Forum Discussion

Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
17 years ago

Newbee question about board selection

Hi all,

I am new to the whole FPGA thing and am seriously looking at the DE1/Cyclone II starter kit (these seem to be the same board???)

I like the board especially for it's various ports (VGA/SD Card/etc) especially since the Spartan3e board has only 3bit VGA.

However, there is something I don't get about the specs of FPGA's. Altera says something like 20000 LEs and Xilinx says 500k logic gates (Spartan3) - what gives?

Also, say I want to put a project on the Cyclone 2 that comes as source for the spartan3 (a pacman game, lets say). In general, how hard is it to go between the different vendors?

Obviously I have a lot of learning to do :)

Thanks,

Kevin

4 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    17 years ago

    For Xilinx to Altera, you will require to convert all the primitives to Altera primitives. Then the megafuntions to Altera megafuntions. There will be X2A program launch from Altera end of this month. You can try to convert using that.

    If you want to get a board, I recommend you to get either the DE2 or the Cyclone III NIos II Embedded Evaluation Kit. The later comes with an LCD touch screen.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    17 years ago

    Cyclone III NIos II Embedded Evaluation Kit!

    Rule of thumb: When you begin a project try to get the latest FPGA version (cycloneIII for the Cyclone familly).

    Enjoy,

    -Pierre
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    17 years ago

    Thanks for the info! I looked at most of the boards that Terasic makes. Unfortunately the price tag of the DE2 is not feasible :( I am just a tinkerer looking to learn and I would have a real hard time justifying a $500 purchase to my better half.

    As for going from X to A, that program sounds like a winner. Especially if it works :) But, even if it doesn't, it sounds like doing it manually isn't all that hard.

    I'll get a library book and start learning VHDL and working on the simulator.

    Also, I never got an answer to the 20k LEs vs. 500K logic gates. I still don't understand how these parts are rated (how much you can "fit" into one vs. another)

    Thanks again,

    Kevin
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    17 years ago

    Hello,

    Try this URL: http://www.devboards.de/

    I bought the DB2C20 which is powered by a Cyclone II, it's a good board with a lot of features, ethernet 10/100, CAN, RS232, Display, lot of memories.. and so.

    I suggest you to buy the new board DB3C40 but again maybe it's a little bit expensive...

    Anyway they also provide some cheap FPGA boards with basics features.

    Have fun

    -Pierre