Hello I am very new to FPGA's (background being ASIC design). I would like to map some designs onto FPGA's as a starting point. I want to experiment with the complete FPGA flow, starting with writing the design in VHDL/Verilog and getting it programmed onto a target FPGA (it doesn't matter which FPGA for the time being). I was looking for free/cheap FPGA developement s/w what i could run on my home PC and better understand the process of mapping a design to an FPGA target. Any pointers for SW or developement tools would be appreciated. Thanks JO
FPGA development
Started by ●October 21, 2011
Reply by ●October 21, 20112011-10-21
Hi Jo, You can download and use the free web-pack kits for Xilinx and Altera (and maybe Actel and Lattice have free kits). In these kits you can map your VHDL/Verilog code to the selected FPGA device. The disadvantages of the kits are that they do not support all (especially larger) devices and I am not sure if you can program your device (but in that case you need also a development board). But they are a very good starting point. The VHDL/Verilog code can be entered in a text-editor. The kits have maybe a graphical editor but I have no experience with them. I am also not aware of a free graphical editor. Succes, Devas On 10/21/2011 12:41, thunder wrote:> Hello > > I am very new to FPGA's (background being ASIC design). > > I would like to map some designs onto FPGA's as a starting point. I > want to experiment with the complete FPGA flow, starting with writing > the design in VHDL/Verilog and getting it programmed onto a target > FPGA (it doesn't matter which FPGA for the time being). > > I was looking for free/cheap FPGA developement s/w what i could run on > my home PC and better understand the process of mapping a design to an > FPGA target. > > > Any pointers for SW or developement tools would be appreciated. > > Thanks > > JO
Reply by ●October 21, 20112011-10-21
On Oct 21, 12:02=A0pm, devas <geve...@gmail.com> wrote:> Hi Jo, > > You can download and use the free web-pack kits for Xilinx and Altera > (and maybe Actel and Lattice have free kits). In these kits you can map > your VHDL/Verilog code to the selected FPGA device. The disadvantages of > the kits are that they do not support all (especially larger) devices > and I am not sure if you can program your device (but in that case you > need also a development board). But they are a very good starting point. > > The VHDL/Verilog code can be entered in a text-editor. The kits have > maybe a graphical editor but I have no experience with them. I am also > not aware of a free graphical editor. > > Succes, > > Devas > > On 10/21/2011 12:41, thunder wrote: > > > > > > > > > Hello > > > I am very new to FPGA's (background being ASIC design). > > > I would like to map some designs onto FPGA's as a starting point. I > > want to experiment with the complete FPGA flow, starting with writing > > the design in VHDL/Verilog and getting it programmed onto a target > > FPGA (it doesn't matter which FPGA for the time being). > > > I was looking for free/cheap FPGA developement s/w what i could run on > > my home PC and better understand the process of mapping a design to an > > FPGA target. > > > Any pointers for SW or developement tools would be appreciated. > > > Thanks > > > JOHi Devas THank you for the pointer. Best regards JO
Reply by ●October 21, 20112011-10-21
thunder wrote:> On Oct 21, 12:02 pm, devas <geve...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Hi Jo, >> >> You can download and use the free web-pack kits for Xilinx and Altera >> (and maybe Actel and Lattice have free kits). In these kits you can map >> your VHDL/Verilog code to the selected FPGA device. The disadvantages of >> the kits are that they do not support all (especially larger) devices >> and I am not sure if you can program your device (but in that case you >> need also a development board). But they are a very good starting point. >> >> The VHDL/Verilog code can be entered in a text-editor. The kits have >> maybe a graphical editor but I have no experience with them. I am also >> not aware of a free graphical editor. >> >> Succes, >> >> Devas >> >> On 10/21/2011 12:41, thunder wrote: >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>> Hello >>> I am very new to FPGA's (background being ASIC design). >>> I would like to map some designs onto FPGA's as a starting point. I >>> want to experiment with the complete FPGA flow, starting with writing >>> the design in VHDL/Verilog and getting it programmed onto a target >>> FPGA (it doesn't matter which FPGA for the time being). >>> I was looking for free/cheap FPGA developement s/w what i could run on >>> my home PC and better understand the process of mapping a design to an >>> FPGA target. >>> Any pointers for SW or developement tools would be appreciated. >>> Thanks >>> JO > > Hi Devas > > THank you for the pointer. > > Best regards > > JOJust an additional note. Many home computers run Windows 7 or other "home" editions, and may have limited support from the FPGA software. I'd suggest looking at the OS support matrix at the FPGA manufacturer web-sites to see if your system is sufficient. Windows XP Pro and RedHat Linux are supported for most if not all of these tools. -- Gabor
Reply by ●October 21, 20112011-10-21
Gabor <gabor@szakacs.invalid> wrote:>thunder wrote: >> On Oct 21, 12:02 pm, devas <geve...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> Hi Jo, >>> >>> You can download and use the free web-pack kits for Xilinx and Altera >>> (and maybe Actel and Lattice have free kits). In these kits you can map >>> your VHDL/Verilog code to the selected FPGA device. The disadvantages of >>> the kits are that they do not support all (especially larger) devices >>> and I am not sure if you can program your device (but in that case you >>> need also a development board). But they are a very good starting point. >>> >>> The VHDL/Verilog code can be entered in a text-editor. The kits have >>> maybe a graphical editor but I have no experience with them. I am also >>> not aware of a free graphical editor.What do you mean by graphical editor?>> JO > >Just an additional note. Many home computers run Windows 7 or other >"home" editions, and may have limited support from the FPGA software. >I'd suggest looking at the OS support matrix at the FPGA manufacturer >web-sites to see if your system is sufficient. Windows XP Pro and >RedHat Linux are supported for most if not all of these tools.I second that. Nowadays I do FPGA development on a Linux machine. -- Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply indicates you are not using the right tools... nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.) --------------------------------------------------------------
Reply by ●October 21, 20112011-10-21
On Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:02:41 +0200, devas wrote: (top posting fixed)> On 10/21/2011 12:41, thunder wrote: >> Hello >> >> I am very new to FPGA's (background being ASIC design).---- snip ----> Hi Jo, >---- snip ----> and I am not sure if you can program your device (but in that case you > need also a development board). But they are a very good starting point.---- snip ---- The Xilinx web-kit includes download software, but you need hardware, of course. There are some basic hardware development kits available for reasonable prices ($150 range, IIRC). You won't end up with the biggest or fastest parts, but it'll be an FPGA. -- www.wescottdesign.com
Reply by ●October 23, 20112011-10-23
Nico Coesel wrote:>> >>Just an additional note. Many home computers run Windows 7 or other >>"home" editions, and may have limited support from the FPGA software. >>I'd suggest looking at the OS support matrix at the FPGA manufacturer >>web-sites to see if your system is sufficient. Windows XP Pro and >>RedHat Linux are supported for most if not all of these tools. > > I second that. Nowadays I do FPGA development on a Linux machine. >Note that the WebPack does not support 64-bit OS's. I think this is due to US export regulations. (At least this was true last time I checked.) Jon
Reply by ●October 23, 20112011-10-23
Jon Elson <elson@pico-systems.com> wrote:>Nico Coesel wrote: > > >>> >>>Just an additional note. Many home computers run Windows 7 or other >>>"home" editions, and may have limited support from the FPGA software. >>>I'd suggest looking at the OS support matrix at the FPGA manufacturer >>>web-sites to see if your system is sufficient. Windows XP Pro and >>>RedHat Linux are supported for most if not all of these tools. >> >> I second that. Nowadays I do FPGA development on a Linux machine. >> >Note that the WebPack does not support 64-bit OS's. I think this is >due to US export regulations. (At least this was true last time >I checked.)I'll stick to 32 bit for the following years. Unlike Windows Linux has an excellent solution to use more than 4GB without needing a 64bit OS. -- Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply indicates you are not using the right tools... nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.) --------------------------------------------------------------
Reply by ●October 23, 20112011-10-23
On Sat, 22 Oct 2011 23:52:45 -0500, Jon Elson wrote:> Nico Coesel wrote: >>> > Note that the WebPack does not support 64-bit OS's. I think this is due > to US export regulations. (At least this was true last time I checked.)Not officially... But if your 64-bit OS has the correct 32-bit compatibility libraries installed, Webpack will run just fine. You just have to modify the install script, where it detects the 64-bit OS and exits, to comment out the exit... Then it will install and just work without further problems. Tested with Webpack 10.1 to 13.1 inclusive, on OpenSuse 11.0 to 11.4. (I adopted OpenSuse because 11.0 offered to install the 32-bit libs and simply worked, and I haven't looked back). Will probably work with most other recent Linuxes (you may have to find/install a few libraries). - Brian
Reply by ●October 23, 20112011-10-23
