tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8850919192497134094.post211715252859394569..comments2022-03-05T14:55:09.605-05:00Comments on Brasstacks: FPGA selection for beginnersJoe Oswaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05114626327747438550noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8850919192497134094.post-85904901791679567052018-05-21T09:30:01.715-04:002018-05-21T09:30:01.715-04:00Thanks for the comment. Getting used to the vendor...Thanks for the comment. Getting used to the vendor's debug tools is essential, but for the complete beginner, I think you are as likely to run into problems getting the debug tools to work as they are to help. If you are able to get SignalTap or ILA to give useful information, you are likely to be beyond the "my LED doesn't blink" stage.<br /><br />Re: the "virtual I/O blocks" https://www.xilinx.com/products/intellectual-property/vio.html, thanks for the pointer. It looks to me like Terasic's demo apps for their Altera boards all have a GUI with point and click, but I don't know what is behind that.Joe Oswaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05114626327747438550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8850919192497134094.post-57633669086025379702018-03-23T06:36:40.200-04:002018-03-23T06:36:40.200-04:00Nice overview.
Just wanted to mention that "...Nice overview.<br /><br />Just wanted to mention that "FPGA Hell" can be mitigated by Altera/Intel's SignalTap and Xilinx's Vivado Debug and Integrated Logic Analyzer (ILA) blocks which allow you to capture waveforms of the signals inside your FPGA design. <br /><br />Sure, simulation ideally catches all of your design issues but that's the nominal case. Also that leap to writing testbenches can be daunting for beginners. It can be nice when you're starting out to be able to see your signals.<br /><br />I also recommend that beginners play around with Xilinx's Virtual I/O blocks (I'm not sure if Altera has an equivalent). You can set and monitor signals as if they were brought out to switches or LEDs, but you can control and see them virtually in Vivado. It's also a nice introduction to using an IP flow where you specify the parameters of a block, generate it, and instantiate it in your design. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com