(Digital Designs with VHDL) any suggestions?

[MAAASD]

hello all,
i hope you can tell me how to start in digital design using VHDL
i truly am very new in this field and hope that you'll put me on the right track
please suggest me any books & any useful materials.
your replies are highly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

 

[shaiko]

http://www.amazon.com/VHDL-Primer-Jayaram-Bhasker/dp/0130965758
That's a good book.

Also, try this:
http://esd.cs.ucr.edu/labs/tutorial/

---------- Post added at 23:43 ---------- Previous post was at 22:25 ----------

What is your technical backround ?

 

[MAAASD]

---------- Post added at 23:43 ---------- Previous post was at 22:25 ----------

What is your technical backround ?

nothing i just need to start!
i know some basic information about logic gates and how to implement functions using gates
combinational circuits and some info. about sequential circuits
that's all .

 

[xtcx]

Just dont go for only book reading. Use a PC and try to write a piece of VHDL code by using some text books mentioned above. Not this only helps you learn, also provides more confidence. Just reading and learning will not always help. You will only realize many issues\hassles at the time of coding. Since you said you already knew some basic info, so jump start to use any free tools from e-vendors and start using the tutorials. Gone are the days for book reading. Tutorials are always there to guide you. This will help you gain tool knowledge too.

Just post if you need more info reg this....

 

[MAAASD]

@xtcx
firstly thanks for your reply
i've already tried some codes on Quartus
and i find it useful, so i need to continue such that the concepts i'll learn may help me in real life
so, what i need is to learn concepts that will be useful and the actual designs can be implemented in real life!
and know the difference between design techniques.
i hope i was clear

---------- Post added at 13:19 ---------- Previous post was at 13:03 ----------

should i buy an FPGA and try making examples on it?
heeeeey people please help!

---------- Post added at 13:24 ---------- Previous post was at 13:19 ----------

okey questions in another style
if i wish to work as a digital designer in future i believe that, the first step is to study,
i need to learn digital design by techniques related to the real life and not just a reading from books!
any help is much appreciated

 

[xtcx]

Well, joining a training center is one way, but again that is of squeezing too much money. Instead you can by an FPGA kit and start working. But buying FPGA kit is one real problem. Where are you located?, I'm from India and I find hard to get many vendors boards since shipment seems very limited. Parties like digilentic, terasic offer good boards and support, but I wonder if it is reachable to all people.

First prepare, whether you wanna be a design eng\verify eng. Based on that you can change your focus towards tool and language. Ofcourse your mind-set too.

As I told you reading books wont help much without hands-on the tools. First you dont need a dev board\kit in fact, trust me. Use a tool from vendors like Quartus\xilinx\synopsis. Select your language VHDL\Verilog. If you want to be more strong in verification, please choose verilog. It will be easy to learn as well as easy to upgrade to system Verilog or higher level of verification stages. Just start your design of projects from

gates-->counters-->state machines-->etc and get familiarize.

Once you feel like you are satisfied, then come back for a dev.board or something.

I'd say Dev.board for entry level\learner is not much useful....Dont waste your money. A simple FPGA board can cost you close to 100$ to 200$. Decide wise...

 

[shaiko]

These are my suggestions :

First, learn the basics of digital circuitry. I mean: all kind of Flip flops ,muxes, decoders, logic gates.
"HDL" - stand for hardware description laguage.
My point is: You have to "know what you want to say" and only after "how to say it"
VHDL is just a tool - Unlike software programming - with VHDL you program NOTHING. You describe hardware according to the capabilites of your device.

I suggest you become proficient with the digital logic I mentioned above and only then start with VHDL.

2. Second, download a simulator (modelsim is very common) and try to describle the simplest logic.

3. After a month or two of hard work, when you feel you grasped the consept - get an FPGA board and start working with real - world logic.

 

[MAAASD]

@ xtcx and shaiko
Thank you very much for you replies
i still feel confused but anyway, thanks!

 

[xtcx]

Yeah Shaiko is right. But since you already said you are somewhat good at all basics, maybe you can better proceed with learning the language like VHDL. First learn your language with a simulation tool. Since you said about quartus, Altera is providing Altera edition of modelsim. Hence use that as your source.

I would also advice to learn the tools in parallel to your learning process. Because unlike C compilers, the vendor specific tools are closely coupled with design language and its usage....

 

[MAAASD]

@xtcx
okey you're right, i think i should start to learn more about VHDL
Thanks for you and Shaiko, you've helped me

 

[xtcx]

@xtcx
okey you're right, i think i should start to learn more about VHDL
Thanks for you and Shaiko, you've helped me

You are welcome.
You can check this book.
https://www.amazon.com/RTL-Hardware-Design-Using-VHDL/dp/0471720925

I have personally felt so good about this book. It has given too many examples and that you can go through slowly and learn well. If you google for this e-book, you many find it too

Cheers

 

[MAAASD]

@xtcx
very well, i'll try this book as you suggested
exactly what i need
thanks again