Ideal FPGA Development Kit

[JoeP]

On Apr 4, 10:42 am, Rich <r.newk...@juno.com> wrote:

On Apr 3, 9:55 am, JoeP <joe.parke...@yahoo.com> wrote:





On Apr 2, 2:25 pm, Rich <r.newk...@juno.com> wrote:

On Apr 1, 12:43 am, allen <ayho...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey guys,

I work in the FPGA development kit sector, and I was just looking to
see if you guys had any ideas regarding what would be your MUST HAVE
features on an FPGA dev kit?

Thanks in advance!
Allen

Keep the number of JTAG devices to three or less.  FPGA, PROM and
maybe something else (CPLD or other FPGA?).  The free jtag software
limits you to 3 JTAG devices, so i have to pay after that.

Thanks!
Rich

Rich,
I dont understand this requirement.  The PCBs will be tested before
you get them.  Probably with JTAG/Boundary-scan.  Then all you need is
the FPGA software, which is free, to program the development kit, and
vendor JTAG pod.

Regards,
Joe- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Joe,
I know the boards are tested.  I use these boards for development and
validation of small re-usable IP blocks.  The IP blocks have internal
JTAG accessible registers.  The free JTAG software I'm using is from:http://www.intellitech.com/jtag/free-jtag-software-ijtag.asp.
It lets me describe the registers and I can make TCL/TK scripts to
operate the IP via JTAG.   It's commercial quality software like their
$15K packages, just they limit you to three devices in the chain for
the free version. This enough for me and to provide a free jtag tool
to my customers when the project is complete.
It only works with Xilinx USB cable and VCS.  Unfortunately I dont use
VCS as that is outside of my budget too.
There is a nice tutorial on the link using the Xilinx spartan starter
kit.

Enjoy!
Rich- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

OK, thanks Rich. I havent done anything like that, but I am taking a
look at the JTAG Spartan starter kit step-by-step document they have.
I think we are off topic at this point, but thanks, I learned
something new.

Joe

 

[Nial Stewart]

Joe,
I know the boards are tested. I use these boards for development and
validation of small re-usable IP blocks. The IP blocks have internal
JTAG accessible registers. The free JTAG software I'm using is from:
http://www.intellitech.com/jtag/free-jtag-software-ijtag.asp .
It lets me describe the registers and I can make TCL/TK scripts to
operate the IP via JTAG.

It's to allow this sort of access I designed the 1 pin interface ...

http://www.1pin-interface.com/


I've found this invaluable for my own FPGA and board debug but haven't
managed to sell the idea very well.



Nial.

 

[fpgaace]

On Apr 1, 12:43 am, allen <ayho...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey guys,

I work in the FPGA development kit sector, and I was just looking to
see if you guys had any ideas regarding what would be your MUST HAVE
features on an FPGA dev kit?

Thanks in advance!
Allen

Hi Allen,
As some of the other replies indicate, "MUST HAVE" depends on who
you're asking. Based on our experience, a growing number of designs
these days require external DDR2 memory, which is why you're seeing
hard memory controllers added to FPGAs. With this in mind we created
xPOD. This is the first in a series of modularized FPGA boards from
FACEbyte (www.fpgaapps.com) that is geared for production. Because of
the production volumes, these boards are relatively cheap and will get
cheaper as more volume kicks in.

So one suggestion is to take advantage of xPOD and design "companion"
boards with a variety of peripherals and features. You might want to
modularize the peripherals and features too, like Digilent has done
with their pmod line. We're doing this with our 'companion' board to
xPOD we call DOC. With our next gen, 28nm version (and other roadmap
products) you'll be able to snap in an FPGA upgrade extending the life
of your board thereby making it more attractive to your end
customers. We'd be glad to work with you and others on companion
boards that use xPOD and would even promote them at shows we attend,
websites, collateral, etc.

Modularization is one way to have an answer for everyone you ask the
"MUST HAVE" question.

Regards,
Mike

 

[rupertlssmith@googlemail.]

On Apr 5, 11:22 am, fpgaace <mikegulo...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Allen,
As some of the other replies indicate, "MUST HAVE" depends on who
you're asking.  Based on our experience, a growing number of designs
these days require external DDR2 memory, which is why you're seeing
hard memory controllers added to FPGAs.  With this in mind we created
xPOD.  This is the first in a series of modularized FPGA boards from
FACEbyte (www.fpgaapps.com) that is geared for production.  Because of
the production volumes, these boards are relatively cheap and will get
cheaper as more volume kicks in.

So one suggestion is to take advantage of xPOD and design "companion"
boards with a variety of peripherals and features.  You might want to
modularize the peripherals and features too, like Digilent has done
with their pmod line.  We're doing this with our 'companion' board to
xPOD we call DOC.  With our next gen, 28nm version (and other roadmap
products) you'll be able to snap in an FPGA upgrade extending the life
of your board thereby making it more attractive to your end
customers.  We'd be glad to work with you and others on companion
boards that use xPOD and would even promote them at shows we attend,
websites, collateral, etc.

Modularization is one way to have an answer for everyone you ask the
"MUST HAVE" question.

Regards,
Mike

Thats a nice idea; cheap and modular. I hope you have success with it
and are able to expand the range of products available. I like the
Pmod interfacing. A Pmod is simple enough that I could design make my
own Pmods at home with my level of electronics and hobbyist PCB making
equipment.

I'm really a beginner with FPGAs and have started out by buying a few
cheap dev kits on ebay. My next step would be to go for something like
this xPOD.

Rupert