low cost Altera MAX II development kit with more I/O pins?

Hi, group,
  I am looking for one piece of low cost alterma MAX II (EPM1270)
development kit. What I need is basically the chip mounted on a small board
with JTAG pins and almost all I/O pins available. The $150 Altera kit
provides only some 40+ I/O pins, with many features that I don't need. Does
such a kit exist? I'd expect lower cost than $150. $80(with shipping) is
OK, $50 is prefered. If you know of this product, please let me know.
Thanks.

vax, 9000

"vax, 9000" <vax9000@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:cq9kds$334$1@charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu...
> Hi, group,
>  I am looking for one piece of low cost alterma MAX II (EPM1270)
> development kit. What I need is basically the chip mounted on a small 
> board
> with JTAG pins and almost all I/O pins available. The $150 Altera kit
> provides only some 40+ I/O pins, with many features that I don't need. 
> Does
> such a kit exist? I'd expect lower cost than $150. $80(with shipping) is
> OK, $50 is prefered. If you know of this product, please let me know.

I'll design and make you one for $80, if you can supply me with a couple of 
the chips (one for me and one for you). They are only available by the tray 
(90 pcs), AFAIK.

Leon 

Leon Heller wrote:

> "vax, 9000" <vax9000@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:cq9kds$334$1@charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu...
>> Hi, group,
>>  I am looking for one piece of low cost alterma MAX II (EPM1270)
>> development kit. What I need is basically the chip mounted on a small
>> board
>> with JTAG pins and almost all I/O pins available. The $150 Altera kit
>> provides only some 40+ I/O pins, with many features that I don't need.
>> Does
>> such a kit exist? I'd expect lower cost than $150. $80(with shipping) is
>> OK, $50 is prefered. If you know of this product, please let me know.
> 
> I'll design and make you one for $80, if you can supply me with a couple

The $80 was supposed to include the chip... 
Is it feasible for us to find enough people who want the chip too, to split
the tray and the cost? I need only one or two. It might be OK for somebody
to buy a tray, then sell the rest 89 pieces on ebay. I called a local
supplier today but they said they didn't have the chip (though their
website said they had).
I searched through www.findchips.com to find them.

vax, 9000

> of the chips (one for me and one for you). They are only available by the
> tray (90 pcs), AFAIK.
> 
> Leon

The devil in all of the cost is the download cable.
Often the download cable costs as much as the
original kit price.  So either you also need to build
your own download cable or you are better off buying
a development board that exceeds your needs.

Cheers,
Jim


> "vax, 9000" <vax9000@gmail.com> wrote in message 
> news:cq9kds$334$1@charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu...
> 
>>Hi, group,
>> I am looking for one piece of low cost alterma MAX II (EPM1270)
>>development kit. What I need is basically the chip mounted on a small 
>>board
>>with JTAG pins and almost all I/O pins available. The $150 Altera kit
>>provides only some 40+ I/O pins, with many features that I don't need. 
>>Does
>>such a kit exist? I'd expect lower cost than $150. $80(with shipping) is
>>OK, $50 is prefered. If you know of this product, please let me know.
> 
> 
> I'll design and make you one for $80, if you can supply me with a couple of 
> the chips (one for me and one for you). They are only available by the tray 
> (90 pcs), AFAIK.
> 
> Leon 
> 
> 


-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jim Lewis
Director of Training             mailto:Jim@SynthWorks.com
SynthWorks Design Inc.           http://www.SynthWorks.com
1-503-590-4787

Expert VHDL Training for Hardware Design and Verification
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"vax, 9000" <vax9000@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:cqa64a$4h4$1@charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu...
> Leon Heller wrote:
>
>> "vax, 9000" <vax9000@gmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:cq9kds$334$1@charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu...
>>> Hi, group,
>>>  I am looking for one piece of low cost alterma MAX II (EPM1270)
>>> development kit. What I need is basically the chip mounted on a small
>>> board
>>> with JTAG pins and almost all I/O pins available. The $150 Altera kit
>>> provides only some 40+ I/O pins, with many features that I don't need.
>>> Does
>>> such a kit exist? I'd expect lower cost than $150. $80(with shipping) is
>>> OK, $50 is prefered. If you know of this product, please let me know.
>>
>> I'll design and make you one for $80, if you can supply me with a couple
>
> The $80 was supposed to include the chip...
> Is it feasible for us to find enough people who want the chip too, to 
> split
> the tray and the cost? I need only one or two. It might be OK for somebody
> to buy a tray, then sell the rest 89 pieces on ebay. I called a local
> supplier today but they said they didn't have the chip (though their
> website said they had).
> I searched through www.findchips.com to find them.

I have a supplier who can provide small quantities of Altera parts, but I'd 
have to order about 100 GBP worth, about $200 with shipping and tax.

Leon 

Leon Heller wrote:

> 
> I have a supplier who can provide small quantities of Altera parts, but
> I'd have to order about 100 GBP worth, about $200 with shipping and tax.
Would you please quote the price for EPM1270? $200 could buy less than 10
pieces, I guess. So you (we) will have no problem to find enough people to
split the cost. The problem might be the shipping from the UK to the US.

vax, 9000

> 
> Leon

Jim Lewis wrote:

> The devil in all of the cost is the download cable.
> Often the download cable costs as much as the
> original kit price.  So either you also need to build
> your own download cable or you are better off buying
> a development board that exceeds your needs.
A download cable might not be too difficult to make. I made a xilinx cable
and it worked fine.

vax, 9000

> 
> Cheers,
> Jim

"vax, 9000" <vax9000@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:cqar8l$5u0$2@charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu...
> Jim Lewis wrote:
>
>> The devil in all of the cost is the download cable.
>> Often the download cable costs as much as the
>> original kit price.  So either you also need to build
>> your own download cable or you are better off buying
>> a development board that exceeds your needs.
> A download cable might not be too difficult to make. I made a xilinx cable
> and it worked fine.

I've got the artwork for one on my web site: 
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller/blaster.zip

I also sell a surface mount version: http://www.leonheller.com/

Leon 

"vax, 9000" <vax9000@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:cqar69$5u0$1@charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu...
> Leon Heller wrote:
>
>>
>> I have a supplier who can provide small quantities of Altera parts, but
>> I'd have to order about 100 GBP worth, about $200 with shipping and tax.
> Would you please quote the price for EPM1270? $200 could buy less than 10
> pieces, I guess. So you (we) will have no problem to find enough people to
> split the cost. The problem might be the shipping from the UK to the US.

I've just been quoted &#4294967295;20.67 ($39.57) each for 25 pcs of EPM1270T144C5ES! 
With VAT and carriage the total will be about $1200. I don't think it is 
viable.

Leon

"Leon Heller" <leon_heller@hotmail.com> wrote in message 
news:41c996ba$0$19159$cc9e4d1f@news-text.dial.pipex.com...
> "vax, 9000" <vax9000@gmail.com> wrote in message 
> news:cqar69$5u0$1@charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu...
>> Leon Heller wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> I have a supplier who can provide small quantities of Altera parts, but
>>> I'd have to order about 100 GBP worth, about $200 with shipping and tax.
>> Would you please quote the price for EPM1270? $200 could buy less than 10
>> pieces, I guess. So you (we) will have no problem to find enough people 
>> to
>> split the cost. The problem might be the shipping from the UK to the US.
>
> I've just been quoted &#4294967295;20.67 ($39.57) each for 25 pcs of EPM1270T144C5ES! 
> With VAT and carriage the total will be about $1200. I don't think it is 
> viable.

These people actually make what you are after: 
http://www.devboards.de/index.php?kategorie=10

Don't know if they can actually supply them, though.

Leon
-- 
Leon Heller, G1HSM
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller
http://www.kasamba.com/viewExpert.asp?conMemID=105725&Catid=1111&banID=2100