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Comment by jws | Hacker News Reader

Specs:

  • 1280 Four input LUT logic cells
  • 64Kbit of RAM
  • 32Mbit flash
  • a PLL
  • Two sets of 8 digital I/O pins
  • One Pmod connector (2x6 0.10" socket, some sort of digital interface)
  • 5 LEDs
  • An IrDA transceiver
  • USB dongle form factor, programmed from USB, can look like a UART from FPGA to PC

The design software appears to only function on the Windows operating system.

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Windows is par for the course. If you want to develop for FPGAs, I suggest you accept Windows, at least to start with.

Xilinx can run on Linux and all that, but Windows is the path of least resistance, and FPGAs will give you enough trouble by themselves!

I don't think HN is really the place to accept this kind of status quo. We're not here to maintain a tradition. Somehow, I would be very glad that someone here break this barrier (not me, I'm trying to do that for the CNC world).

Our FPGA work is all done on Linux, but we're coming from the HPUX world. We've used Xilinx and Altera without any problems to speak of.

I've been doing digital design for Xilinx FPGAs, as well as IC design, for a few years now and never had any trouble with the Linux toolchain. I can't even imagine switching to Windows and trying to automate the build (not saying it's not possible, it just seems a lot more convoluted).

It's true that smaller vendors like Lattice seldom provide Linux software, but it's also rare to find bigger shops (as opposed to hobbyists) who don't use Xilinx or Altera exclusively, and Linux at that.

You absolutely can use Linux. I just recall from my FPGA days, Windows was the easiest way to get going for hobbyist FPGA work. If running Linux is what matters to you, run Linux. If developing for an FPGA is what matters to you, do what is easiest to get you there, IMO.

I don't care what people use, but this community tends to get lost in, 'well it's got to be open source...' and whole productive lines of inquiry get totally derailed.

If you added a small uC to that (such as a Microchip PIC), it would be a killer dev board. I'd happily connectorize it, develop my hardware and simply plug the development board into the target system!

Looks like you could fit 1 J32 32-bit RISC CPU on there with a few gates to spare.

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