Pro suitable for beginner?

[ahagele]

Sorry to ask this silly basic  question.

I'm new to FPGA and like the concept and tools for the Papilio system. The pro board looks most appealing to me.

I would like to know if the step by step simple startup tools as described for the 'One' are also as simple when using the 'Pro' board?

Basically can a beginner like me get the something like the AVR softcore to work with step by step instructions? I've read various posts and docs on it but I still can't quite judge.

Thanks for the help.

 

[F6EEQ]

I had the same question some month ago, and the answer is YES !!!

 

Basically there is no difference in the FPGA management between 200/500/PRO, but Spartan 6 has more possibility.

 

The difficulty to learn will be the same (and believe me I'ts not so easy!!) but you will use the same software (XILINX ISE) and you use the same SOC (ZPuino) but with much more capacity. As the price is not so different I would definitely recommend PRO + Logic start Megawing.

 

After it's up to you to make progress, but the forum is a great help thanks to very keen contributore as Jack, Alvie and Hamster to name only a few.

 

I got my PRO in July, and I'm beginning to construct some easy projects and its a lot of fun ... and some headhakes too!!

 

Softcore is OK, but it's a little bit difficult to apprehend in the beginning, although some example are provided, but you fire them without understanding all the ins and out.

 

Best start is with Hamster book "introduction to Spartan FPGA".

I'm not yet at the end, but at least it is progressive, interesting and does not require too much knowledge nor additional components than the LS.

 

WIKIPEDIA is also a very good source (search easily FPGA).

There is a very good tutorial, but it is in French langage... which is perfectly OK for me!!!

 

 

Feel free to ask mor info.

Have fun.

[Jack Gassett]

Great answer, thank you!

 

I'd just like to add that I'm making a big push right now to release a series of tutorials about using the Papilio Schematic Library to build your own Soft Processor based designs. The first is Getting Started with Papilio Schematic Library and I'm working on another about adding 10 UARTs to the ZPUino. Keep watching the new Gadget Factory Learn site for more.

 

Jack.