iCEBreaker bitsy project status - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: owiecc
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 03, 2023, 03:40:09 pm
content: https://www.crowdsupply.com/1bitsquared/icebreaker-bitsy-fpgais in a permanent coming soon status. I like the form factor and would like use it. Does anyone know if the project is abandoned at this stage? I assumed it was only the chip shortage that put the brakes on it but I can see the FPGAs are now easily available.I don't know what is the state of software support. Would like to hear from someone that has access to some prototypes of this board.It is OSHW so I am thinking of just making some PCBs and soldering it myself. Is anyone else interested? I could make a small batch and send to people (ideally within EU).

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 03, 2023, 10:24:51 pm
content: I can't tell whether there would be any sizable interest in that, but given the number of replies you got so far, I think you'll have to test that elsewhere if you really wanna know.Be aware that there's already the UPDuino for that kind of form factor and the same FPGA (but the UPDuino has more IOs broken out.) I have a couple of these.OTOH, the iCEBreaker-bitsy has a PSRAM chip (which the UPDuino does not), so that could be handy for some applications. Another plus is the DFU bootloader.In terms of "software support", you can use Yosys and related open-source tools, but you can also use Lattice Radiant, just like with the UPduino or any other iCE40UP-based board. I don't think there's much of anything more than this to know, but maybe this particular project has already provided HDL modules for supporting PSRAM or various other things? Don't know.So, personally no need for this, but possibly others could find it useful if they have never tried the iCE40UP, or any other small, low-power FPGA before. I think these are great for a lot of applications that don't require a beefy, expensive and power-hungry FPGA and for which people would otherwise resort to discrete logic, trying various contortions with MCUs to implement stuff they're not made for, etc.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2024, 09:42:29 am
content: https://github.com/icebreaker-fpga/icebreaker/blob/master/hardware/bitsy-v1.1c/ref/icebreaker-bitsy-v1.1c_schematic.pdf...bummer this isn't still a thing. I need an inexpensive FPGA and PSRAM solution for a new thing and this would have been a good testbed.Anyone know of something else like this with an inexpensive FPGA and SPI PSRAM? Preferably with a working driver (and chips that are still available).

author: asmi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2024, 01:46:14 pm
content: Build it yourself! It seems fairly easy and straightforward.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2024, 05:11:42 pm
content: Quote from: asmi on August 22, 2024, 01:46:14 pmThat's the plan. But I'm not an fpga expert so it would be a huge time saver to have the psram in a known working state out of the box. At least for the initial investigation.

author: asmi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2024, 08:31:46 pm
content: Quote from: Smokey on August 22, 2024, 05:11:42 pmPSRAM is supposed to pretend to be an SRAM and as such typically does not require any initialization and is ready to respond to commands right after powerup sequence is completed and resets (both internal POR and external if it exists) are cleared.ice40 series is one of the most simple FPGAs to design a board for - there are plenty of examples online, and it requires just two bucks/LDOs for power. Besides, if it's a personal/hobby project, you can always post schematics (or even PCB) here and ask for a review.

author: DiTBho
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2024, 09:42:08 pm
content: What is the current state of Open Source support for VHDL on synthesizers?Still limited to Verilog-only, or is there anything new for VHDL?I am not following the development