On Jan 7, 2:21=A0pm, "rk" <ajrajku...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >rk <ajrajku...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Hi Folks
>
> >> =A0 =A0I have recently become very interested in FPGA and DSP. Could
> somebody
> >> suggest to me a newbee started book and also a related experimental
> board.
>
> >> =A0 =A0I would also like to know the differences between the different
> Virtex
> >> families like Virtex 2, 4, 5 etc.
>
> >Where did you start? Where did you struggle?
>
> >Trywww.xilinx.com...
>
> >--
> >Uwe Bonnes =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0b...@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-da=
rmstadt.de
>
> >Institut fuer Kernphysik =A0Schlossgartenstrasse 9 =A064289 Darmstadt
> >--------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------
>
> Hi
> =A0 =A0Yes, I have been to that website, and I see a lot of datasheets
> for Virtex-2, 4, 5, 6 etc, but I do not able to get a comprehensive
> evolution of the family and the enhancements in sucessive 2, 4, 5 etc
> families.
> =A0 =A0Also, I am looking for a good book along with a board that I can
> but and develop some hands on experience.
> =A0 =A0Visitingwww.xilinx.comresults in an information overload for
> a beginner.
>
> Regards
> RK

RK, I think you left me a phone message which I tried to return, but
very late.  Yes, learning FPGA design can be a daunting task.  It is a
combination of a number of areas, including logic design, system
design, software and signal integrity among others depending on your
application.  Conceptually it is simple, you just decide what your
design should do and you describe it in an HDL.  Or is you are stuck
in the past you can use schematics, but very, very few do these days.
Once your design is described, it is compiled by the tools along with
a preference file indicating what signals connect to what pins as well
as any timing requirements (although timing specs can get a bit
complicated).  The resulting bit file is loaded into your part and you
can test.  Of course, it is much smarter to simulate your design
before you try testing.  It is much easier to see the innerds of the
chip in a simulator than it is in the real chip.

That is the simple view from 10,000 feet (3,000 meters).  When you
actually try to learn to do all this, there are so many details that
it is much harder.  Learning the details is the hard part of FPGA
design.  It is much easier if you learn it a little at a time,
focusing on the immediate parts and ignoring the more complicated
parts until later.  For example, if you try some designs that are
clocked at 10 MHz or lower, it is likely that it will work without
timing constraints which can help a newbie.

My personal preference is to design hardware, rather than write
software.  This is a philosophical difference.  I think in terms of
the hardware I want and describe that using the HDL.  Others prefer to
just think in terms of describing the functioning of the design and
let the tools figure out what hardware is needed.  This can be easier
for a novice, but can result in some pretty inefficient
implementations.  Still, it isn't hard to learn how to write your code
to be more efficient, so in some ways I think I am becoming a
dinosaur.

I would suggest that you buy a base level Spartan kit for under $100.
The free webpack tools will give you all you need to get started.
Rather than mess with a text book which will not be specific to your
tools or hardware, use the tutorials with the tools and learn the
basics that way.  Then come here when you have trouble.  There are
tones of folks here who will enjoy helping you.

Rick

There are not many linked books and boards that I have seen but I am
not a DSP specialist so there might be something I don't know
about.The problem for authors is the family, and the related
development boards, turnover rate. Many boards effectively only have
lifetime of aa couple of years although some vendors like ourselves
supply them as OEM and COTS solutions giving a reason to extend board
product lifetimes to 5,10 or 20 years. What materials I have seen are
things like university course materials that typically use a usually a
lower end board typically based on Spartan or Cyclone parts. You can
find some of these materials by googling for something like FPGA DSP.

The Virtex family general as said elsewhere you get more for your
money going from Virtex (1) to now Virtex-6. In the later families the
SX variants are more DSP orientated and have more ram and multiplier
blocks the main resources generally needed. Depending on your
application don't rule out the lower stuff as well. Some of the recent
Spartan families are quite good in the mid-end DSP market and
certainly can beat a DSP processor approach for performance.

Some useful bits and pieces can be found on our website at
http://www.enterpoint.co.uk/techitips/techitips.html.

John Adair
Enterpoint Ltd.

On 7 Jan, 12:38, "rk" <ajrajku...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Folks
>
> =A0 =A0I have recently become very interested in FPGA and DSP. Could some=
body
> suggest to me a newbee started book and also a related experimental board=
.
>
> =A0 =A0I would also like to know the differences between the different Vi=
rtex
> families like Virtex 2, 4, 5 etc.
>
> Regards
> RK

On Jan 7, 9:02=A0pm, Peter Alfke <al...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> On Jan 7, 5:54=A0pm, "Kati" <kwri...@altera.com> wrote:> >Hi Folks
>
> > > =A0 I have recently become very interested in FPGA and DSP. Could som=
ebody
> > >suggest to me a newbee started book and also a related experimental
> > board.
>
> > > =A0 I would also like to know the differences between the different V=
irtex
> > >families like Virtex 2, 4, 5 etc.
>
> > >Regards
> > >RK
>
> Different from Kati, I am more familiar with Xilinx. I worked there
> for over 20 years...
> "Virtex" is the generic name for the Xilinx FPGA families with highest
> performance and most advanced features.
> ("Spartan" families emphasize lowest cost and lower power, but offer
> less performance and fewer features.)
> The numbers 2,4,5,6 represent the family evolution over time. Virtex6
> is the newest family.
> In almost every respect, any newer family is superior to its
> predecessor, but members of the previous family are sometimes more
> available, and might be better supported, especially with a wider
> array of evaluation boards. For any new design, forget Virtex2: it is
> really obsolete. Virtex 4,5,and 6 offer better features and more
> performance for the money, and better software support. Explore
> Virtex6 for its desirable features but also check the availability
> (especially of evaluation boards), and compare it to the older, less
> advanced but perhaps more widely available Virtex5. Use Virtex4 only
> if there is a compelling reason, and when you have no need for the
> better performance and more advanced features of the younger
> families.
> The basic structures of these families are very similar, if you are
> familiar with one you can easily move to another.
> For an overview of their capabilities, there are popular "User Guide
> Lite" for Virtex5 and Virtex6 available on the web.
> ( =A0www.pldesignline.com/howto/most_popular/=A0 =A0).
> Peter Alfke

make that:
http://www.pldesignline.com/howto/most_popular/

On Jan 7, 5:54=A0pm, "Kati" <kwri...@altera.com> wrote:
> >Hi Folks
>
> > =A0 I have recently become very interested in FPGA and DSP. Could someb=
ody
> >suggest to me a newbee started book and also a related experimental
> board.
>
> > =A0 I would also like to know the differences between the different Vir=
tex
> >families like Virtex 2, 4, 5 etc.
>
> >Regards
> >RK
>
Different from Kati, I am more familiar with Xilinx. I worked there
for over 20 years...
"Virtex" is the generic name for the Xilinx FPGA families with highest
performance and most advanced features.
("Spartan" families emphasize lowest cost and lower power, but offer
less performance and fewer features.)
The numbers 2,4,5,6 represent the family evolution over time. Virtex6
is the newest family.
In almost every respect, any newer family is superior to its
predecessor, but members of the previous family are sometimes more
available, and might be better supported, especially with a wider
array of evaluation boards. For any new design, forget Virtex2: it is
really obsolete. Virtex 4,5,and 6 offer better features and more
performance for the money, and better software support. Explore
Virtex6 for its desirable features but also check the availability
(especially of evaluation boards), and compare it to the older, less
advanced but perhaps more widely available Virtex5. Use Virtex4 only
if there is a compelling reason, and when you have no need for the
better performance and more advanced features of the younger
families.
The basic structures of these families are very similar, if you are
familiar with one you can easily move to another.
For an overview of their capabilities, there are popular "User Guide
Lite" for Virtex5 and Virtex6 available on the web.
(   www.pldesignline.com/howto/most_popular/    ).
Peter Alfke

>Hi Folks
>
>   I have recently become very interested in FPGA and DSP. Could somebody
>suggest to me a newbee started book and also a related experimental
board.
>
>   I would also like to know the differences between the different Virtex
>families like Virtex 2, 4, 5 etc.
>
>Regards
>RK
>
Altera has some very useful (free) online training for newbies, including a
Basics of Programmable Logic course:
http://www.altera.com/education/training/curriculum/fpga/trn-fpga.html.
There are also free DSP courses:
http://www.altera.com/education/training/curriculum/dsp/trn-dsp.html

I work for Altera, so can't give you an unbiased view of Virtex chips =]

"rk" <ajrajkumar@gmail.com> writes:

>Hi Folks

>   I have recently become very interested in FPGA and DSP. Could somebody
>suggest to me a newbee started book and also a related experimental board.

>   I would also like to know the differences between the different Virtex
>families like Virtex 2, 4, 5 etc.

>Regards
>RK

      Someone has already suggested fpga4fun which has tutorial articles for
newbies on various parts of fpga design. For books I like 

http://www.fpgarelated.com/books.php

which has a fine collection of fpga books with reviews all in one place. 
I'm considering ordering a couple that I have seen in there. Can't help on DSP 
boards as I don't know anything about DSPs but if you elaborate on what you
want to do with the DSP, there are a lot of experienced and helpful people
in this newsgroup. You could do a lot worse than doing a search in the archive
for DSP in comp.arch.fpga for instance. 

Peter Van Epp

>>
>>    I have recently become very interested in FPGA and DSP. Could somebody
>> suggest to me a newbee started book and also a related experimental 
>> board.

Some reputedly good books and resources on Verilog/VHDL and FPGA 
programming can also be found here:

http://www.doulos.com/

>rk <ajrajkumar@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi Folks
>
>>    I have recently become very interested in FPGA and DSP. Could
somebody
>> suggest to me a newbee started book and also a related experimental
board.
>
>>    I would also like to know the differences between the different
Virtex
>> families like Virtex 2, 4, 5 etc.
>
>Where did you start? Where did you struggle?
>
>Try www.xilinx.com...
>
>-- 
>Uwe Bonnes                bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de
>
>Institut fuer Kernphysik  Schlossgartenstrasse 9  64289 Darmstadt
>--------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------
>
Hi
   Yes, I have been to that website, and I see a lot of datasheets
for Virtex-2, 4, 5, 6 etc, but I do not able to get a comprehensive
evolution of the family and the enhancements in sucessive 2, 4, 5 etc
families.
   Also, I am looking for a good book along with a board that I can
but and develop some hands on experience.
   Visiting www.xilinx.com results in an information overload for
a beginner.

Regards
RK
	   
					
---------------------------------------		
This message was sent using the comp.arch.fpga web interface on
http://www.FPGARelated.com

rk wrote:
> Hi Folks
> 
>    I have recently become very interested in FPGA and DSP. Could somebody
> suggest to me a newbee started book and also a related experimental board.
> 
>    I would also like to know the differences between the different Virtex
> families like Virtex 2, 4, 5 etc.
> 
> Regards
> RK
> 
> 

Perhaps the kits from Digilent would be of interest?

http://www.digilentinc.com/

There is also an inexpensive learning board available from Avnet:

http://www.xilinx.com/products/devkits/HW-SPAR3A-SK-UNI-G.htm

A plethora of other vendors offer learning kits.  One such vendor can be 
found here:

http://www.knjn.com/

If you are searching for a repository of HDL code, OpenCores works well:

http://www.opencores.org/