Re: CPLD and FPGA designs

From: Scott McDonnell (devilingr_at_NOSPAMexcite.com)
Date: 03/10/04 

Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 02:00:05 GMT

Thanks everyone for all the responses with information and real world
advice. I think I will probably work with CPLDs to begin with, just to get
myself familiar with the tools, synthesis, simulation, etc.. then I will
move on to FPGAs to implement in some of my real projects. I see Devry eSOC
boards on Ebay going fairly cheap that would give me a platform to start
making things happen. These are based on Altera Max Plus CPLDs and have dip
switches, 7 segment displays, JTAG interface, and protoboard pins.

Perhaps the best approach to that last bit would be to take a project I have
built with discrete logic and attempt to implement it in HDL. That way I
know exactly what to expect and what might be wrong if it doesn't work like
it should.

As far as languages - mostly, I am familiar with ABEL, but from the Verilog
and VHDL source I have seen, it shouldn't be too much of a leap to work in
those languages instead. I've been looking for a good reference book from
Amazon that will help ease the transistion.

Anyways, thanks again,
Scott McDonnell

"Scott McDonnell" <devilingr@NOSPAMexcite.com> wrote in message
news:l4f2c.122531$Xp.542113@attbi_s54...
> Ok, I am about to get myself a dev kit from Xilinx or Lattice to start
> working in HDL language. The know the basics of HDL programming, and have
> the materials to learn the rest, now I just need to start experimenting
with
> real parts.
>
> This question is about synthesis (and is a bit premature, I confess.) The
> only disadvantage I see to using FPGAs in a design is that some kind of
ROM
> must be attached to configure the FPGA. After I have a final, working
design
> and want a single chip solution, what is the next step? Do I send my code
to
> a vendor that makes masked parts? Is there a OTP FPGA? Are there FPGAs
with
> flash ROM built in?
>
> Sorry if these questions seem like newbie questions, but I have found tons
> of resources on HDL programming, but very little on actually going from
> software to hardware.
>
> Thanks for the help!
> Scott
>
>

Relevant Pages

  • Re: CPLD and FPGA designs
    ... The know the basics of HDL programming, ... > only disadvantage I see to using FPGAs in a design is that some kind of ROM ... FPGAs have thousends to millions of Flipflop macrocells. ... The CPLDs have their own EEPROM onboard, ...
    (comp.arch.embedded)
  • Re: verilog versus vhdl
    ... but FPGAs are new to me. ... interested in replies from people which know both languages cause ... google for verilog vhdl language wars, and google back in this group ... by Douglas J Smith in HDL Chip Design. ...
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  • Re: Physical Design Contribution to FPGA/CPLD success
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    (comp.arch.fpga)
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    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: cPLDs and FPGAs weve known and loved (or hated)
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    (sci.electronics.design)
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