Re: gEDA-user: CPLDs and other high-density logic chips...

["Harold D. Skank" <skank54@xxxxxxxxx>]

Samuel,

I have worked with least two different options you might be able to use.
First of all, I haven't tried this, but I believe that you can compile
Xilinx FPGA's directly from Icarus, as this program apparently was done
in cooperation with Xilinx.  I have used Xilinx FPGA's, and I can
recommend them highly, with the exception that the ones I have used are
volatile and require a serial PROM to load them when the power is
applied.

As a second option, I have used Lattice devices as well, but I have not
been able to program these from Icarus and have had to purchase ispLEVER
to accomplish the programming.  These units do have the advantage of
being non-volatile, so that problem doesn't exist with Lattice.

I have also (several years in the past) used Actel FPGA's.  Again, they
work well, are non-volatile, but would require their own compiler.

Hope this helps.

	Harold Skank

On Sat, 2006-09-02 at 22:30 -0700, Samuel A. Falvo II wrote:
> I am working on a project that, in the end, may require me to utilize
> a CPLD just to get the thing working and cost-effective.  But I really
> have no knowledge of how to prototype with such beasts.
> 
> Is there a body of resources that you folks would recommend to a
> *total* neophyte with respect to CPLDs and FPGAs?  The farthest I've
> gotten in Verilog was to actually get something to simulate via
> Icarus, but actual synthesis and resynthesis is something that still
> escapes me, unfortunately.
> 
> Also, what kind of capital investment am I looking at?
> 
> My plan was to use a relatively simple CPLD for address decoding and
> other glue logic functions, but also perhaps an FPGA for generating
> VGA (640x480) video.
> 
> Thanks.
> 



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