Re: [oc] FPGA/ASIC Design Kits

[tony@burched.com.au (burched - tony burch)]

Ad alert :)
Please note that this email has some
bias, and comes with a friendly advertisement
alert at the top ;)

In addition to the B5-SPARTAN2+ mentioned by Paul,
Burch Electronic Designs has, just today, released
the B5-SUPER-VALUE-PACK.
http://www.burched.com.au/B5SuperValuePack.html

I repeat that I am biassed, but I think this
will be really useful for testing some of the
OpenCores projects...

Main FPGA board, with Xilinx XC2S200 200K gate FPGA,
and a complete set of expansion plug-on modules.
* Complete set of units, provides excellent
   platform for FPGA education
* Ideal for System-On-Chip and FPGA-CPU prototyping
* Works with the free Xilinx WebPACK software

Amazing introductory price, US$359.00
(whole set).  B5-SPARTAN2+ FPGA Main Board is also
available separately, US$149.00 !

Anyway, I hope that is of interest :)

Best regards and season's greetings
Tony Burch
http://www.BurchED.com.au
Low cost FPGA boards, for seriously
powerful prototyping and education !

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul McFeeters" <paul.mcfeeters@ntlworld.com>
To: <cores@opencores.org>
Sent: Wednesday, 12 December 2001 9:29
Subject: RE: [oc] FPGA/ASIC Design Kits


> Mohammed,
>
> I use two B5-Spartan2+ boards from Tony Burch in Australia. They have
worked
> flawlessly so far.
>
> You have to work out a few things before you pick a board.
>
> 1. Speed of device required if you wish to run it fast say 100+ mhz, some
> boards use -5 devices which are
> slower than -6 so be careful on this one. I think there are -7 devices and
> maybe -8 out but I've not really
> bothered with them as my -5 device boards run sweet at full 100mhz so I'm
> happy (for now).
>
> 2. The number of I/O pins you require to be able to connect to. Some
boards
> bring all the pins from the FPGA
> out to headers, some do just the I/O and Power pins whilst some just give
> you a token few to play with.
>
> 3. The amount of gates in the device. Most boards feature a 200K gate FPGA
> now so this should do any new
> designs unless you are planning a huge complex HDL design?
>
> 4. Also be careful about how the boards need to be programmed, some of
them
> require you to buy a special
> cable which can cost $100+ just for the cable!
>
> I would recommend looking at the following for good quality 'learner
boards'
> (http://www.xess.com)
> (http://www.burched.com.au/bedspartan2.html)
>
> There are boards available for the faster, more I/O pins or more gate
count
> FPGAs but the price increases
> when your requirements do.
>
> Paul
>
> PS Does anybody know offhand just what max speed a -5 is supposed to be
able
> to do. I don't imagine putting the
> 100mhz clock into a x2 DLL and then running off this will be too likely to
> succeed! But I would like to know for
> future reference, I'm too busy to sit  and download all the Spartan2
manuals
> off the Xilinx site. ;-)
> I have seen the DDR SDRAM controller is recommended to use a -6 spec FPGA
> but it didn't give anymore details.
> Can a -5 do a 133mhz SDRAM interface or would I be limited to 100mhz
> version?
>   -----Original Message-----
>   From: owner-cores@opencores.org [mailto:owner-cores@opencores.org]On
> Behalf Of Mohammed El Shoukry
>   Sent: 11 December 2001 20:07
>   To: cores@opencores.org
>   Subject: [oc] FPGA/ASIC Design Kits
>
>
>   Sorry Guys I'm new to this but I want to get on track as fast as
possible.
>   what kind of Kits would you use for trying and testing your designs for
> ASIC or FPGA, ofcourse you don't go to the foundry for each new idea ?
>   Paul ?
>

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