I have to ask..
What is the purpose of these developments boards? All you can do is write some VHDL/Verilog, simulate, do a synthesis, place&route and then put it in an FPGA that's on a board.
With that FPGA, since it's on a board you haven't designed, can: drive a few leds, be a target on a PCI bus, and that's about it.
Couldn't you do all of this in simulation instead or am I missing something?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying these boards are a waste of money or anything, I am just curious as to why would someone buy them. Could you use these to test a MP3 decoding algorythm for example? How would you do that? Provide data to/from the FPGA using the PCI bus? Would that be a good example of using such a board?