Learning VHDL on VHDL CPLD Course - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: PeeweePete
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 21, 2012, 09:19:00 am
content: I found this rather nice VHDL course for learning VHDL on a CPLDhttp://startingelectronics.com/software/VHDL-CPLD-course/You can actually build the hardware yourself at home and then follow the course. There are no SMT parts on the boards.According to the Blog entry on the website(http://blog.startingelectronics.com/?p=428), the course is not complete. (It looks like it is being added to weekly).So who is going to join me and follow the course?(BTW I discovered this course after looking around the website that published the radio controlled watermelonhttp://startingelectronics.com/articles/radio-controlled-watermelon/)

author: mrflibble
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 21, 2012, 02:50:44 pm
content: More of a verilog person myself, but I really love the watermelon! XD

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 12:45:57 am
content: Good find! I shall certainly be looking at it, i've done a bit with modifying other people's code, but I always find it good to get a refresher!

author: djsb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 10:01:52 am
content: AND the board files are done on Kicad. Fantastic. I will be building this over the summer for certain.David.

author: PeeweePete
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 12:36:47 pm
content: It looks like Xilinx and Altera are the two biggest vendors of programmable logic chips (CPLD / FPGA). Does anyone have any preference?

author: Kremmen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 24, 2012, 12:07:24 pm
content: I have used Xilinx CoolRunner II CPLDs. Mostly because i am more familiar with the Xilinx ISE design suite than Altera's Quartus.But also because the CoolRunner is a quite nice chip series with several macrocell sizes and multiple I/O banks allowing different logic voltage levels.Note that the project you linked in the original post, the device is an older XC9500 series CPLD. Those have only 36 macrocells (at least the ones you can actually get from DK), while CoolRunners go up to 512 macrocells if necessary. Maybe not important but worth mentioning, perhaps.

author: notsob
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 24, 2012, 12:39:10 pm
content: And you can get a coolrunner II dev board for $15http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/xc2c64a-coolrunnerii-cpld-development-board-p-800.html

author: andersm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 25, 2012, 04:31:39 pm
content: Quote from: Kremmen on December 24, 2012, 12:07:24 pmXC9500XL to be precise (the other XC9500 series have been obsoleted), and they go up to 288 macrocells. They still have the advantage of 5V-tolerant IO.Quote from: notsob on December 24, 2012, 12:39:10 pmThat's one of Dangerous Prototypes' designs, they also have a72-macrocell XC9500XL boardfor the same price.

author: Kremmen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 25, 2012, 09:10:58 pm
content: OK, i stand corrected. Not really familiar with the 9500s, so my mistake. I thought they were all nearly obsolete but apparently not so.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 25, 2012, 11:28:59 pm
content: The XC9500XL series is pretty nifty. They are 5V tolerant and run from a 3.3V supply. I have used the PLCC versions on veroboard as well. In a recent project I've used the 144 macrocell version to capture the data from an STN display interface, build new image data in an external SRAM and display it on a TFT screen.BTW Xilinx USB programming adapters are dirt cheap on Ebay:http://www.ebay.com/itm/Xilinx-Platform-Cable-USB-CPLD-FPGA-USB-download-cable-/120988562867

author: PeeweePete
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2012, 01:22:14 pm
content: Thanks for the info on those cheap boards.I must decide whether or not to build the CPLD board or buy a cheap board. The only problems that I see if buying a board is that they do not have the LEDs and switches that are needed for the VHDL course which is a bit of a hassle to have to hook them up to a breadboard or whatever.I see that the home made board is using an AVR for a clock source (http://startingelectronics.com/projects/xilinx-CPLD-board/). Can anyone see if the seeed boards have a clock source? I can't see any clock source from the description.

author: notsob
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2012, 02:00:11 pm
content: The seeedstudio boards do not come with an oscillator, but there is provision on the underside of the board to fit one, the suggested ones are 20MHz and 50MHzhttp://no.mouser.com/ProductDetail/ABRACON/ASV-50000MHZ-EJ-T/?qs=H8AWquzS/lOR%252bU4UILwQkw==http://no.mouser.com/ProductDetail/ABRACON/ASV-20000MHZ-EJ-T/?qs=H8AWquzS/lNowiZ9Nk9Uyw==

author: andersm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2012, 02:19:07 pm
content: Both of those two boards are open-source designs, and the full project details are available onDangerous Prototypes' website.