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TechDeveloper's avatar
TechDeveloper
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4 years ago

Purchase Intel FPGA Board

Dear Sir:

I am new to Intel FPGAs and its IDE and I wanted to purchase a development board to be utilized for RF communication applications.

My experience with the Texas Instruments line of microprocessors, was a good experience because non-volatile memory was on chip. Therefore, my first question is, do any Intel FPGA boards have non-volatile memory on chip.

Now, before I hear replies, like you are trying to compare "apples with oranges", FPGAs and microprocessors are 2 two different items....

I own and program Xilinx development boards and an embedded processor is on chip within the development board. I am assuming the Intel FPGA development boards are competitive with the Xilinx boards and they have the processor on chip.

Since the assumption is made that Intel development boards have a processor and FPGA fabric on chip, my next question is directed towards non-volatile memory, can anyone tell me whether any Intel development boards have on chip non-volatile memory (along with the "assumed" FPGA fabric and embedded processor)?

5 Replies

  • TechDeveloper's avatar
    TechDeveloper
    Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
    4 years ago

    Dear JohnT;

    Thank you for your reply.

    I was overlooking the kit that you had pointed me to. I have a few questions about the kit that I think only you can answer.

    Years ago, I bought a Brevia FPGA development board, (Lattice Semiconductor), and it was advertised to have free software. One year later, the license expired and I discovered that my license was not free. To continue developing on my kit, I had to purchase their software at an unbelievable price. That experience was a very rude surprise.

    Learning from that experience, I have to pose these questions because the link(s) that you pointed me to do not elaborate upon costs and if I click on link to get more information, I get a "server error" see attachments. My questions are in two parts, one part concerns the development tools and the other question concerns the "free" Quartus download.

    First question: How do the "development tools" augment the "free" Quartus download and how does it differ (do I require these tools to develop on the "cyclone" board that you had pointed me to)? Are the software "development tools" free?

    2nd question: Is the free Quartus download license free and does it ever expire?

  • JohnT_Altera's avatar
    JohnT_Altera
    Icon for Regular Contributor rankRegular Contributor
    4 years ago

    Hi,


    Quartus Lite Edition will be free for life on the board that I suggested. The only limitation is that certain CORE IP (such as Nios II core IP) will not be available to be used. No expiry date on the license.


    • TechDeveloper's avatar
      TechDeveloper
      Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
      4 years ago

      Hi, John;

      Thank you for your reply.

      When the Intel "server" begins to operate correctly. Can you get back to me with regard to this question:

      How do the "development tools" augment the "free" Quartus download and how does it differ (do I require these tools to develop on the "cyclone" board that you had pointed me to)? Are the software "development tools" free?

      Thank you for your replies, they are appreciated.