Gowin Semiconductor, Real or Fake?

[Rick C]

On 13/11/2019 07:47, Rick C wrote:

On Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at 4:10:10 AM UTC-5, Michael Kellett wrote:
On 12/11/2019 01:09, Brane2 wrote:
You might be interested in gowin's program, especially their LittleBee series.

To me, it looks like they've nailed.

To me, this is everything that MachXO3 should have been...

https://www.gowinsemi.com/en/

Have you worked out where to buy parts from Gowin? They have a small set
of third rate distributors, none of whom seem to hold stock.
The US distributor (edge Electronics), lists some prices that look OK,
but they have no parts.
Until they get parts into a distributor I've heard of, not much use.

I can't even download anything. They tell you to sign up but once I fill in the form it tells me I haven't filled in everything. Their chat is down. I give up.

Curses !
I was hoping it was just me.

I'm starting to wonder if they are a real company or not...

I recall looking at the RISC-V products a while back and I think they have a combined part FPGA/MCU (the holy grail for me). I don't recall if they had suitable packages for my needs though. Or maybe I just wasn't satisfied with the tools?? Just can't recall. I seem to recall everything I got about the parts actually came from a source other than their web site. Is another company involved in distributing or marketing this company's devices?

They almost seem to be selling swampland in Florida.

--

Rick C.

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[Rick C]

Now I think I am remembering the AG6K and AG10K from AGM, who's parts are also mostly discontinued.

Here is an interesting MCU/FPGA from their web site.

http://www.alta-gate.com/products.aspx?lang=&id=66&p=15

I believe when I dug around I found AGM was connected to another company in an unclear manner, maybe it was Gowin, can't remember. It may have been Anlogic, or maybe that's the 'A' in AGM... lol


Here is an excerpt from a two year old press release...

"AGM has independent intellectual property rights in software and circuits. In terms of products, it is currently compatible with mainstream manufacturers and the software and hardware ecology is unchanged. The internal interface of the chip is compatible with mainstream manufacturers, and the PCB board level can be directly replaced and compiled with AGM software. Import programming. AGM currently supplies devices that can be directly replaced:  CPLD series for ALTERA MAX II series, including EPM240T100, EPM570T144, EPM570T100;  Mini1K series 1K (QFN48), providing cost-sensitive design solutions for LATTICE iCE series;  low-end FPGA SoC Series for ALTERA Cyclone-IV EP4CE6, EP4CE10, EP4CE22;  High-end FPGA SoC series BlueWind for the Xilinx Virtex series."

This seems to be saying they are legally supplying copies of other company's chips including Lattice, Altera (Intel) and Xilinx. I also found a news article with an interesting leadin.

https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/china-fpga-strategy-takes-shape-2017-10/

I didn't know any of this was banned or restricted.

--

Rick C.

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https://hackaday.com/2019/11/03/the-5-fpga/

https://www.seeedstudio.com/Sipeed-Tang-Nano-FPGA-board-powered-by-GW1N-1-FPGA-p-4304.html

 

[Brane2]

I managed to install Gowin EDA on Linux ( Gentoo) - both versions - Windoiws ( it seems to start under Wine) and Linux version.

Haven't tried to work with Win version yet.

I've got Linux version to start, but it Synplify Pro part stubbornly refuses to recognise license file...

BTW, they've just announced first FPGA with a friggin Bluetooth stack...

 

[Rick C]

On Wednesday, November 13, 2019 at 8:19:08 AM UTC-5, Someone Else wrote:

On 13/11/2019 07:47, Rick C wrote:
On Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at 4:10:10 AM UTC-5, Michael Kellett wrote:
On 12/11/2019 01:09, Brane2 wrote:
You might be interested in gowin's program, especially their LittleBee series.

To me, it looks like they've nailed.

To me, this is everything that MachXO3 should have been...

https://www.gowinsemi.com/en/

Have you worked out where to buy parts from Gowin? They have a small set
of third rate distributors, none of whom seem to hold stock.
The US distributor (edge Electronics), lists some prices that look OK,
but they have no parts.
Until they get parts into a distributor I've heard of, not much use.

I can't even download anything. They tell you to sign up but once I fill in the form it tells me I haven't filled in everything. Their chat is down. I give up.

Curses !
I was hoping it was just me.

I think I cracked the code. I was at this page and tried to download the tools. That took me to a signup page and that seemed to work. It is not real clear that it worked, but it seems to have.

https://alcom.be/category/overview/electronic-component-solutions/semiconductors/gowin-semiconductor/programmable-logic-gowin-semiconductor/

--

Rick C.

-+ Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
-+ Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209

 

[Rick C]

On Thursday, November 14, 2019 at 10:45:08 AM UTC-5, Brane2 wrote:

I managed to install Gowin EDA on Linux ( Gentoo) - both versions - Windoiws ( it seems to start under Wine) and Linux version.

Haven't tried to work with Win version yet.

I've got Linux version to start, but it Synplify Pro part stubbornly refuses to recognise license file...

BTW, they've just announced first FPGA with a friggin Bluetooth stack...

And an ARC processor. Seems it has been around a while and is not a red headed step child, but has been used quite a bit. I've just never heard of it.

They seem to provide packages that are useful and not BGAs, so that's a big plus for me. But if I can't get data sheets and can't get parts, it's a no-go for sure.

When simple things get complex my frustration drives all knowledge out of my mind. Right now I just rediscovered that the GW1N is a family, not a part size and they have up to 9000 LUT4s in an 88 pin, QFN package. Edge sells the 4608LUT4 QFN88 (GW1NR-LV4QN88C5) for under $4.

--

Rick C.

-- Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
-- Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209

 

[Brane2]

Yeah, forgot to warn you.

You have to register adn login first.

Also, even after that downloads happen to fail.

It helps to start them by clicking the same link some time after that ( about a minute later).

I still haven't cracked the Synario licence.

I think I've stumbled over some document describing manual tweaking of the licence needed, but can't find it now...