SparkFun XMOS dev-board

November 25, 2009 in dev boards | 3 comments

Uwe sent some photos of an XMOS development board from SparkFun. We had never heard of XMOS, but Uwe explains:

The XMOS concept can be seen in direct competition with FPGAs – simple logic design in software (C/C++) using very complex standard logic cells (XCORE) while FPGAs use far simpler standard logic cells that require a far complex development approach (VHDL/Verilog).

To me the XMOS approach is very appealing for various reasons, one being that XMOS makes their IP (core code) freely available (open source) while the FPGA manufacturers attempt to make a lot of money with their IP, so they let you test their IP for free (with stringent restrictions and limitations in many cases because they don’t want you to use the IP on their competitors products).

Open tools and C programmer friendly, looks like an interesting platform.

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  1. zuzebox on November 29, 2009 at 10:13 pm

    The Xmos chips are pretty cool chips.

    I’ve a comparison of the various Xmos eval boards on my blog here:

    http://zuzebox.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/xmos-development-board-comparison/

    check them out. While you’re there check my X-One retro video console I put together from an Xmos XC-2 eval board.

    http://zuzebox.wordpress.com/category/x-one/

    Reply

  2. IPenguin on December 1, 2009 at 11:15 pm

    zuzebox, thanks for posting the link to your XMOS development board comparison chart … I am kind of missing the XMOS XC-5 dev kit Sparkfun compares their XMOS XS1-L1-64 board with. On the other side the XC-5 has very limited expansion options. If I remember correctly there are only 7 signals on the user expansion I/O header making the XC-5 not very useful for development when compared to Sparkfuns XS1-L1-64 or XMOS’ XK-1. Since the release of the XK-1 the XC-5 seems pretty obsolete …

    Btw. Sparkfun has finally fixed the USB/JTAG problem on their board (by cutting the XSYS RX and TX traces). Some boards are on stock again – so it seems they are patched/scratched v1.4s.

    http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9428

    I like your X-One retro video console and your Zuzebox projects – you are planning to release the Zuzebox through Seeedstudio’s Fusion service (formerly known as “Propaganda service” until Ian “put an end to their Propaganda” :D ) – any idea when it will be ready to

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  3. zuzebox on December 17, 2009 at 2:41 pm

    Thanks for your kind words.

    Yes, I’m trying to squeeze the both the X-One and Zuzebox’s layouts into 10cm x 10cm so I can use Seeeduinos PCB service.

    I hadn’t given much thought to releasing either board through their Propaganda service – I wasn’t sure if anybody else would be interested and there is always the problem of layout mistakes sneaking in :(

    I think Xmos really needs a cheap XStamp like product. I know there’s been some talk on xmoslinkers.com and xcore.com but so far no ones got one into production.

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