good starter kit

Hello,

I am a computer engineering student and I am looking to do a project which
will require a FPGA or CPLD. I will need something with > 70 general IO
pins. I am looking for a development board that will give me an expansion
port to plug it into my project. I want something less than $100 perferably
less than $50. I am currently considering the CPLD design kit from XILINX
which has  XC2C256-7TQ144 CoolRunner-II CPLD and XC9572XL-10VQ44 CPLD on it
as it seems to be a good starter package. Are there other quick dirty
solutions that will allow me to easily program a device and integrate it
with my project? I do not need something that has tons of LEDS and
pushbuttons and tons of extra proto space.

Thank You
Josiah Vivona

cpex wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I am a computer engineering student and I am looking to do a project which
> will require a FPGA or CPLD. I will need something with > 70 general IO
> pins. I am looking for a development board that will give me an expansion
> port to plug it into my project. I want something less than $100 perferably
> less than $50. I am currently considering the CPLD design kit from XILINX
> which has  XC2C256-7TQ144 CoolRunner-II CPLD and XC9572XL-10VQ44 CPLD on it
> as it seems to be a good starter package. Are there other quick dirty
> solutions that will allow me to easily program a device and integrate it
> with my project? I do not need something that has tons of LEDS and
> pushbuttons and tons of extra proto space.
> 
> Thank You
> Josiah Vivona
> 
> 

Have a look at http://www.digilentinc.com
They have some nice FPGA and CPLD boards. Most of the boards contain 
only the necessary with nearly every IO of the FPGA or CPLD going to a 
connector. If needed you can add some of their IO-boards which contain 
the leds, push buttons, lcds, ...

Kind regards,

Yves

It seems digilentinc actually makes the kit I refrenced earlier.

Let me rephrase my question are there any starter kits to be had in the
$20-$30 range or is 49.99 the min i am going to find

Josiah

"Yves Deweerdt" <yves@news.be> wrote in message
news:c6qps4$r7t$1@reader13.wxs.nl...
> cpex wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I am a computer engineering student and I am looking to do a project
which
> > will require a FPGA or CPLD. I will need something with > 70 general IO
> > pins. I am looking for a development board that will give me an
expansion
> > port to plug it into my project. I want something less than $100
perferably
> > less than $50. I am currently considering the CPLD design kit from
XILINX
> > which has  XC2C256-7TQ144 CoolRunner-II CPLD and XC9572XL-10VQ44 CPLD on
it
> > as it seems to be a good starter package. Are there other quick dirty
> > solutions that will allow me to easily program a device and integrate it
> > with my project? I do not need something that has tons of LEDS and
> > pushbuttons and tons of extra proto space.
> >
> > Thank You
> > Josiah Vivona
> >
> >
>
> Have a look at http://www.digilentinc.com
> They have some nice FPGA and CPLD boards. Most of the boards contain
> only the necessary with nearly every IO of the FPGA or CPLD going to a
> connector. If needed you can add some of their IO-boards which contain
> the leds, push buttons, lcds, ...
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Yves
>

First $50 is a quite good price on a board.
It probably represents an educational discount
on the parts.

Before you go buy the $50 board, I would do an
accessment to see if the part meets your needs or
do you need to spend a little more ($75/$85), and
get a part with more capabilities.

Since you are a student, perhaps it might help to put
it in perspective of other things you spend money on.
How many waters do you have to drink instead of beer
or soda to be able to afford the more expensive board
or how many bags of chips does the cost of the board
represent.  It is not as an absurd analysis as you think -
chips and soda are much more expensive than you think.


Cheers,
Jim

P.S.
When I was in college, I had an active hobby in kayaking.
I always thought of expenditures in terms of how many
kayak paddles it would buy.   Did not eat many bags of
chips.  I can still count the number of sodas I drink in
a year on one hand and the ones I drink are usually free.
I can alternately recommend that you pop your own popcorn
instead of chip.

cpex wrote:
> It seems digilentinc actually makes the kit I refrenced earlier.
> 
> Let me rephrase my question are there any starter kits to be had in the
> $20-$30 range or is 49.99 the min i am going to find
> 
> Josiah
> 
> "Yves Deweerdt" <yves@news.be> wrote in message
> news:c6qps4$r7t$1@reader13.wxs.nl...
> 
>>cpex wrote:
>>
>>>Hello,
>>>
>>>I am a computer engineering student and I am looking to do a project
> 
> which
> 
>>>will require a FPGA or CPLD. I will need something with > 70 general IO
>>>pins. I am looking for a development board that will give me an
> 
> expansion
> 
>>>port to plug it into my project. I want something less than $100
> 
> perferably
> 
>>>less than $50. I am currently considering the CPLD design kit from
> 
> XILINX
> 
>>>which has  XC2C256-7TQ144 CoolRunner-II CPLD and XC9572XL-10VQ44 CPLD on
> 
> it
> 
>>>as it seems to be a good starter package. Are there other quick dirty
>>>solutions that will allow me to easily program a device and integrate it
>>>with my project? I do not need something that has tons of LEDS and
>>>pushbuttons and tons of extra proto space.
>>>
>>>Thank You
>>>Josiah Vivona
>>>
>>>
>>
>>Have a look at http://www.digilentinc.com
>>They have some nice FPGA and CPLD boards. Most of the boards contain
>>only the necessary with nearly every IO of the FPGA or CPLD going to a
>>connector. If needed you can add some of their IO-boards which contain
>>the leds, push buttons, lcds, ...
>>
>>Kind regards,
>>
>>Yves
>>
> 
> 
> 


-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Jim Lewis" <Jim@SynthWorks.com> wrote in message
news:1092goikgfsf93@corp.supernews.com...
> First $50 is a quite good price on a board.
> It probably represents an educational discount
> on the parts.
>
> Before you go buy the $50 board, I would do an
> accessment to see if the part meets your needs or
> do you need to spend a little more ($75/$85), and
> get a part with more capabilities.
>
> Since you are a student, perhaps it might help to put
> it in perspective of other things you spend money on.
> How many waters do you have to drink instead of beer
> or soda to be able to afford the more expensive board
> or how many bags of chips does the cost of the board
> represent.  It is not as an absurd analysis as you think -
> chips and soda are much more expensive than you think.
>
>
> Cheers,
> Jim
>
> P.S.
> When I was in college, I had an active hobby in kayaking.
> I always thought of expenditures in terms of how many
> kayak paddles it would buy.   Did not eat many bags of
> chips.  I can still count the number of sodas I drink in
> a year on one hand and the ones I drink are usually free.
> I can alternately recommend that you pop your own popcorn
> instead of chip.
>
> cpex wrote:
> > It seems digilentinc actually makes the kit I refrenced earlier.
> >
> > Let me rephrase my question are there any starter kits to be had in the
> > $20-$30 range or is 49.99 the min i am going to find
> >
> > Josiah
> >
> > "Yves Deweerdt" <yves@news.be> wrote in message
> > news:c6qps4$r7t$1@reader13.wxs.nl...
> >
> >>cpex wrote:
> >>
> >>>Hello,
> >>>
> >>>I am a computer engineering student and I am looking to do a project
> >
> > which
> >
> >>>will require a FPGA or CPLD. I will need something with > 70 general IO
> >>>pins. I am looking for a development board that will give me an
> >
> > expansion
> >
> >>>port to plug it into my project. I want something less than $100
> >
> > perferably
> >
> >>>less than $50. I am currently considering the CPLD design kit from
> >
> > XILINX
> >
> >>>which has  XC2C256-7TQ144 CoolRunner-II CPLD and XC9572XL-10VQ44 CPLD
on
> >
> > it
> >
> >>>as it seems to be a good starter package. Are there other quick dirty
> >>>solutions that will allow me to easily program a device and integrate
it
> >>>with my project? I do not need something that has tons of LEDS and
> >>>pushbuttons and tons of extra proto space.
> >>>
> >>>Thank You
> >>>Josiah Vivona
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>Have a look at http://www.digilentinc.com
> >>They have some nice FPGA and CPLD boards. Most of the boards contain
> >>only the necessary with nearly every IO of the FPGA or CPLD going to a
> >>connector. If needed you can add some of their IO-boards which contain
> >>the leds, push buttons, lcds, ...
> >>
> >>Kind regards,
> >>
> >>Yves
> >>
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> -- 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 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
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Jim Lewis" <Jim@SynthWorks.com> wrote in message
news:1092goikgfsf93@corp.supernews.com...
<snip>
> Since you are a student, perhaps it might help to put
> it in perspective of other things you spend money on.
> How many waters do you have to drink instead of beer
> or soda to be able to afford the more expensive board
<snip>
> P.S.
> When I was in college, I had an active hobby in kayaking.
> I always thought of expenditures in terms of how many
> kayak paddles it would buy.   Did not eat many bags of
> chips.  I can still count the number of sodas I drink in
> a year on one hand and the ones I drink are usually free.


Jim,
I notice you didn't economise on beer! Good choice!
cheers, Syms.