3 Last update: 2006-10-27
6 Besides frequent simulations with Icarus Verilog, FpgaMMIX has been
7 developed on and currently only support this (slightly old) FPGA
10 Altera's Nios Dev Kit, Cyclone Edition + Lancelot ($1200) [HAVE THIS]
11 (URL no longer available)
13 FPGA: Cyclone EP1C20 (20,060 LUT4)
14 Memory: 16 MiB SDRAM (32b), 1 MiB SRAM (32b)
15 Flash: CompactFlash, 8 MiB linear flash (8b)
16 Other: Ethernet 100, 24b VGA, dual PS/2, audio out, RS-232
18 Expensive and dated -- small FPGA and memory.
20 I still need to support the SDRAM, CompactFlash, the linear
21 flash, and the Ethernet, but the FPGA is already getting full.
23 However it is a pricy option and has a few limitation (notably the
24 amount of available main memory). Hopefully before too long, FpgaMMIX
25 will be extended to support other development boards. Here is a list
26 of interesting candidates:
28 * Xilix's Virtex-4 ML401 Evaluation Platform ($500) [HAVE THIS]
29 http://www.xilinx.com/ml401
31 FPGA: Virtex-4 XC4LX25 (21,504 LUT4)
32 Memory: 64 MiB(*) DDR SDRAM 266 MHz (32b), 1.125 MiB ZBT SRAM (36b)
33 Flash: CompactFlash, 8 MiB Flash (32b)
34 Other: Ethernet 1000, 24b VGA, dual PS/2, USB H&P, RS-232,
39 (*) Documentation claims it can be reworked to 256 MiB, but AFAICT,
40 there is only one extra pin thus enabling only 128 MiB.
43 * Digilentinc's Spartan 3E-1600 Development Board ($300) [ORDERED THIS]
44 http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Prod=S3E1600&Nav1=Products&Nav2=Programmable
46 FPGA: Spartan-3E 1600E (33,192 LUT4)
47 Memory: 32 MiB(**) DDR SDRAM (16b)
48 Flash: 16 MiB parallel flash
49 Other: Ethernet 100, 3b VGA, RS-232, D/A & A/D converters,
52 Great value. Apart from FPGA and SDRAM, idential to the
53 Spartan-3E Starter Kit below.
55 The FPGA is 50% bigger than the ML401, but the latter have
56 more peripherals. No audio. No flash card. VGA wimpy. Narrow
59 (**) The PCB supports a 64 MiB DDR with a rework, but even
60 more and wider would have been nice.
66 * Xilix's Virtex-5 ML501 Evaluation & Development Platform ($1000)
67 http://www.xilinx.com/ml501
69 FPGA: Virtex-5 XC5VLX50 (28,800 LUT6 ~= 46,080 LUT4)
70 Memory: 256 MiB(***) DDR2 SODIMM (64b?), 1 MiB ZBT SRAM (32b?)
71 Flash: CompactFlash, 32 MiB Flash
72 Other: Ethernet 1000, DVI, dual PS/2, USB H&P, RS-232, lots of audio
74 Ideal platform, but not supported by ISE WebPACK :(
75 (DDR2 DIMM => faster, wider, but more complicated)
77 (***) Supports larger SODIMMs (up to 1 GiB?)
80 * Xilinx's Spartan-3E Starter Kit ($150)
81 http://www.xilinx.com/xlnx/xebiz/designResources/ip_product_details.jsp?key=HW-SPAR3E-SK-US
83 FPGA: Spartan-3E 500E (10,476 LUT4)
84 Memory: 64 MiB DDR SDRAM (16b)
85 Flash: 16 MiB parallel flash
86 Other: Ethernet 100, 3b VGA, PS/2, RS-232, D/A & A/D converters,
89 Good value, but FPGA is too small. No audio. No flash
90 card. VGA wimpy. Narrow SDRAM.
92 FpgaMMIX is obviously highly un-optimized currently, but just
93 the core is 14,000+ LUT4, unlikely to be shrunk to 50%.
96 * Altera's DE2 Development & Education Board ($150)
97 http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-cyc2-2C20N.html
99 FPGA: Cyclone-II EP2C20 (18,752 LUT4)
100 Memory: 8 MiB SDRAM (16b?), 512 KiB SRAM (?b)
101 Flash: SD memory card, 4 MiB Flash
102 Other: 12b VGA, PS/2, Audio, Video in
104 Good value, but too little main memory, too small FPGA, and no
108 * Altera's Video Development Kit, Cyclone II Edition ($1100)
109 http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-video-cyclone2.html
111 FPGA: Cyclone-II EP2C70 (68,416 LUT4)
112 Memory: 256 MiB DDR2 SODIMM (64b?), 1 MiB synchronous SRAM (32b?)
114 Other: 24b VGA, audio
116 Expensive. FPGA and memory is great, but almost everything