Hello! I have several years of experience in programming, and I'd like to move on to FPGAs to enjoy more fun. As I have a limited budget for my playing with electronics, I'd like to choose the most versatile board for the best price with a decent support from manufacturer. I'm a student, so I guess the academic prices apply for me. I tried to do my own research on google. What I wanted to have on my board was: - VGA/HDMI port - SD card slot - some memory - PS/2 keyboard - USB and Enthernet, although I have almost no idea about how these two work I found these boards:> Basys™2 - Xilinx Spartan-3E, 8-bit VGA, PS/2 - 69$http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Nav...> Basys™3 - Xilinx Artix-7, 12-bit VGA, USB host for kb/mice, flash -79$ http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Nav...> miniSpartan6+ - Spartan 6 LX 9, HDMI, serial flash, microSD - 75$http://www.scarabhardware.com/product/minisp6/> ZYBO Zynq™-7000 - Xilinx Z-7010, Cortex-A9, flash, memory, SD, USB,gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, 16-bit VGA - 125$ http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Nav...> Altera DE0 Board - Altera Cyclone III 3C16, 4-BIT VGA, SD, serial port,PS/2, flash - 81$ http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?...> Altera DE0-CV Board - Altera Cyclone V 5CEBA4F23C7N, 4-bit VGA, microSD,PS/2 - 99$> Altera DE1 Board - Altera Cyclone II 2C20, 4-bit R-2R per channel VGA,PS/2, SD, flash - 127$ here's where I can't decide. Again, cost is important for me, but I also know that Digilent and Terasic are Some Names. What would you choose? Do you have any of your own recommendations? Please help, I'm honestly an absolute nooob here. --------------------------------------- Posted through http://www.FPGARelated.com
Choosing the right FPGA board
Started by ●April 20, 2015
Reply by ●April 20, 20152015-04-20
On Monday, April 20, 2015 at 7:01:43 AM UTC-5, FrewCen wrote:> Hello! > > I have several years of experience in programming, and I'd like to move > on to FPGAs to enjoy more fun. > > As I have a limited budget for my playing with electronics, I'd like to > choose the most versatile board for the best price with a decent support > from manufacturer. I'm a student, so I guess the academic prices apply > for me. > > I tried to do my own research on google. What I wanted to have on my > board was: > - VGA/HDMI port > - SD card slot > - some memory > - PS/2 keyboard > - USB and Enthernet, although I have almost no idea about how these two > work > > > I found these boards: > > > Basys(tm)2 - Xilinx Spartan-3E, 8-bit VGA, PS/2 - 69$ > http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Nav... > > Basys(tm)3 - Xilinx Artix-7, 12-bit VGA, USB host for kb/mice, flash - > 79$ > http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Nav... > > miniSpartan6+ - Spartan 6 LX 9, HDMI, serial flash, microSD - 75$ > http://www.scarabhardware.com/product/minisp6/ > > ZYBO Zynq(tm)-7000 - Xilinx Z-7010, Cortex-A9, flash, memory, SD, USB, > gigabit > Ethernet, HDMI, 16-bit VGA - 125$ > http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Nav... > > Altera DE0 Board - Altera Cyclone III 3C16, 4-BIT VGA, SD, serial port, > PS/2, > flash - 81$ > http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?... > > Altera DE0-CV Board - Altera Cyclone V 5CEBA4F23C7N, 4-bit VGA, microSD, > PS/2 - > 99$ > > Altera DE1 Board - Altera Cyclone II 2C20, 4-bit R-2R per channel VGA, > PS/2, SD, > flash - 127$ > > here's where I can't decide. Again, cost is important for me, but I also > know that Digilent and Terasic are Some Names. > > What would you choose? Do you have any of your own recommendations? > Please help, I'm honestly an absolute nooob here. > > > --------------------------------------- > Posted through http://www.FPGARelated.comI'd stick with the newer FPGAs. To make your learning as relevant as possible. Another approach is to pay to go to a seminar where you get to keep the FPGA board. Cyclone V SOC or SmartFusion2 for $99 each.
Reply by ●April 20, 20152015-04-20
On Monday, April 20, 2015 at 6:01:43 AM UTC-6, FrewCen wrote:> Hello! > > I have several years of experience in programming, and I'd like to move > on to FPGAs to enjoy more fun. > > As I have a limited budget for my playing with electronics, I'd like to > choose the most versatile board for the best price with a decent support > from manufacturer. I'm a student, so I guess the academic prices apply > for me. > > I tried to do my own research on google. What I wanted to have on my > board was: > - VGA/HDMI port > - SD card slot > - some memory > - PS/2 keyboard > - USB and Enthernet, although I have almost no idea about how these two > work > > > I found these boards: > > > Basys(tm)2 - Xilinx Spartan-3E, 8-bit VGA, PS/2 - 69$ > http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Nav... > > Basys(tm)3 - Xilinx Artix-7, 12-bit VGA, USB host for kb/mice, flash - > 79$ > http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Nav... > > miniSpartan6+ - Spartan 6 LX 9, HDMI, serial flash, microSD - 75$ > http://www.scarabhardware.com/product/minisp6/ > > ZYBO Zynq(tm)-7000 - Xilinx Z-7010, Cortex-A9, flash, memory, SD, USB, > gigabit > Ethernet, HDMI, 16-bit VGA - 125$ > http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Nav... > > Altera DE0 Board - Altera Cyclone III 3C16, 4-BIT VGA, SD, serial port, > PS/2, > flash - 81$ > http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?... > > Altera DE0-CV Board - Altera Cyclone V 5CEBA4F23C7N, 4-bit VGA, microSD, > PS/2 - > 99$ > > Altera DE1 Board - Altera Cyclone II 2C20, 4-bit R-2R per channel VGA, > PS/2, SD, > flash - 127$ > > here's where I can't decide. Again, cost is important for me, but I also > know that Digilent and Terasic are Some Names. > > What would you choose? Do you have any of your own recommendations? > Please help, I'm honestly an absolute nooob here. > > > --------------------------------------- > Posted through http://www.FPGARelated.comFrewCen, You didn't specify your budget and I noticed that for the Digilent prices, you showed the 'Acedemic' price... I recently chose to get a ZYBO from Digilent and am happy with my decision. In my opinion, SoC based development kits are the way to go because they provide the most learning opportunity. It is also my opinion that industry is in need of SoC engineers, so the learning will be relevant. With the ZYBO, you can learn FPGA design as well as embedded uC design. You can pretty well skip all the ARM related development if you want, and focus on just FPGA stuff, but having the ARM cores there makes for a very versatile learning opportunity. If you are interested in Embedded Linux, I recommend you get at least 512MB DDR. The Basys 3 would make a poor embedded Linux system IMO, but it can and has been done. I prefer to not limit myself at the outset and get more hardware than I think I'll need. It's not that expensive... Along with the dev board, a decent book will be very helpful. I recomment Advanced FPGA Design by Steve Kilts. Good luck on your Journey, BradW
Reply by ●April 20, 20152015-04-20
FrewCen <105208@fpgarelated> wrote:> I found these boards: > > > Basysâ?¢2 - Xilinx Spartan-3E, 8-bit VGA, PS/2 - 69$ > http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Nav... > > Basysâ?¢3 - Xilinx Artix-7, 12-bit VGA, USB host for kb/mice, flash - > 79$ > http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Nav... > > miniSpartan6+ - Spartan 6 LX 9, HDMI, serial flash, microSD - 75$ > http://www.scarabhardware.com/product/minisp6/ > > ZYBO Zynqâ?¢-7000 - Xilinx Z-7010, Cortex-A9, flash, memory, SD, USB, > gigabit > Ethernet, HDMI, 16-bit VGA - 125$ > http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Nav... > > Altera DE0 Board - Altera Cyclone III 3C16, 4-BIT VGA, SD, serial port, > PS/2, > flash - 81$ > http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?... > > Altera DE0-CV Board - Altera Cyclone V 5CEBA4F23C7N, 4-bit VGA, microSD, > PS/2 - > 99$ > > Altera DE1 Board - Altera Cyclone II 2C20, 4-bit R-2R per channel VGA, > PS/2, SD, > flash - 127$ > > here's where I can't decide. Again, cost is important for me, but I also > know that Digilent and Terasic are Some Names.You should understand that Xilinx v Altera is a bit like PC v Mac (not necessarily that way round) - you aren't just choosing a part vendor, you're choosing a whole ecosystem and toolchain which will have a big impact on the experience for have. I'd avoid the older parts (Cyclone II and III) since those may not be supported in future versions of the Altera toolchain. The same might apply to the Spartan 3E, though I'm not as familiar with that. One hidden caveat is that the later Altera devices (eg Cyclone V) take much more RAM in your PC for synthesis than older ones (eg 1.5 v 6 GiB). So depends what kind of a PC you're going to use. Be aware that the Zynq (and the DE1-SoC) have an ARM onboard, and some of the peripherals are on the ARM side rather than the FPGA side. You can, however, ignore the ARM side if you like and just use the FPGA peripherals. Digilent and Terasic are both suppliers of education boards, which explains why the costs of those boards are lower than other vendors. Their popularity also means there are more educational resources for using their boards. Theo
Reply by ●April 20, 20152015-04-20
I would second Theo's comments and add that you can download the design software of both X and A and play around with it to see what you like more. The difference in the design software is much bigger then in the devices. I also would use new generation devices, either with Arm (Zynq, Cyclone V Soc) or without (Artix 7, Cyclone V). The Arm devices are much more complex to start with, on the other hand they might be more interesting for you with your classic software background. You can use Linux on the Arm and off-load some tasks to the FPGA part. If you want to use Ethernet and/or USB, I would recommend this approach. Thomas
Reply by ●April 20, 20152015-04-20
A couple you didn't mention from Terasic that warrant consideration: DE1-SoC Board ($175) Cyclone V GX Starter Kit ($179) The latter does not have an arm cpu, but does have an arduino header, for further expansion using aruduino shields. Andy
Reply by ●April 21, 20152015-04-21
On 21/04/2015 02:23, jonesandy@comcast.net wrote: ..> The latter does not have an arm cpu, but does have an arduino header, for further expansion using aruduino shields. > > Andy >Andy made a good point, don't be too concerned if your favourite board is missing an interface. Using Arduino or my favourite SPI (easy to implement) you can add a whole range of interfaces to your board (SD/Ethernet/VGA/etc). Have a look at various breakout boards offered by Sparkfun and others. So I would recommend a simple board with a big FPGA and some external SRAM, then build up your knowledge by adding various interfaces and softcores. Apart from the excellent boards from Digilent and Terasic I would also suggest you check out eBay and Enterpoint, Good luck, Hans www.ht-lab.com
Reply by ●April 21, 20152015-04-21
HT-Lab <hans64@htminuslab.com> wrote:> Andy made a good point, don't be too concerned if your favourite board > is missing an interface. Using Arduino or my favourite SPI (easy to > implement) you can add a whole range of interfaces to your board > (SD/Ethernet/VGA/etc). Have a look at various breakout boards offered by > Sparkfun and others.It depends what you want to do. Lots of Arduino interfaces are really limited because they're designed to be chained to a feeble ATmega. So you can divide into those interfaces that are naturally slow, like I2C, keypad, accelerometer, etc, and those where high bandwidth is important (SD/Ethernet/VGA/etc). The naturally slow interfaces won't lose anything using an Arduino interface, while the high bandwidth interfaces /can/ be driven via an Arduino shield, but will lose a lot of performance while doing so. OTOH, doing something like USB virtually demands a CPU - you won't be able to usefully drive it from an FPGA alone (without soft-CPU inside). So having a CPU do that makes sense (either a microcontroller or on-FPGA ARM - using it on a soft-CPU like NIOS-II or Microblaze is probably too much hassle).> So I would recommend a simple board with a big FPGA and some external > SRAM, then build up your knowledge by adding various interfaces and > softcores. > > Apart from the excellent boards from Digilent and Terasic I would also > suggest you check out eBay and Enterpoint,What do you suggest looking for on eBay? As has already been said, choosing a board is more than just the feature list -- the example projects and tutorials make a big difference. Theo
Reply by ●April 21, 20152015-04-21
On Mon, 20 Apr 2015 23:33:10 +0100, Theo Markettos wrote:> FrewCen <105208@fpgarelated> wrote: >> I found these boards: >> >> > Basysâ?¢2 - Xilinx Spartan-3E, 8-bit VGA, PS/2 - 69$ >> http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Nav... >> > Basysâ?¢3 - Xilinx Artix-7, 12-bit VGA, USB host for kb/mice, flash - >> 79$ >> http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Nav... >> > miniSpartan6+ - Spartan 6 LX 9, HDMI, serial flash, microSD - 75$ >> http://www.scarabhardware.com/product/minisp6/ >> > ZYBO Zynqâ?¢-7000 - Xilinx Z-7010, Cortex-A9, flash, memory, SD, USB, >> gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, 16-bit VGA - 125$ >> http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Nav... >> > Altera DE0 Board - Altera Cyclone III 3C16, 4-BIT VGA, SD, serial >> > port, >> PS/2, >> flash - 81$ >> http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?... >> > Altera DE0-CV Board - Altera Cyclone V 5CEBA4F23C7N, 4-bit VGA, >> > microSD, >> PS/2 - >> 99$ >> > Altera DE1 Board - Altera Cyclone II 2C20, 4-bit R-2R per channel >> > VGA, >> PS/2, SD, >> flash - 127$ >> > > I'd avoid the older parts (Cyclone II and III) since those may not be > supported in future versions of the Altera toolchain. The same might > apply to the Spartan 3E, though I'm not as familiar with that. >Theo, I think you've underestimated how aggressively both X and A have been pruning their old silicon from the latest tools. Xilinx Vivado has no support for anything other than 7 series parts, ISE has been moved to "sustaining". Altera Quartus II, likewise, has dropped support for even the Cyclone III from the 14.x branch. So, of the OP's list, the Artix-7, Z-7010, and Cyclone V still have the full support of their vendors. The rest already have the gold pen for all they've done, the cardboard box on their desks, and security standing over their shoulders. -- Rob Gaddi, Highland Technology -- www.highlandtechnology.com Email address domain is currently out of order. See above to fix.
Reply by ●April 21, 20152015-04-21
Hi,> Basys(tm)2 - Xilinx Spartan-3E, 8-bit VGA, PS/2 - 69$Don't do it - ver old, very small, on-board XTAL is junk.> Basys(tm)3 - Xilinx Artix-7, 12-bit VGA, USB host for kb/mice, flash -79$ Nice board, I have one - great for FPGA tinkering, not so good for embedded MCU as it has no off-FPGA memory.> miniSpartan6+ - Spartan 6 LX 9, HDMI, serial flash, microSD - 75$Nice board, I have one too - HDMI In and Out, which is rather unique at the price point. LX9 is quite small, and the SDRAM RAM bandwidth is quite low for playing with video streams. I don't think that you can use the on-board memory with EDK projects, so it isn't a good platform for embedded development. You will need a soldering iron to add any other peripherals other than the basic on board set.> ZYBO Zynq(tm)-7000 - Xilinx Z-7010, Cortex-A9, flash, memory, SD, USB,gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, 16-bit VGA - 125$ I've got it's big brother, the Zedboard and it is great. I quite like the look of the Zybo and would consider it if I didn't have a Zedboard.> Altera DE0 Board - Altera Cyclone III 3C16, 4-BIT VGA, SD, serial port,PS/2, flash - 81$ Have not used, but I assume that it is only still available to be compatible with existing coursework http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?...> Altera DE0-CV Board - Altera Cyclone V 5CEBA4F23C7N, 4-bit VGA, microSD,PS/2 - 99$ Newer, bigger FPGA, with much more memory than the old DE0. I would recommend it as the Altera board for learning FPGA design on.> Altera DE1 Board - Altera Cyclone II 2C20, 4-bit R-2R per channel VGA,PS/2, SD, flash - 127$ Very old FPGA, but has lots of goodies to play with (e.g. SDRAM+FLASH+SRAM, audio codec...). I also assume that it is only still available to be compatible with existing reference material. If you are interested in embedded Linux, then also look at the DE1-SoC Board. I've go one on my desk at work at the moment and it is quite nice. It is an approximate match for the Zybo. If I was spending my own money, I'ld go for a Zybo (if interested in Embedded Linux) or a Basys3 (if primarily interested in FPGA logic design). But then I guess I am a bit of a Xilinx fanboy as that is what I learnt on. Mike
