Drone writes: XESS recently released their 92 page “FPGAs!? Now What?” book which is supposed to be a tutorial for the XuLA, but is really an informative read in-general; especially for someone getting started with Xilinx parts. You can download your copy of this 92 page PDF here. Via the contact form.
Category Archives: FPGA
Interface 16×2 LCD with Altera DE1 FPGA in VHDL
The Altera DE1 is an educational and development board based on the Cyclone II 2C20 FPGA and is commonly used in college and university courses on digital logic and FPGAs. Kiran writes to inform us of her tutorial on interfacing this board with the 16×2 LCD from Terasic. Kiran writes: Here is my tutorial for […]
Free online course: basics of programmable logic
Altera has available a free online course covering the Basics of Programmable Logic. This training will give you a basic introduction to programmable logic devices, focusing on FPGAs. By exploring the history of programmable logic technologies, you’ll learn about the architectural features that make up an FPGA device. You will see the advantages of using […]
8088 and 8086 FPGA core roundup
We’ve been prototyping XT peripherals for old PCs, and discussing the possibility of building PCIe cards for modern computers. Out of curiosity we looked up 88086 and 8088 emulators, here’s a list of what we found: On Spartan2 Wiki list of soft processors MSF is a FPGA board performing backup functions for a real 8088 […]
DE0-NANO FPGA development kit review
octal tipped us to a cheap Altera DE0-NANO FPGA Development Kit: …Now most of you will be swayed by cost so lets get that out the way – The DE0-Nano is $79USD and though education routes is only $59USD which I think is really good. Its a little more than the Papilio and XuLA boards […]
Lattice announces Diamond release 1.3
Lattice Semiconductor has just announced Lattice Diamond® release 1.3, updating their FPGA design software environment. They write: This release further builds on helping FPGA designers reach their goals for cost sensitive and low-power applications. In addition to its industry-leading Power Calculator, Lattice Diamond 1.3 software now aids migrating a design to a lower cost device […]
FPGA bitstream security broken
Researchers in Germany have released two papers detailing how security of the bitstream on Xilinx FPGAs can be compromised. The first paper (11 pages) discusses power analysis attacks and extracting keys from Virtex-II devices. The second (3 pages) describes an analysis of the Virtex 4 and 5 bitstream encryption mechanism. Via Slashdot.
Altera’s BeInMotion FPGA motor control kit
In this video from Altera, they highlight the advantages of using FPGAs in motor control. The video is based on BeMicro’s BeInMotion SDK motor control kit from Arrow Electronics. Looks interesting, however the $79 hardware kit isn’t yet in stock, and the BeMicro SDK is sold separately for $79. A number of training workshops are […]
Lattice ECP3 FPGA Jamz video
Not content to leave well enough alone with their first humorous video promo for the MachXO2, the people at Lattice Semi released the above video for their Lattice ECP3 family of FPGA devices.
Plunify online FPGA compiler conference call
MP3 download Plunify is an online compiler for Altera and Xilinx CPLDs/FPGAs. The developers’ goal is to build an interface to instant license and computer resources for large FPGA projects. Download the MP3 to hear more about their start-up and some of the difficulties they face with compiler licensing. We’re interested in Plunify because it […]
New release: XILINX ISE Design Suite 13.2
Xilinx has announced the availability of their ISE Design Suite 13.2. While most of the improvements appear geared toward the 7 Series FPGA families, if you’re in need of the Xilinx software or just want to upgrade you’ll find downloads for Windows and Linux here. As a much appreciated courtesy, Xilinx is also making DVDs […]
Boldport flow: Makefiles for FPGA projects
saardrimer writes: ‘boldport flow’ is a web-based tool that allows you to easily generate a build environment for your FPGA projects and run them on your machine. At its current form, it’s a Makefile generator with a web-based front end (now supporting Xilinx, FPGAs, and Linux). The “theory” behind the structure boldport uses is […]
Papilio FPGA Shield for Arduino
Jack Gassett is developing an open source project to build an Arduino Shield with a Xilinx Spartan 3A or Spartan 6 FPGA. The shield will provide the ability to program the FPGA from the Arduino. To illustrate the project’s potential, an example of an open source software core for the FPGA will also be developed […]
Plunify interview questions
Tomorrow we’re talking with Plunify, the developers of an online compiler for Altera and Xilinx CPLDs/FPGAs. They added the CPLD dev-board demos to a list of project examples, and made a tutorial video. We put together a how-to when we tested it. Unfortunately, Xilinx has not yet given Plunify permission to use the compiler in […]
CoreCommander development board
An embedded development board for Altera FPGAs: CoreCommander development board is unique in the industry. It features the Altera Cyclone III FPGA that provides more than enough room for almost any embedded design. This flexible board comes with a suite of SLS IP Cores, drivers, and application software. Delivered as a complete package, the board […]
Simple VGA interface for the XuLA FPGA board
Squonk found this simple VGA interface for FPGA board. Thanks Squonk! Via the contact form.
Free Xilinx FPGA seminar
bearmos tipped us to a Free Xilinx FPGA seminar. These seminars often feel like a time-share sales pitch, but if you can stand it, or you’re a starving student, there’s usually lots of free hardware and food. We always take a netbook so we can start hacking right away if they hand out the goods […]
Milkymist™ open source sound visualizer
The Milkymist™ is an open source sound visualization tool. Its said to be one of the fastest open source systems on a chip capable of running uClinux. It features the LatticeMico32 processor core on a Spartan-6 FPGA (XC6SLX45). The project developed from Sebastien Bourdeauduca’s Master’s Thesis in system-on-chip design. The Milkymist™ project develops a comprehensive […]
Free webcast: PCIe design using Altera FPGAs
The PCI Express (PCIe) protocol is seeing increasing use in conjunction with FPGA based designs. In this free webcast from Altera, Jeff Wimett, Product Marketing Engineer for Altera, describes how to use FPGAs in high-bandwidth PCIe designs.
Saleae Logic 16 update
We went a bit overboard speculating about the new Saleae 16bit logic analyzer. After taking to designer Joe Garrison at Maker Faire though, it seems we weren’t that far from the mark. The new Saleae does in fact have a Spartan FPGA to help get a flexible sample rate as high as 100MHz for 2 […]