can we make FPGA kit ourself

[malik_123]

if i buy
XILINX - XC3S50-4PQG208C - FPGA, SPARTAN-3A, 50K GATES, 208PQFP New

can then i make a simple kit , which means can i make some arrangement so that i just get the I/O and programing capability of FPGA ?

wana save the money in buying kit

 

[Jack// ani]

Short answer is yes you can, you can find schematic on FPGA development board for reference.

Fabricating PCB (this I assume you'll do on your own) and soldering all the parts together is a big challenge though.

 

[qwertyuiop415263]

it is very difficult and time consuming,nearly impossible. No one will suggest you to make your own FPGA board.

 

[malik_123]

however , what if i take out just few pins lets say 30 or 20 out and then use those pins to experience with the fpga ,
should not it be helpful to learn FPGA at very less cost ,
actually i am unable to find some low cost kit in my country ,

Just let me know / indicate some article , which tells me how can i upload the program in fpga
is there any need of programmer as we need to program microcontrollers ?

 

[Jack// ani]

it is very difficult and time consuming,nearly impossible. No one will suggest you to make your own FPGA board.

I would never say its nearly impossible, provided you have right set of tools to handle the job.

But of course, do not expect to get extraordinary results.

 

[FvM]

If you consider a simple FPGA Development kit, e.g. a Terasic Altera DE0 or an Arrow BeMicro stick, you won't be able to build
it for the retail price. It's sponsored by the FPGA vendor and the component costs are considerably higher, not talking of the
problems of PCB prototype manufacturing and SMD assembly.

Personally I'm used to design and assemble functional prototypes of instruments, that often include a FPGA. So I can say, it's possible
of course. But I'm relying on a professional PCB prototype service (e.g. PCB-Pool or local service providers). And it's not saving money
but simply necessary to achieve a particular functionality. I'm basically glad, if I can utilize an existing Dev. Kit for tests.
Design of a retail product is a different thing, but involving a different level of development and production effort anyway.

To answer your specific question about FPGA programming/configuration: All vendors have implemented a JTAG interface,
that allows a volatile configuration and is also needed for test purposes. You should have a JTAG interface that's supported
by the respective vendor's tools. A simple printer port connected JTAG adapter can be build for most tools. Non-volatile
configuration memory can be usually prgrammed through JTAG as well.

 

[pfaes]

I also bought the BeMicro SDK last week. Nice and cheap development board. I'd strongly advice buying one instead of building one yourself.

Philippe

 

[zinahe]

Shameless plug

Anybody interested in the "Spartan 3A Evaluation Kit" ? ? ? Now is your chance . . . - Technical Forums

I'm trying to get this board re-initiated by Avnet. It's one of the cheapest and most versatile FPGA boards that one can possibly find. Apparently, the company has marked it end-of-life.

 

[qian15]

If you want ,you can.

 

[ali_umair21]

why are you going for an FPGA kit in order to learn FPGA???? simulators like Modelsim and many other are powerful enough to model your verilog/VHDL code like real hardware. Even though, many of professional fpga engineers dont need a hardware setup to verify their module's functionality!! Synthesis tools are enough to make you sure that the code you write is synthesizeable or not!!

 

[Scrts]

Usually beginners like blinking LEDs, but not some waves in ModelSim Also You won't be able to simulate such things like synthesizable DAC or ADC (yes - that is possible).

 

[lucbra]

I wouldn't try anymore to reinstate a kit containing the Spartan3A - If I had the money I would go for a newer technology. And like FvM said there is a broad range of FPGA kits on the marketspace that are sponsored from several vendors that have generic I/O's to play with. Some have more functionality (like Ethernet or a lot of memory) to fit your needs.

I'm using them very often to test some algorithms. Afterwards, I start designing my boards, and use some of the local PCB providers for my prototypes.

 

[mrflibble]

why are you going for an FPGA kit in order to learn FPGA???? simulators like Modelsim and many other are powerful enough to model your verilog/VHDL code like real hardware. Even though, many of professional fpga engineers dont need a hardware setup to verify their module's functionality!! Synthesis tools are enough to make you sure that the code you write is synthesizeable or not!!

There is something to be said for seeing your design working on actual physical hardware. ;-)

But I do agree that a large part of the battle is won purely during synthesis and simulation, before anything gets programmed into a device.

As for make a kit yourself... Sure you can. Does it make sense? In most cases, no it doesn't. Just buy one of the many eval boards. They provide very good value for money. Plus you don't get sidetracked into a project all of it's own.