» FPGA</h1> <article> <h1>Handy FPGA Laboratory</h1> <p>jer — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:12:15 +0000</p> <p style="text-align: left;">Want to learn real digital hardware design? You might want to consider <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field-programmable_gate_array">Field Programmable Grid Arrays or FPGAs</a>. There are a lot of FPGA learning kits available today. Some are specially designed to target developments of commercial projects which are, of course, very expensive. Some are a little bit price friendly specially for students and FPGA newbies (like me).</p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span id="more-167"></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script> </p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script> </p> <p style="text-align: left;">I got one FPGA development board designed by <a href="http://www.digilentinc.com/">Digilent</a> which is the <a href="http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Prod=BASYS&Nav1=Products&Nav2=Programmable">Basys FPGA board</a> (there is already a newer version – <a href="http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,400,790&Prod=BASYS2">Basys2</a>). The regular price is USD79 and the academic price is USD59. I got mine from <a href="http://www.ebay.com/">ebay</a> for USD49 – of course, it is already used.</p> <p>So, what does this FPGA board feature?</p> <ul> <li>The on-board FPGA is from the Spartan 3-E FPGA family of <a href="http://www.xilinx.com/">Xilinx</a>.</li> <li>It has on board I/O devices – 7-segment displays, LEDs, slide, switches, and push buttons.</li> <li>It has one VGA port and one PS/2 port.</li> <li>It has external I/O connectors.</li> <li>It can be powered by USB or wall DC adaptor.</li> <li>It has on-board oscillator – 25, 50, and 100MHz.</li> <li>It has on-board flash configuration ROM.</li> <li>It can be configured using the on-board USB board!</li> </ul> <p>Pretty complete, isn’t it?</p> <p>Indeed, it is a handy FPGA laboratory…</p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script> </p> </article> </main></body></html>