What is the best way to go?

[djalli]

I see PLD, SPLD, GAL, CPLD and FPGA designs. I have only LogicWorks 4.0.


Where others like Modelsim, Xilinx go? (in my school labs they are installed and I even can get copies of them).
What about hardware?



What it is easier for me to start an education in these fields at least to have a somewhat solid backgrounds in future.

I am a senior in Electronics in Telecom and RF and as closer I got to the digital world is making fun with PIC uC's.

Please help me here.

djalli

 

[eltonjohn]

So let me see if i understand ..you are a RF guy that want to do digital design .. Well vhdl and FPGAs are a little away for now. You should start by learning COMBINATORIAL and SEQUENTIAL digital design that will give you the basis to design digital circuitry .. Otherwise VHDL and all the FGA stuff don't make sense . Get a good book on DIGITAL design i think that if you are really commited in a month you can get a lot of insight .Once you know how to simplify combinatorial stuff ,create state machines ,counters ,then you could start practicing this stuff with a PAL or gal .. The reason is that this architectures require you to go to the lowest level .So one of these little chips is like having a DIGITAL lab .. you can design counters , addders , multiplexers etc . Go with a language like PALASM to programme those chips. is great to practice your digital design skills .The language is simple and close to the mathematical logical statements .. Only after that you can start learning a high level language like VERILOG or VHDL

Cheers

 

[djalli]

eltonjohn thank you.

I know VHDL because even through I took a course in VHDL programming in school I did some projects (simple memmory, counters, shifters, gates, adders with carry etc.) on my own for fun that time. But all we did and what I did was entire in ModelSim in VHDL.

Where to go from there? Do I need some DSP, FGPA board to program these codes in chips using VHDL or PALASM. Just like I do with PIC? When most important circuittry to come ahead. There is very little information on these circuitry known to me were I can relate VHDL-programmed circuits. Or I just dont know which is the case for me.

Is any good book to go where hardware meets software. Do not know how to link these two worlds.

thanks again