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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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15 years ago

What's the best starter's board?

Hi all,

I'm a graduate student and I want to buy a board to learn more about FPGA.

Now I'm looking at the Cyclone III Starter Kit and the DE series development boards.

Which one of them is better for a starter like me and what if i want to do a larger project? What should I consider when buying a board?

Thanks in advance:)

1 Reply

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

    I would suggest you get a board with easily accessible I/O ports, something like the DE0 with the Cyclone III. The reason for this is that you will want to control external devices with this (LEDs, motors, displays...) and most of the other demo boards have specialized connectors (mainly Samtec) that are not too easily accessible using wire-wrap.

    The Cyclone III should be adequate for most FPGA learning until you start getting into high speed transceivers, DDR, ... Then you will need to upgrade to a bigger/better part.

    ... this is at least how I started. :-)