Dummy's Guide to FPGA's?

Tue Apr 05, 2005 6:48 pm   

Is there such a thing? Suitable for an old guy like me that thinks
graphically, in terms of gates, and not in terms of code?

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: "Mellow Yellow (The Electrical Banana)"
KG6RCR

Tue Apr 05, 2005 6:59 pm   

"Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott"
<j.michael.elliottAT_at_REMOVETHEOBVIOUSgmailDOT.com> wrote in message
news:HKGdnfcS5NU5ds_fRVn-jQ_at_adelphia.com...

You can use schematic entry with the Xilinx and Altera tools, if you wish.

Leon
--
Leon Heller, G1HSM
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller

Tue Apr 05, 2005 7:45 pm   

On 4/5/2005 12:59 PM Leon Heller wrote:


And the Dummy's Guide?

--
--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: "Mellow Yellow (The Electrical Banana)"
KG6RCR

Tue Apr 05, 2005 9:09 pm   

On Tue, 05 Apr 2005 12:48:51 -0700, "Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott"
<j.michael.elliottAT_at_REMOVETHEOBVIOUSgmailDOT.com> wrote:


Haven't seen anything - I just lept in and started by drawing
schematics.

Altera's design software even lets you use 7474s and 7400s, and other
TTL-equivalent "parts" when designing for their FPGAs.

If you study the help documents and sample designs, you'll find that
some things are easier to do using AHDL or other "programming
language" than with schematics - and you can mix schematics and AHDL
in one design.


--
Peter Bennett VE7CEI
email: peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca
GPS and NMEA info and programs: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter/index.html
Newsgroup new user info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/nnq

Wed Apr 06, 2005 12:07 am   

I wouldn't consider it a dummy's guide but "The Design Warrior's Guide
to FPGAs" by Clive "Max" Maxfield is a good resource for both novice
and veteran engineers.

Wed Apr 06, 2005 4:37 am   

"Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott"
<j.michael.elliottAT_at_REMOVETHEOBVIOUSgmailDOT.com> wrote in message
news:HKGdnfcS5NU5ds_fRVn-jQ_at_adelphia.com...




If you get DesignDirect, made by Lattice, you grab a gate icon
to the screen and your desiging your FGPA.

Some reading , if your close to a university, check out the bookstore.
Here's some books ,

The Design Warrior's Guide to FPGAs : Devices, Tools and Flows , Author:
Clive Maxfield

The Practical Xilinx Designer Lab Book
by David Van Den Bout

Xilinx Student Edition (Version 1.3)
by Xilinx Inc

Programmable Logic: PLDs and FPGAs
by Richard C. Seals, G. F. Whapshott

VHDL Starter's Pack (Book and CD-ROM)
by Sudhakar Yalamanchili

Wed Apr 06, 2005 4:59 am   

"Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott"
<j.michael.elliottAT_at_REMOVETHEOBVIOUSgmailDOT.com> wrote in message
news:tv2dnR0Y4o1KZc_fRVn-uw_at_adelphia.com...

There is a nice 'cookbook' approach in this book:

http://users.ece.gatech.edu/~hamblen/book/bookse.htm

but it rapidly progresses to the use of VHDL.

I've got an introduction to using CPLDs on my web site:

http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller/pld_starter.html

They are smaller then FPGAs and might be more suitable for your purposes.

Leon

Fri Apr 08, 2005 11:46 pm   

On 4/5/2005 12:48 PM Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott wrote:


Thanks to all!

--

Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: "Mellow Yellow (The Electrical Banana)"
KG6RCR