Hey all!
I'me looking for a PCI card that would have an FPGA chip on it that i 
could re-program on the fly (without a power cycle).

Nothing fancy, though it would be nice if i could program the FPGA and 
the board would handle all PCI, memory and other access for me. 
(meaning i only would have to program the FPGA).

I want to be able from a custom software driver that i will make to 
re-program the fpga on the fly, and send data to be processed.

Thanks a lot!

How do I take an exisiting FPGA design ( say a
xilinx Spartan IIE or III, 
designed in vhdl, simulated in ModelSim and is presently running 
successfully in an FPGA ) and cost reduce it as an ASIC:
1. What type of quantities are needed to make ASIC viable
2. Please name a couple of ASIC houses that do this sort of think, 
especially for the entry level market
3, What will I need to do to the FPGA design to facilitate its conversion to 
ASIC?

Thanks for bear with such a general question
TL 

"Ted Lechman"
<e...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:<W...@adelphia.com>...
> How do I take an exisiting FPGA design ( say a xilinx Spartan IIE or III, 
> designed in vhdl, simulated in ModelSim and is presently running 
> successfully in an FPGA ) and cost reduce it as an ASIC:

There are a couple of other options inbetween FPGA and standard-cell
ASIC.

Have a look at Altera's Hardcopy and Xilinx's EasyPath products.

Then you have structured ASICs:

http://www.chipx.com/
http://www.lightspeed.com/
http://www.amis.com/asics/structured_asics/
http://www.lsilogic.com/products/rapidchip_platform_asic/index.html

> especially for the entry level market
> 3, What will I need to do to the FPGA design to facilitate its conversion to 
> ASIC?

It depends what FGPA specific features you use (special I/Os, DCMs,
etc). The less the easier it will be.

Cheers,
Jon

"Ted Lechman"
<e...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:<W...@adelphia.com>...
> How do I take an exisiting FPGA design ( say a xilinx Spartan IIE or III, 
> designed in vhdl, simulated in ModelSim and is presently running 
> successfully in an FPGA ) and cost reduce it as an ASIC:
> 1. What type of quantities are needed to make ASIC viable
> 2. Please name a couple of ASIC houses that do this sort of think, 
> especially for the entry level market
> 3, What will I need to do to the FPGA design to facilitate its conversion to 
> ASIC?
> 
> Thanks for bear with such a general question
> TL

Flextronics, AMI, google <fpga asic conversion>

Better if project has been designed fior FPGA & ASIC in mind from
start.

FPGA to ASIC is easier as FPGAs are slower to start and may well pick
up 2x or more speed in ASIC.

ASIC to FPGA has only speed to lose.

Also if you use any IP from FPGA such as BRAMs, multipliers, PLLs etc,
the conversion will need all of these in equiv form as available IP.

You can checkout foundries websites & download asic cell lib info to
get an idea of whats available and see if you need to make your design
comform some.

regards 
johnjakson_usa_com