Is this a good FPGA development board for a beginner? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: finlaymorrison
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 03, 2020, 04:08:14 pm
content: I've recently started a course on Electronic Engineering, and in some of the labs we are using a Cyclone V FPGA development board, these are out of my budget for personal use so I am looking for a cheaper alternative, ishttps://uk.banggood.com/ALTERA-Cyclone-IV-EP4CE6-FPGA-Development-Board-Kit-Altera-EP4CE-NIOSII-FPGA-Board-and-USB-Downloader-Infrared-Controller-p-1622523.htmla good deal for the board, because it seems pretty cheap but there may be things it is missing that are important. For me the board is £27.54.

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2020, 04:47:37 pm
content: I was all over that board as an excellent beginner device until I read the bit where there are no manuals written in English. I didn't bother opening the downloads once I saw the Chinese characters in the titles.Look into the manual issue before you even think about buying the board.It might be possible to work around the manuals and, for the price, it may be worth buying it anyway. OTOH, manuals seem important, to me...I have a couple of the Lattice ICEstick boards and they're pretty nice. The downside is they have no 'gadgets' like 7 segment displays or swithces.https://www.latticestore.com/searchresults/tabid/463/searchid/1/searchvalue/ice40hx1k-stick-evn/default.aspx

author: Canis Dirus Leidy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2020, 09:12:38 am
content: Quote from: finlaymorrison on November 03, 2020, 04:08:14 pmFor a similar money (and $3 for Chinese USB Blaster at nearest ebay/aliexpress seller) it's better takethisboard (orthisif you need more GPIO pins instead of onboard bells and whistles, like VGA interface and Ethernet transceiver) with EP4CE15.P.S. They even havesome documentation in English.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2020, 04:15:09 pm
content: As a beginner, I would rather go with Digilent boards.https://store.digilentinc.com/fpga-development-boards-kits-from-digilent/Get the academic pricing, resource center gives you plenty of examples and they are pretty much the standard boards for academic purposes. Meaning that you can use it for your diploma work or other purposes, without explaining why you are using some random chinese board. You also get software license with some boards. It's better on the long run.

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2020, 06:21:49 pm
content: Quote from: blueskull on November 03, 2020, 04:42:29 pmThe EP4CE6 is actually identical to the EP4CE10. Altera/Intel uses the same die, no fuses burned. Just compile in Quartus for EP4CE10 and it will program and work giving you almost double sized FPGA for free.Even when you scan JTAG, Intel's programmer asks you if your PCB has an EP4CE6 or EP4CE10 because it cannot tell.

author: radiolistener
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2020, 03:17:29 pm
content: As other said, 6 kLE is too small for these days. It looks very outdated.You can look at this board with EP4CE15 (15 kLE) and onboard GMII:https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33007471265.htmlon 11.11 you can buy it with discount for just 24.21 USD.I have this board, so you can ask me, if you have questions about it.