Developing my own board: Where do I begin?

Hi Collinsrs:

It's a age old question with FPGA's. In realilty, I think you need to kind of work both together.

Here's what I usually do when starting a new project:

First go to http://www.altera.com/literature/lit-dp.jsp and grab all Cyclone III pinout files for the devices in the F324 package. (Usually there are three devices per package that if you're careful, you can scale up/down in with the same board. But you half to be careful, because there are lots of gotcha's. (mainly with VCCINT/GND pins and missing IO's on smaller devices.)

If there are any dev-boards, that are close to your design, grab the schematics for those as well. This is probably the best starting place if you can find something that's close.

Assign a rough pin-out based on area location, bank IO voltage, etc. Keep to using only IO's that are common in all devices in the same package.

Generate a Quartus blank project assigning the desired IO types/voltages, and locations. (I usually generate this from a script that I apply to the xcell pin-out file, so that I don't have to type them again.) (IE I use the Altera Pin-out excell sheet and add another field, then I spit out the set_location_assignments at the end).

I just wish Altera would proved a "Device Package Compatibility Pinout file" It would save me a lot of cross checking between the 3 files.

Once you have that, Hook up dummy logic, so all the io's don't get optimized out, then compile with the migration devices set, and that will tell you if you have any problems you need to fix.

No you have a pinout, you can use for you board, and if you hook up all proper power/grounds for all common devices, you can switch between the larger/smaller devices for the same package.

Pete