Getting back into FPGA...

[cbmeeks]

OK, I use Fedora. I have just installed the mammoth 16+GB ISE suite for an older FPGA board I have (Mojo V3, Spartan-6).

The licensing is an absolute nightmare. Took forever for my account to work and download a license. Then, like most things in Linux, it never works out of the box. Had to manually install all sorts of libraries (looking at you libQt_Network.so). All of that just so I can run the license manager and load the license.

3 hours later...too tired to start tinkering with my FPGA project. lol

Sorry guys...just ranting here. I plan on continuing a VGA project I started a long time ago.

In the meantime, what FPGA boards are you guys using? I'm looking for something somewhat modern in the sub $100 range. I have a TinyFPGA (A2) that I want to start using but it doesn't have enough IO for VGA and memory.

Thanks

[BigEd]

Of commercial offerings, I've only used the Xilinx tools, as you mention, and it's always a struggle to get started. Once you're set up, it's not so bad - if you can keep a virtual machine with all the right setup, that can be a good way. Otherwise, you might find you need to do it all again if you replace your machine or do a major upgrade.

But the open source offerings are coming along: if you get a Lattice-based board using iCE40 or ECP5 parts you can run icestorm/yosys/nextpnr. The flow is much more friendly, and command line based. See for example
https://forum.mystorm.uk/t/ot-large-ecp ... 88?u=biged
and nearby on that board for more links.

Or indeed see here:
https://symbiflow.github.io/1211#structure
where they also mention Xilinx support.

[MicroCoreLabs]

If your preference is Xilinx then a lot can be done with these inexpensive boards:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/XC6SLX9-Starter-Board-Xilinx-Spartan-6-FPGA/112230313780?hash=item1a2172af34:g:WU4AAOSwl8NVXJK9:rk:1:pf:0

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Xilinx-XC6SLX9-Spartan-6-FPGA-Core-Board-Nano-Size-/111640406811?hash=item19fe496b1b:g:jdoAAOSw-7RVF8vl

With some voltage dividers to make IO's 5V tolerant:
https://microcorelabs.wordpress.com/2016/06/22/mcl86-running-on-spartan-6/

-Ted

[BigEd]

Yes, I've seen those starter boards used in projects over on Stardot. (All the FPGA boards I have are either low-volume and discontinued or rather old now.)

This thread has become rather old now but the later posts might be of use:

• Survey of FPGA dev boards

In particular, there's a link to this thread:

• Breadboard FPGA for $69 (DIP-format FPGA board)

[cbmeeks]

Thanks everyone for the recommendations.

BigEd wrote:

Of commercial offerings, I've only used the Xilinx tools, as you mention, and it's always a struggle to get started. Once you're set up, it's not so bad

Well, that's true. Once I finally got everything installed it seems to work OK. It was the license manager that was the most trouble. I had to research and install all sorts of things that aren't standard with Fedora Linux.

BigEd wrote:

But the open source offerings are coming along: if you get a Lattice-based board using iCE40 or ECP5 parts you can run icestorm/yosys/nextpnr. The flow is much more friendly, and command line based. See for example
https://forum.mystorm.uk/t/ot-large-ecp ... 88?u=biged
and nearby on that board for more links.

Or indeed see here:
https://symbiflow.github.io/1211#structure
where they also mention Xilinx support.

Thanks, I will check those out. I definitely want to explore the Lattice based solutions. That's what my TinyFPGA recommends using (it's a Lattice chip). The only reason I'm not using it now is because the IO is very limited (due to the tiny nature of the board).

MicroCoreLabs wrote:

If your preference is Xilinx then a lot can be done with these inexpensive boards:

Thanks for the links but my preference is definitely not Xilinx. It's just the only FPGA I have other than the TinyFPGA.

[BigEd]

The people behind the BlackIce board are working on a successor, BlackEdge - that's a Lattice based board with a RAM and lots of I/O. Might be worth keeping an eye on. See

• The BlackEdge project (on mystorm forum)

[cbmeeks]

BigEd wrote:

The people behind the BlackIce board are working on a successor, BlackEdge - that's a Lattice based board with a RAM and lots of I/O. Might be worth keeping an eye on. See

• The BlackEdge project (on mystorm forum)

I saw that. Looks pretty amazing.

Is it just me or does Lattice seem to be the go-to FPGA for open source and/or smaller projects? I haven't used their tools (yet) but it seems they are a little more friendly to hobbyists.

[BigEd]

I think maybe the open source tooling - which has nothing to do with Lattice themselves - makes their parts quite attractive to some, including me. I think the ice40 lacks fast parallel multipliers, but otherwise features seem pretty similar. I think there's a strong effect of continuing to use what you first came across, especially because the tools can take a bit of getting used to.

[ElEctric_EyE]

The FPGA that always intrigues me was the one that didn't require a PROM for boot-up. I thought it was a Lattice part, but I think I'm mistaken...

[cerkit]

The creator of the Mojo (Justin Rajewski) has rebranded to become Alchitry. You can find the Mojo replacement on https://alchitry.com. He has two products, one is based on the iCE40-HX8K and has an open source toolchain. The other uses the Xilinx Artix 7 and uses the latest Xilinx tools.

I haven't used either one, but they both intrigue me.

[Fatsie]

cbmeeks wrote:

In the meantime, what FPGA boards are you guys using? I'm looking for something somewhat modern in the sub $100 range. I have a TinyFPGA (A2) that I want to start using but it doesn't have enough IO for VGA and memory.

I have a few Digilent Inc. boards. They have a sub-$100 starter board in the Arty S7-25T. They also have quite pmod modules.

[LIV2]

Fatsie wrote:

I have a few Digilent Inc. boards. They have a sub-$100 starter board in the Arty S7-25T. They also have quite pmod modules.

A nice bonus with Digilent kits are that they work with the Xilinx tools directly, no need for third party tools to program them unlike other boards like the papillio and presumably the Mojo

[cbmeeks]

So, an update.

I bought me an early birthday present and got a $38 TinyFPGA (BX) board. I already had the A2 but haven't really used it.
I should have got the BX the first time.

I wished the BX had more BlockRAM but I can't complain too much for what I get. Plus, with 41 I/O pins, I might be able to use some external RAM.