![]() Xilinx EDK/SDK is not free), as the code will be difficult to port to HDL. Bear this in mind if you don't have a license for the microcontroller and environment (e.g. Reference designs can either be HDL or microcontroller-based, but in recent boards, most manufacturers seem to be moving to the latter. A reference design that exercises all on-board peripherals.A guide to getting started, if you've never used an FPGA before.A reference manual, describing all of the on-board peripherals.Few of the cheap boards bother with any of these.įPGAs can be a bit daunting, so check that the manufacturer provides: Look for ground wires interspersed regularly between signal wires, high speed connectors (not just 0.1" headers), PCB trace length equalisation, and impedance control. If you would like to connect high speed devices (above 10-20 MHz) to your FPGA, make sure your board has an interface connector that supports the speeds you'll be using. Some manufacturers promote a standard form factor for add-ons, notably Digilent with their very wide range of Pmods and Arduino shields. While these are easy enough to add yourself, I find that it's better to get a board that has them so that you don't waste valuable user IOs or waste time investigating failures caused by your terrible soldering skills. LEDs provide a zero fuss way to break out internal signals for visualisation - if you're tracking the progress of a complex state machine, you can light up an LED when it gets to a certain point without adding any extra logic. Unlike a microcontroller where it's relatively easy to spit debug information out of a serial port or to an LCD with a single C function call, debugging FPGA designs is a bit harder. I like having a board with many (at least 8) SPST switches and LEDs, and momentary buttons. ![]()
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