It been over a year since we produced our first Spartan-6 board and we now have 3 main products, Raggedstone2, Drigmorn3 and Drigmorn4 based on Spartan-6 and now ramping up into serious volumes. Spartan-6 has become available in large numbers in lot's of variants and we are start to make other die size variants of these products available. Not to forget our customer base in the Virtex markets our Broaddown3 and Broaddown5 products are finally heading towards being available now that silicon availability in Virtex-6 is improving also. We have some plans for new products this area as well and mor n that later. The question what I would like to ask group is what you would like to see us do next in the Spartan-6 arena? John Adair Enterpoint Ltd.
Spartan-6 Boards
Started by ●October 10, 2010
Reply by ●October 10, 20102010-10-10
"John Adair" <g1@enterpoint.co.uk> wrote in message news:b692dabf-22ec-4d19-aa33-79f43e6298ea@v23g2000vbi.googlegroups.com...> It been over a year since we produced our first Spartan-6 board and we > now have 3 main products, Raggedstone2, Drigmorn3 and Drigmorn4 based > on Spartan-6 and now ramping up into serious volumes. Spartan-6 has > become available in large numbers in lot's of variants and we are > start to make other die size variants of these products available. > > Not to forget our customer base in the Virtex markets our Broaddown3 > and Broaddown5 products are finally heading towards being available > now that silicon availability in Virtex-6 is improving also. We have > some plans for new products this area as well and mor n that later. > > The question what I would like to ask group is what you would like to > see us do next in the Spartan-6 arena? > > John Adair > Enterpoint Ltd.Is this y'all, here? I only had the above to go on. 8^) http://www.enterpoint.co.uk/ Bill
Reply by ●October 10, 20102010-10-10
On Oct 10, 8:25=A0am, John Adair <g...@enterpoint.co.uk> wrote:> It been over a year since we produced our first Spartan-6 board and we > now have 3 main products, Raggedstone2, Drigmorn3 and Drigmorn4 based > on Spartan-6 and now ramping up into serious volumes. Spartan-6 has > become available in large numbers in lot's of variants and we are > start to make other die size variants of these products available. > > Not to forget our customer base in the Virtex markets our Broaddown3 > and Broaddown5 products are finally heading towards being available > now that silicon availability in Virtex-6 is improving also. We have > some plans for new products this area as well and mor n that later. > > The question what I would like to ask group is what you would like to > see us do next in the Spartan-6 arena?I know you've expressed some concerns in the past over integrating FMC connectors on to your boards, but I'd personally put a vote in for this, especially on something like your Raggedstone2 and Broaddown boards. There is a hole in the FPGA board market right now, where it is hard to find a reasonably priced FPGA board with a PCIe interface + an FMC interface that would easily fit into a PC (i.e., doesn't come off the top of the PCB as it does on the SP605, ML605, and most of the other FMC-based FPGA boards available today). (warning: minor advertising ahead, but just for the purpose of clarifying my interests). Our company, Epiq Solutions, has finally moved our Bitshark FMC-1RX software-defined radio FMC card into production, and we've had several inquiries from folks looking for a PCIe host board solution that will easily fit into a PC (and that doesn't cost an arm and a leg). So the i/o portion of the FMC board would be positioned where the i/o side is typically oriented on a PCIe board. In our case, this would provide access to the RF inputs from outside of the host PC when the PC case is closed up. To clarify, a picture of our board can be found here (website is still in the process of being updated, but you get the idea): http://www.epiq-solutions.com/product_detail.php?line=3DBitshark&product=3D= Bitshark%20FMC So, my vote is for including FMC, at least the low-pin count variant. The connectors aren't that pricey any more, and both Samtec and Molex (I think) have them available. Regards, John www.epiq-solutions.com
Reply by ●October 11, 20102010-10-11
On Oct 11, 5:28=A0am, "john.orla...@gmail.com" <john.orla...@gmail.com> wrote:> On Oct 10, 8:25=A0am, John Adair <g...@enterpoint.co.uk> wrote: > > > It been over a year since we produced our first Spartan-6 board and we > > now have 3 main products, Raggedstone2, Drigmorn3 and Drigmorn4 based > > on Spartan-6 and now ramping up into serious volumes. Spartan-6 has > > become available in large numbers in lot's of variants and we are > > start to make other die size variants of these products available. > > > Not to forget our customer base in the Virtex markets our Broaddown3 > > and Broaddown5 products are finally heading towards being available > > now that silicon availability in Virtex-6 is improving also. We have > > some plans for new products this area as well and mor n that later. > > > The question what I would like to ask group is what you would like to > > see us do next in the Spartan-6 arena? > > I know you've expressed some concerns in the past over integrating FMC > connectors on to your boards, but I'd personally put a vote in for > this, especially on something like your Raggedstone2 and Broaddown > boards. =A0There is a hole in the FPGA board market right now, where it > is hard to find a reasonably priced FPGA board with a PCIe interface + > an FMC interface that would easily fit into a PC (i.e., doesn't come > off the top of the PCB as it does on the SP605, ML605, and most of the > other FMC-based FPGA boards available today). > > (warning: minor advertising ahead, but just for the purpose of > clarifying my interests). =A0Our company, Epiq Solutions, has finally > moved our Bitshark FMC-1RX software-defined radio FMC card into > production, and we've had several inquiries from folks looking for a > PCIe host board solution that will easily fit into a PC (and that > doesn't cost an arm and a leg). So the i/o portion of the FMC board > would be positioned where the i/o side is typically oriented on a PCIe > board. In our case, this would provide access to the RF inputs from > outside of the host PC when the PC case is closed up. =A0To clarify, a > picture of our board can be found here (website is still in the > process of being updated, but you get the idea): > > http://www.epiq-solutions.com/product_detail.php?line=3DBitshark&produc..=.> > So, my vote is for including FMC, at least the low-pin count variant. > The connectors aren't that pricey any more, and both Samtec and Molex > (I think) have them available. > > Regards, > Johnwww.epiq-solutions.comI definitely vote for PCI-e plus ethernet. If the FPGA have transceivers for PCI-e - its a sin not to use it! I like having many places to connect additional wires/boards, but this is for ADC/DAC/VGA/ etc addition - most of the basic things have to be on the board. Kind regards, Tomas D.
Reply by ●October 11, 20102010-10-11
John One of the things that we do with the Raggedstone family are customer derivative products. We actual do a lot of customer specific derivates of these boards that the general engineering community don't get to see. The DIL Headers are not just an easy low tech connection standard but a source of FPGA I/O if we need them for something else. The relatively clear areas of PCB under the headers are also not a coincidence. Have a look at the difference between the central area and under the DIL Headers of RS1 and RS2. RS3 will offer the same as well. If you have enough serious customers, and that doesn't need to be very many, we can cut and make a derivative of RS2 in a few weeks if I can make enough space in our extremely loaded assembly line. Our record for doing something more complicated that this is 18 days to handing working boards to a customer so it's very viable if we have the silicon as we already have with RS2. The RS2 LHS DIL Header has 68 I/O in it which is just about enough for a proper implementation of a LPC FMC so it sould be easy to do a derivative where we remove the LHS DIL Header and replace with a LPC FMC. There are also 3 high speed connections currently linked to SATA connectors that can also be easily canibalised and even on the right side of the Spartan-6 for routing. Cost wise there wouldn't be a hugh increase on unit cost as most parts share with the main RS2. Might be a little to cover tooling and setup etc. but that just depends on numbers. Our line can typically make batches from 1-1000 units so no problem doing a low volume run ecconomically. If this is of interest to you, or anyone else, it's worth emailing me directly. Use our general "boardsales" email and it will get to me. John Adair Enterpoint Ltd. On 11 Oct, 03:28, "john.orla...@gmail.com" <john.orla...@gmail.com> wrote:> On Oct 10, 8:25=A0am, John Adair <g...@enterpoint.co.uk> wrote: > > > It been over a year since we produced our first Spartan-6 board and we > > now have 3 main products, Raggedstone2, Drigmorn3 and Drigmorn4 based > > on Spartan-6 and now ramping up into serious volumes. Spartan-6 has > > become available in large numbers in lot's of variants and we are > > start to make other die size variants of these products available. > > > Not to forget our customer base in the Virtex markets our Broaddown3 > > and Broaddown5 products are finally heading towards being available > > now that silicon availability in Virtex-6 is improving also. We have > > some plans for new products this area as well and mor n that later. > > > The question what I would like to ask group is what you would like to > > see us do next in the Spartan-6 arena? > > I know you've expressed some concerns in the past over integrating FMC > connectors on to your boards, but I'd personally put a vote in for > this, especially on something like your Raggedstone2 and Broaddown > boards. =A0There is a hole in the FPGA board market right now, where it > is hard to find a reasonably priced FPGA board with a PCIe interface + > an FMC interface that would easily fit into a PC (i.e., doesn't come > off the top of the PCB as it does on the SP605, ML605, and most of the > other FMC-based FPGA boards available today). > > (warning: minor advertising ahead, but just for the purpose of > clarifying my interests). =A0Our company, Epiq Solutions, has finally > moved our Bitshark FMC-1RX software-defined radio FMC card into > production, and we've had several inquiries from folks looking for a > PCIe host board solution that will easily fit into a PC (and that > doesn't cost an arm and a leg). So the i/o portion of the FMC board > would be positioned where the i/o side is typically oriented on a PCIe > board. In our case, this would provide access to the RF inputs from > outside of the host PC when the PC case is closed up. =A0To clarify, a > picture of our board can be found here (website is still in the > process of being updated, but you get the idea): > > http://www.epiq-solutions.com/product_detail.php?line=3DBitshark&produc..=.> > So, my vote is for including FMC, at least the low-pin count variant. > The connectors aren't that pricey any more, and both Samtec and Molex > (I think) have them available. > > Regards, > Johnwww.epiq-solutions.com
Reply by ●October 11, 20102010-10-11
To some extent we can already do this with our Ethernet add-on modules. There is a plan for a Gigabit add-on module as well but no timescale on that as yet. In the higher performance area our Broaddown3 and Broaddown5 that are just going into production have Gigabit capability built in. John Adair Enterpoint Ltd. On 11 Oct, 10:09, Socrates <mail...@gmail.com> wrote:> On Oct 11, 5:28=A0am, "john.orla...@gmail.com" <john.orla...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > > > On Oct 10, 8:25=A0am, John Adair <g...@enterpoint.co.uk> wrote: > > > > It been over a year since we produced our first Spartan-6 board and w=e> > > now have 3 main products, Raggedstone2, Drigmorn3 and Drigmorn4 based > > > on Spartan-6 and now ramping up into serious volumes. Spartan-6 has > > > become available in large numbers in lot's of variants and we are > > > start to make other die size variants of these products available. > > > > Not to forget our customer base in the Virtex markets our Broaddown3 > > > and Broaddown5 products are finally heading towards being available > > > now that silicon availability in Virtex-6 is improving also. We have > > > some plans for new products this area as well and mor n that later. > > > > The question what I would like to ask group is what you would like to > > > see us do next in the Spartan-6 arena? > > > I know you've expressed some concerns in the past over integrating FMC > > connectors on to your boards, but I'd personally put a vote in for > > this, especially on something like your Raggedstone2 and Broaddown > > boards. =A0There is a hole in the FPGA board market right now, where it > > is hard to find a reasonably priced FPGA board with a PCIe interface + > > an FMC interface that would easily fit into a PC (i.e., doesn't come > > off the top of the PCB as it does on the SP605, ML605, and most of the > > other FMC-based FPGA boards available today). > > > (warning: minor advertising ahead, but just for the purpose of > > clarifying my interests). =A0Our company, Epiq Solutions, has finally > > moved our Bitshark FMC-1RX software-defined radio FMC card into > > production, and we've had several inquiries from folks looking for a > > PCIe host board solution that will easily fit into a PC (and that > > doesn't cost an arm and a leg). So the i/o portion of the FMC board > > would be positioned where the i/o side is typically oriented on a PCIe > > board. In our case, this would provide access to the RF inputs from > > outside of the host PC when the PC case is closed up. =A0To clarify, a > > picture of our board can be found here (website is still in the > > process of being updated, but you get the idea): > > >http://www.epiq-solutions.com/product_detail.php?line=3DBitshark&produc.=..> > > So, my vote is for including FMC, at least the low-pin count variant. > > The connectors aren't that pricey any more, and both Samtec and Molex > > (I think) have them available. > > > Regards, > > Johnwww.epiq-solutions.com > > I definitely vote for PCI-e plus ethernet. If the FPGA have > transceivers for PCI-e - its a sin not to use it! I like having many > places to connect additional wires/boards, but this is for ADC/DAC/VGA/ > etc addition - most of the basic things have to be on the board. > > Kind regards, > Tomas D.
Reply by ●October 11, 20102010-10-11
On Mon, 11 Oct 2010 02:30:44 -0700 (PDT), John Adair <g1@enterpoint.co.uk> wrote:>To some extent we can already do this with our Ethernet add-on >modules. There is a plan for a Gigabit add-on module as well but no >timescale on that as yet. > >In the higher performance area our Broaddown3 and Broaddown5 that are >just going into production have Gigabit capability built in. >These don't appear to be on the website ... is there any information about them yet? - Brian
Reply by ●October 12, 20102010-10-12
Brian This might appear twice as I had a posting error. The Broaddown3 and Broaddown5 don't have much documentation on the website as yet but here are the outline details: Broaddown3 - PCIe (X4/X8) with XC6SLX75T as interface and controller + 2 x 2 array of Virtex-6 FPGAs in the FFG784 package. There is also DDR3 memory available to the array and 2 Gigabit Ethernet also from the controller FPGA. This product is aimed at HPC markets. Broaddown5 - As Broaddown3 except FPGA array is replaced with a monster XC6VLX760. This has a big I/O count around it and is aimed at ASIC prototyping. There are some of these details in one of the newsletters. The website should get some proper pages for these products before too long. John Adair Enterpoint Ltd. On 11 Oct, 11:04, Brian Drummond <brian_drumm...@btconnect.com> wrote:> On Mon, 11 Oct 2010 02:30:44 -0700 (PDT), John Adair <g...@enterpoint.co.uk> > wrote: > > >To some extent we can already do this with our Ethernet add-on > >modules. There is a plan for a Gigabit add-on module as well but no > >timescale on that as yet. > > >In the higher performance area our Broaddown3 and Broaddown5 that are > >just going into production have Gigabit capability built in. > > These don't appear to be on the website ... is there any information about them > yet? > > - Brian
