Starter FPGA dev board recommendations for less than $100? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: RicBent
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 22, 2018, 07:38:49 pm
content: Hi together!I'm looking for FPGA development board to finallly get started with them (have been pushing this into the future for far too long...).Anyways, I am looking for a development board that does not come with that many extras. Having a few LEDs, a pair of switches and maybe some RAM would be enough for me.Additionally I have brainstormed a few projects including emulating some retro game console cartridges meaning that I at least need 40 GPIO pins. A built in USB blaster would be nice too but not necessary.My budget would be arround $100.My favourite I came across so far was the DE0-Nano by terasIC mainly because of the provided features that exactly fit my needings.Though I wasn't able to find any more boards that fit my needings and fits my budget.Any other suggestions and alternatives to the DE0-Nano?Thanks in advance!

author: klaff
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2018, 07:48:59 pm
content: I think the Zynq family is very cool. Here's a $90 board.https://www.xilinx.com/products/boards-and-kits/1-odbhjd.html

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2018, 07:49:19 pm
content: There are lots of cheap boards around. Whether they serve your purpose is another question.A fairly modern board is the Arty7 at $99https://store.digilentinc.com/arty-a7-artix-7-fpga-development-board-for-makers-and-hobbyists/

author: daybyter
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2018, 10:38:56 pm
content: A used de0 nano would fall into your budget, but I think it makes no sense to buy it, now that the de10 nano is out:http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&No=1046But since Xilinx has bigger market share, I would look there, if you want to use your skills in your job later.But for playing with retro stuff, even a lattice for a few bucks might be enough.Or just download one of the FPGA tools (for free) and use the simulator for now.

author: AndreZheng
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2018, 12:40:16 am
content: How about this Cyclone V FPGA provided by QMTECH?https://m.ebay.com/itm/Altera-Intel-FPGA-Core-Board-Cyclone-V-CycloneV-5CEFA2F23-SDRAM/173165534185?hash=item2851785be9:g:ssEAAOSwSKtaWe6h

author: hamster_nz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2018, 02:40:58 am
content: Find "how to" documentation you like the look of, then use that board.Nothing will be harder than starting on a poorly documented board, that nobody else has used.

author: ale500
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2018, 06:16:53 am
content: QuoteIf you are starting with fpga, a higher end FPGA like the one on the de10 nano may not be the best approach.A DE0 Nano has the advantage that many projects use it as a target because it has been out for a while, and a used one may be an affordable option.I got a DE10-Lite (MAX10- based) it doesn't have as many free IOs as the DE0-Nano but has a larger but equivalent FPGA, and the same amount of SDRAM.You can get 20€ boards from aliexpress, not the best but very affordable. I got 2 with a 10k LE Cyclone IV and one with a 16 k LE Spartan6. They work but they are pretty bare-bones.Trenz electronics, here in Germany has many Xilinx boards, a few are affordable with a 100€ budget.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2018, 07:12:35 am
content: If you want something that has loads of bandwidth, here's one that is pretty much on budget with USB 3.0:https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cypress-CYUSB3014-USB-3-0-Development-Board-with-Xilinx-Artix7-FPGA-XC7A35T/173165539747Or about $35 less for USB 2.0 only. I went for the USB 3.0 option because I know I can use the bandwidth (high speed ADCs) - in fact, ever since I got my Atlys Spartan 6 board, I was always on the lookout for a way to get a high bandwidth connection to my PC at an affordable price. 6 years ago, that sort of bandwidth on a FPGA board is something Tiffany Yep would have called a bargain at 10 times the price!Now I wonder if it might be possible to program the FPGA to act as a SATA device and then use a USB 3.1 to SATA converter. SATA tops out at 6Gbps so not that much of a gain over USB 3.0 but if it could be possible to use multiple in parallel going to separate host controllers...

author: NivagSwerdna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2018, 10:29:05 am
content: Quote from: RicBent on February 22, 2018, 07:38:49 pmIMHO numbering of these devices is super confusing but... don't buy a DE0-Nano.DE10-Nano is the way to go. DE10-Nano is a SoC device, many more fun possibilites, however these devices have limited 'gadgets'... so in the end I bought an obsolete secondhand DE2 so I could blink lights etc.... it's very fun.[Actually I now own a DE2, DE0-Nano and a DE10-Nano... this stuff gets a bit addictive, The DE10-Nano is primarily for arcade core developmenthttps://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/wiki]

author: NorthGuy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2018, 01:48:11 pm
content: Quote from: RicBent on February 22, 2018, 07:38:49 pmCMOD A7 is probably as basic as it gets, in terms of price too - $75. It has Artix-7 and nice shape which you can stick into breadboard.

author: m_t
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2018, 03:18:20 pm
content: Quote from: RicBent on February 22, 2018, 07:38:49 pmThe ICE40 FPGAs from Lattice might be powerful enough for your needs and their devkits are pretty cheap, e.g.http://www.latticesemi.com/icestickorhttp://www.latticesemi.com/en/Products/DevelopmentBoardsAndKits/iCE40HX8KBreakoutBoard. And there is an open source toolchain:http://www.clifford.at/icestorm/.

author: mac.6
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2018, 03:30:41 pm
content: Digilent Arty A7:+ some switch/buttons/led on bard+ cable programmer on board+ Is a big FGPA enough+ DDR-SDRAM+ Pmod interfaces+ arduino shield but don't forget it's a 1.8/3.3v only board- No SRAM but DDR (difficult to implement for beginner)- Some pmod are not short protected due to high speed requirementsDo not use a soc based fpga because they add another layer of complexity to learn. Keep them for stepping up afterward.

author: asmi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2018, 04:20:42 pm
content: Quote from: mac.6 on February 23, 2018, 03:30:41 pmThere is no need to implement it as Xilinx provides a free controller IP which can be interacted with using either standard AXI bus, or UI layer directly. Both are very well documented and are quite easy to use (even if somewhat overwhelming at first due to sheer amount of signals, but it all starts to make sense very quickly once you read the docs).

author: iMo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2018, 05:41:33 pm
content: DE10-Lite is an interesting gadget too - 50k LEs for $85 !http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&No=1021Btw, you may get Spartan6 LX16 (with 32MB sdram) for $20https://www.ebay.com/itm/XC6SLX16-Spartan-6-Xilinx-FPGA-Development-Board-with-32Mb-Micro-SDRAM-Memory/202123540802?epid=3010314390&hash=item2f0f807942:g:vQIAAOSwR2RaF8gqand Artix-7-35T w/ 256MB DDR3 for $60..https://www.ebay.com/itm/Xilinx-FPGA-Artix7-Artix-7-Core-Board-XC7A35T-DDR3-256MB/173165541550?hash=item28517878ae:g:P8sAAOSwZR9abIOt

author: jgalak
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2018, 09:52:16 pm
content: I just got an Altera DE2 on ebay for around $100. Older board (Cyclone II), but quite nice. The book/exercises I was using called for it or the DE2-15, but the latter is current production and much more money.

author: NivagSwerdna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2018, 12:38:14 pm
content: Quote from: jgalak on March 05, 2018, 09:52:16 pmThis was my first purchase too. Make sure you check out Bruce Lands youtube videos etc athttps://people.ece.cornell.edu/land/courses/ece5760/index_old.htmlOnce you've mastered all that...https://people.ece.cornell.edu/land/courses/ece5760/(and buy a DE10-Nano which is SoC)

author: jgalak
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2018, 01:55:18 pm
content: Quote from: NivagSwerdna on March 06, 2018, 12:38:14 pmThanks! Will look into them. My Alma Mater, even

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2018, 05:02:04 pm
content: I have a DE2 board and it's really quite nice.One of my favorite dev boards is the little EP2C5T144C8 mini boards you can get for under $15 from any number of Chinese sellers. They're compact and cheap, not much on the board but you can make a little daughter board with anything you want on it that will plug right in. The FPGA is rather old and small but it's enough to fit a complete 8 bit retro computer in it, and I've used these boards to recreate several late 70s arcade games.

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2018, 05:16:32 pm
content: Just my 0.02$ but...If you just want to get 'in' FPGA's, I wouldn't bother with embedded uC's and the like. Just like you said: get a few LEDs and switches. I would recommend anything from Terrasic (decent documentation and SW to set you up) and I would get the DE10-Lite. Simple, cheap, some expansion headsers (including something akin to Arduino headers), some 7-segments to play around with and an accelerometer if you want to start playing with a serial bus of some kind.

author: lgbeno
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2018, 10:43:39 pm
content: I would also suggest DE0-Nano, its a great first FPGA board. Just enough features to learn a lot but not too many to make it overly complex. DE10 is an interesting board too but the HPS adds a layer of complexity.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro