Suggestions for a dev board for learning some FPGA things - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: NivagSwerdna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2023, 09:40:53 am
content: So to date I have done standalone projects which have had a small FPGA and some glue logic and I have survived with my own spun boards but now I would like to try and make my VHDL/Verilog skills more marketable by getting into the FPGA acceleration game specifically implementing some kind of network acceleration type ideas... just for education.So I'm looking for suggestions on a dev board that implements PCIe since that seems trendy and a board that has some networking capability, copper wired Ethernet will be fine.Any suggestions? Doesn't have to be bleeding edge just something that will let me play with the concepts.Both PCIe and Networking will be new to me in this environment.

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2023, 10:32:43 am
content: Talk to your rep, most of the boards in that space require licensed tools.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2023, 09:56:13 pm
content: I can suggest the Lattice Certus-NX Versa board:https://www.latticesemi.com/products/developmentboardsandkits/certus_nx_versa_evalIt's quite affordable ($277), you can use it with Lattice Radiant with the free license. The only thing to check is whether the IPs for PCIe are also under a free license - AFAIR, that was the case when you bought a Versa board.

author: colorado.rob
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2023, 04:40:51 pm
content: Quote from: NivagSwerdna on November 02, 2023, 09:40:53 amThis board works well, allowing you to play with PCIe and 10G networking.https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256801088848039.htmlThe board files from the vendor includes everything needed to program the board with Vivado.If you have the cash and want to go further, the same vendor has a nice 420T board that includes QSFP ports, and a Zynq 7100 board with an FMC HPC port. Both are quite reasonably priced.

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2023, 09:41:41 pm
content: Quote from: colorado.rob on November 06, 2023, 04:40:51 pmWhich would be the only one of the 3 that can be used (at all) without licensed tools.

author: asmi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2023, 10:15:47 pm
content: Quote from: colorado.rob on November 06, 2023, 04:40:51 pmDon't forget to mention that you would need to buy a license to do anything with that board.

author: colorado.rob
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 07, 2023, 03:24:22 pm
content: Quote from: asmi on November 06, 2023, 10:15:47 pmLOL.What part of "The board files from the vendor includes everything needed to program the board with Vivado" did you not understand?

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 07, 2023, 10:54:21 pm
content: Quote from: colorado.rob on November 07, 2023, 03:24:22 pmStealing IP (the cores to build the things the OP is taking about are licensed too) is a sure way to get you priced out of any future endeavours with the owner(s). Good luck pulling together something of that complexity without support.

author: nimish
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2023, 03:58:16 am
content: Quote from: Someone on November 07, 2023, 10:54:21 pmFortunately nextpnr has xilinx 7 series supportI wouldn't buy it as a first board but you don't need to crack vivado licensing like everyone already does to get useable stuff.Frankly the kria dev boards are better and don't need need licensing hacks