free tool for running Verilog/VHDL in win 7

[jleung213]

Hi all, I am a newbie for FPGA design. My background in EE is purely analog and I have done analog IC design for many years. But I need to learn how to do FPGA for my future job. I would like to learn how to do verilog/VHDL programming by myself and would also like to get some hands on experience from my own laptop. Can you guys recommend any free software tools to run verilog/VHDL in win 7? I don't need to load the program in to a FPGA board, such as a spartan 3 board. All I need is to be able to run some code and take a look at the waveform. Thanks so much.

 

[frznchckn]

Congrats on getting into a brave new world of digital design jleung213!

1) I'd install cygwin.

2) Try icarus verilog (iverilog) to sim Verilog designs Main Page - Icarus Verilog. This tool is very easy to compile and use.

3) asic-world.com has good free tutorials mainly for Verilog

4) GTKWave is a great free waveform viewer.

Good luck!

 

[hock]

actel gives one year free license for its tools.

hock

 

[TrickyDicky]

You can get modelsim starter from altera.
Or look into GHDL that is completly free if you want a VHDL simulator.

 

[imbichie]

I think you can use the GHDL with the waveform viewer GTKWave, they are simply free and easy to use.