Re: gEDA-user: fpga

[Darrell Harmon <mail@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Nov 01, 2005 at 10:26:21PM +0100, Kov?cs Levente wrote:
> Anyways... I have not yet decided which to use... I'd like to pay the
> least. Poor guy from a technical university.
> 
> Levente
> 
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Unfortunately neither is available under the GPL. Xilinx appears
to be the only one that can be run legitimately under Linux.
As I said before the Altera Windows version will not run under
Wine due to their DRM/copy protection software. The Xilinx
Webpack does run fine under most GNU/Linux distros, and is
available for download. You can purchase a CD for the cost of
shipping if the download is too big.

Whatever you do, please respect the copyrights. It will look bad
if you do not. If Altera will not release their software for your
preferred OS at a reasonable cost, either don't use their chips or
ask that they donate a license to your university.

I would love to see a GNU FPGA sythesis tool, but realize that is
unlikely considering the closed nature of the bitstream. It is
something like selling a microprocessor with a secret instruction
set.

In the project I am currently working on, I am trying to do most
of the work in a DSP rather than the FPGA so users can make more
modifications without having to install non free sofware.

Darrell Harmon
http://dlharmon.com