Suggest me a Board to get complete knowledge on FPGA


vinay

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Hello all, I need suggestion regarding buying a board. I am well experienced in writing verilog and vhdl but never worked on FPGA Board (I have zero knowledge on Board). How can I get Complete understanding of FPGA board and which one you suggest (I am confused in buying Papilio pro or Papilio Duo and Mega wings) 

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If you plan on using a ZPUino Soft Processor to complete most of your tasks and you want to build System on Chip designs using DesignLab then the Papilio Pro is your best fit because it uses SDRAM. SDRAM is cheaper so you get more of it (8MB) but the downside is that it is difficult to use in in your own VHDL/Verilog designs. With the ZPUino Soft Processor there is an SDRAM controller included so you don't need to learn anything special to take advantage of the SDRAM.

 

If you are more interested in learning Verilog/VHDL then the Papilio DUO will probably be a better fit since it uses SRAM memory instead of SDRAM. SRAM is extremely easy to use in your code and does not have any special timing requirements. The downside is that SRAM is more expensive and the most you can get in the Papilio DUO is 2MB.

 

Hope that helps,

Jack.

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Hello Jack, thank you for quick response. I bought Papilio Pro with mega wing kit. Can you please suggest where and HOW to start  if you share any resource links for a naive person to start with(this is my first board, I didn't even work on any soft processor board earlier). What softwares needed to be downloaded. What things need to be known. I do have much theoretical knowledge but not practical

 

your reply is much appreciated 

thanks 

Vinay

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Xilinx ISE software:  The software for physically implementing Verilog/VHDL designs on Xilinx FPGA's.  This is not the newer software (Vivado) but it's the version which works with the Papilio Pro.  The free version is called "WebPack."  It's a large download, several gigabytes.  Found on Xilinx's website.

 

Data sheets for the chips on the Papilio Pro (SPI flash, SDRAM, FTDI USB interface): linked from the Papilio Pro hardware guide, http://www.papilio.cc/index.php?n=Papilio.PapilioPro.  You're not going to use all of them, but they're handy to have around for when you want something.

 

Similar information for devices/ports on whatever MegaWing you got.  Which MegaWing did you get?  There are several.  I've been using the Arcade MegaWing.

 

DesignLab software: http://forum.gadgetfactory.net/index.php?/files/file/236-papilio-designlab-ide/.

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Xilinx ISE software:  The software for physically implementing Verilog/VHDL designs on Xilinx FPGA's.  This is not the newer software (Vivado) but it's the version which works with the Papilio Pro.  The free version is called "WebPack."  It's a large download, several gigabytes.  Found on Xilinx's website.

 

Data sheets for the chips on the Papilio Pro (SPI flash, SDRAM, FTDI USB interface): linked from the Papilio Pro hardware guide, http://www.papilio.cc/index.php?n=Papilio.PapilioPro.  You're not going to use all of them, but they're handy to have around for when you want something.

 

Similar information for devices/ports on whatever MegaWing you got.  Which MegaWing did you get?  There are several.  I've been using the Arcade MegaWing.

 

DesignLab software: http://forum.gadgetfactory.net/index.php?/files/file/236-papilio-designlab-ide/.

Hi Jaxartes I bought logic start mega wing

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Ok.  Here are some additional resources, specific to that MegaWing:

http://papilio.cc/index.php?n=Papilio.LogicStartMegaWing.

On that page's "Quicklinks" section:

"LogicStart MegaWing Generic UCF" - used with the Xilinx ISE software to map pin names and functions to the pin numbers the software uses.  Also tells it how fast the clock is (32MHz).

"ADC128S102 SPI ADC Datasheet" - I'd say download this.  You don't have to read it, but if you want your Verilog/VHDL code to use that chip it's worth having.

"Download a PDF version of Mike Fields book" - It's a beginner introduction to VHDL, but it also explains how to deal with the FPGA side of things.

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  • 1 month later...

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