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selection of devboard for hobby project

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theUltimateSource

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hi,

I'd like to interface some Video output PHY's (HDMI, DP) with FPGA. I found some interesting boards, but they all have one common problem: NDA. For a hobby project, there's no way I'll get the needed documentation directly from the manufacturer.

I plan on relying on existing work accessible through the Internet to write my own device driver (bare metal), and found plenty of resources for a particular chip (SiI9134). However, there's no 100% guarantee that I can get complete information needed to successfully operate that PHY, which makes the purchase of a development board risky.

In a general way, how does this normally work? Since the devboard manufacturer is bound to NDA, can they provide support for their clients? Do they provide closed sourced driver, or nothing at all?

I know there's DP/DVI/HDMI cores for VHDL available, but I want to specifically interface with a PHY.

Aside from that, does anyone know where I can find the manufacturer website for SiI9134? Since Lattice Semiconductor bought Silicon Image, I can't find it.

What do you think of this project idea, should give up on it (I may end up with a new dev board without being able to use its periferals)?
 

Hi,

Why not sign the NDA?

Klaus
 

Hi,

Why not sign the NDA?

Klaus

hello @KlausST,

Is this an option, for private use, non-commercial application? I did not try to contact the manufacturer for this. Signing an NDA would be no problem for me :)
 

Hi,

I did not try to contact the manufacturer for this.

Then do it. Communication helps. Nothing bad can happen.

Klaus
 

I received response from NXP:

[...] (for the product in question, ) market is no more here and there is no more support bandwidth allocated

I believe that means there is an EOL for the chip. Naturally to say they do not have any documentation for me.

Good news is, I received response from the manufacturer of the Devboard, they'll provide supporting material for this.

As for the other board, still waiting for a reply.

What do you think of this project idea
In this context, I'd say if you want to be sure that you can actually work with a periferal that does require NDA, you depend on the support provided by the board manufacturer. Wether you want to rely on unofficial sources or not is a risk that you have to evaluate on your own.


I have no personal experience with NDA, so I am still curious:
In a general way, how does this normally work?

Assuming you are bound to NDA, how might this affect the way you provide your work to others? Is it closed-sourced, obfuscated, encrypted? In which way are you responsible to protect this data?
 

Hi,

The NDA comes with a lot of rules you have to observe.
They will tell you how you have to behave and what you have to do and what not.
Read through them before you sign it.

Klaus
 

To satisfying my curiosity, I was hoping for a somewhat generic example on how that affect design decisions, or the way I provide support to 3rd parties.
 

To satisfying my curiosity, I was hoping for a somewhat generic example on how that affect design decisions, or the way I provide support to 3rd parties.

Hello,

I must admit, that I don't understand this topic. Why not implement a HDMI codec by yourself (it is possible to achive on most of current FPGA boards). The HDMI codec is just a VGA controller with some more sophisticated shift registers. Here are few examples:

https://www.fpga4fun.com/HDMI.html

https://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/application_notes/xapp495_S6TMDS_Video_Interface.pdf

https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/27882/how-to-utilize-hdmi-port-on-fpga-basic

https://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/application_notes/xapp495_S6TMDS_Video_Interface.pdf

https://www.reddit.com/r/FPGA/comments/33ob4t/hdmi_output_using_fpga/

I assumed that you are going to use FPGA board for this project.

Regards
 

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