flood, but there is certainly a good fit.

[Rob Finch]

GODIL's look nice but I need something with about 80k or more RAM onboard, and about 50 IO's. (35-40 5V)
Some of the boards with newer parts have enough RAM, but no 5V tolerance.
Can't seem to find a win.