Clearly I needed some sort of FPGA hardware to play with, as well as some software to program it. So my first decision was which FPGA vendor to go with. I'm not saying it was the best first decision, but I'm nothing if not honest.
It seemed that the two main vendors are Xilinx and Altera. Decisions, decisions...
It seemed that the two main vendors are Xilinx and Altera. Decisions, decisions...
There are lots of development boards available, with all levels of complexity from "bare" chips plus interfacing sockets through to multi-functional kit featuring LEDs, switches, LCD displays and interfaces for RS232, USB, SDCard, and even VGA.
Wanting to concentrate on the FPGA itself and not "waste" time interfacing it to other components, I learned from my PIC, Arduino and PICAxe experiences and decided I'd go for a dev board with lots of features provided.
That still left the choice of vendor.
The two main FPGA chip families appear to be the Spartan from Xilinx and the Cyclone from Altera. I read quite a bit about both, and about the different dev board vendors. Both vendors provide free software toolsets, and I downloaded both with the intention of trying both out. After all, it's the software that one spends most time with.
I think that the best advice that I read was that "it really doesn't matter if you're a hobbyist". Knowing that I have a tendency to overthink my purchases ("paralysis through analysis" - choose your own article!) I went with Altera and ordered this board together with this programmer. With DHL shipping to the UK, it cost just under £50 and arrived in 5 days.
I'll review the board in a later post.
Wanting to concentrate on the FPGA itself and not "waste" time interfacing it to other components, I learned from my PIC, Arduino and PICAxe experiences and decided I'd go for a dev board with lots of features provided.
That still left the choice of vendor.
The two main FPGA chip families appear to be the Spartan from Xilinx and the Cyclone from Altera. I read quite a bit about both, and about the different dev board vendors. Both vendors provide free software toolsets, and I downloaded both with the intention of trying both out. After all, it's the software that one spends most time with.
I think that the best advice that I read was that "it really doesn't matter if you're a hobbyist". Knowing that I have a tendency to overthink my purchases ("paralysis through analysis" - choose your own article!) I went with Altera and ordered this board together with this programmer. With DHL shipping to the UK, it cost just under £50 and arrived in 5 days.
I'll review the board in a later post.