help in selecting fpga starter kit??

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s3034585

Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 226
Helped: 1

17 Jan 2008 4:16 fpga starter kit

Hi Guys

I am looking for fpga starter kits. Mainly what i am looking is serial, usb/ethernet interface. I dont want to buy a very expensive one, upto 200$. mainly would be used for developling some robotics stuff... and thinking to interface later to a microcontroller. I had a look at alter cyclone II DK-CYCII-2C20N kit, and Spartan-3AN Starter Kit Any more ideas???

Thanks in advance
tama

pankajrangaree1

Joined: 08 Jan 2008
Posts: 26

17 Jan 2008 11:16 fpga starter

u can use xilinx xcso5 starter kit for learning purpose

echo47

Joined: 07 Apr 2002
Posts: 4206
Helped: 566

17 Jan 2008 11:27 starter kit fpga

Xilinx has many nice development boards, but watch out for the USB port. It may only work for JTAG configuration, and not for general purpose USB communication. Check the specs.

This list may help your shopping adventure:
http://www.fpga-faq.org/FPGA_Boards.shtml

Iouri

Joined: 17 Aug 2005
Posts: 687
Helped: 79

17 Jan 2008 18:34 fpga starter board

Altera De1/De2 boards you can also learn soft NIOS processor on it

Added after 23 seconds:

Altera De1/De2 boards you can also learn soft NIOS processor on it

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boardlanguage

Joined: 06 Apr 2007
Posts: 96
Helped: 4

17 Jan 2008 19:03 student fpga kit

Quote:

Xilinx has many nice development boards, but watch out for the USB port. It may only work for JTAG configuration, and not for general purpose USB communication. Check the specs.

Both of the boards mentioned by the original poster share this limitation: USB-port is for FPGA/flash configuration only.

An FPGA-board with a user-programmble USB-host/device controller costs more money, and those generally are targeted at the professional (not student) market. Tis means you give up a lot of example designs, solid documentation, etc.

The professional boards from Xilinx (ML40x, ML50x, Spartan 3A/DSP) all assume professional customers who know what they are doing.

The Spartan-3AN Starter Kit and Altera Cyclone-II 2C20 Starter Kits are excellent choices for beginners/students. I personally like the Cyclone-II Starter Kit a bit more, since it has more dip-switches and a bigger (4-char) LED display. Both of these are very helpful for beginners just getting started (later on, though they're mostly useless...) Unfortunately, it doesn't have an ethernet (10/100) jack.

The Spartan-3A/3AN Starter Kit(s) have an ethernet-jack, but unless you get the Xilinx EDK (another $495), you can't do much with it (unles you're willing to sit down and design your own Ethernet MAC.) And that Starter Kit's parallel-flash is only 4MB -- not really large enough to explore ucLinux. (The cheaper Startan-3E/500 and more expensive Spartan-3E/1600 kits have 16MB parallel-flash.)

BooM

Joined: 30 Aug 2007
Posts: 77
Helped: 2

18 Jan 2008 0:41 recommend fpga starter board

Spartan-3E starter kit board

it is what you want

Check it :

www.xilinx.com

s3034585

Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 226
Helped: 1

18 Jan 2008 1:55 fpga starter kits

Hi Guys

Thanks a lot for ur replies... the idea behind getting these board was to do some hobby stuff for robotics and not from a student point of view as i am not a student.
as most of you have mentioned that these boards r not for major developing purpose,due to limited resources, do you recomend to get a microcontroller development board. if so any leads in it.

Thanks a lot in advance
tama

BooM

Joined: 30 Aug 2007
Posts: 77
Helped: 2

24 Jan 2008 14:32 cyclone fpga kit robot

easyPIC5 board is a good choice!

Check it to, Also it has and others.:
http://www.mikroe.com/

B.

tomasulo

Joined: 15 Jan 2008
Posts: 8

24 Jan 2008 22:50 spartan 3e 1600 starter kit

Hi,

For general use i will buy the SPARTAN3E Starter Kit. $149
You can see at:

http://www.xilinx.com/products/devkits/HW-SPAR3E-SK-US-G.htm

Regards,
Tomasulo

s3034585

Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 226
Helped: 1

25 Jan 2008 3:45 starterkit fpga

Hi Guys

I want to control 4-6 servo motors, sensors, RC interface initially and later add some image processing to it. I came across xilinx virtex4 board Xilinx Virtex-4 FX12/ Spartan 3 Mini-Module which supports power PC also. This board cost 250$ and based board cost 195$. Is this board sutiable for the application i mentioned. Do you thing it is worth buying this board.

Guys ur opinions would help me selecting the board.

Thanks in advance
Tama

BooM

Joined: 30 Aug 2007
Posts: 77
Helped: 2

25 Jan 2008 17:29 fpga student kit

you should check the virtex's architecture about the image processing.

chrisbarty

Joined: 06 May 2005
Posts: 9

07 Feb 2008 22:40 spartan 3e architecture

Spartan-3E starter may be ok

jeffrey.johnson

Joined: 10 Feb 2008
Posts: 7

11 Dec 2008 19:05 choosing an fpga starter kit

I recommend the ML505/ML506/ML507 and XUPV5 boards from Xilinx. For more information here is a website with example designs and tutorials to get you started with any of those boards:

http://www.fpgadeveloper.com