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Messages from 70875

Article: 70875
Subject: Re: Xilinx $99 Spartan-3 kit
From: ptkwt@aracnet.com (Phil Tomson)
Date: 30 Jun 2004 19:13:46 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
In article <40e2e1f9$0$291$cc9e4d1f@news-text.dial.pipex.com>,
Leon Heller <leon_heller@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Xilinx has a Spartan-3 kit selling for $99, via their web site. Price from
>Insight (UK) will be 70 GBP, but they don't know when they will be in stock.
>

Anyone know if the software that comes with it works on Linux?  I looked 
at the site, but didn't see any info on supported platforms for this 
board.

Phil

Article: 70876
Subject: Re: Xilinx $99 Spartan-3 kit
From: Uwe Bonnes <bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 20:21:51 +0000 (UTC)
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Phil Tomson <ptkwt@aracnet.com> wrote:
: In article <40e2e1f9$0$291$cc9e4d1f@news-text.dial.pipex.com>,
: Leon Heller <leon_heller@hotmail.com> wrote:
: >Xilinx has a Spartan-3 kit selling for $99, via their web site. Price from
: >Insight (UK) will be 70 GBP, but they don't know when they will be in stock.
: >

: Anyone know if the software that comes with it works on Linux?  I looked 
: at the site, but didn't see any info on supported platforms for this 
: board.

It's not impossible to run ISE under a recent Wine. Programming with impact
however is not possible.

Bye
-- 
Uwe Bonnes                bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de

Institut fuer Kernphysik  Schlossgartenstrasse 9  64289 Darmstadt
--------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------

Article: 70877
Subject: Re: Xilinx $99 Spartan-3 kit [Windows Only]
From: "Steven K. Knapp" <steve.knappNO#SPAM@xilinx.com>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 13:45:02 -0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>

"Phil Tomson" <ptkwt@aracnet.com> wrote in message
[snip]
>
> Anyone know if the software that comes with it works on Linux?  I looked
> at the site, but didn't see any info on supported platforms for this
> board.

Good point.  The kit comes complete with both the Xilinx ISE Foundation 6.2i
Foundation and the ISE 6.2i WebPack CD-ROMs.

ISE Foundation 6.2i Evaluation
http://www.xilinx.com/ise_eval/index.htm

ISE WebPACK 6.2i
http://www.xilinx.com/xlnx/xebiz/designResources/ip_product_details.jsp?sGlobalNavPick=PRODUCTS&sSecondaryNavPick=Design+Tools&key=DS-ISE-WEBPACK

The software provided runs on Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows XP only.

However, the full-up Xilinx ISE Foundation software has limited support for
Linux (RedHat 8.0).
http://www.xilinx.com/xlnx/xebiz/designResources/ip_product_details.jsp?sGlobalNavPick=PRODUCTS&sSecondaryNavPick=Design+Tools&key=DS-ISE-FND

---------------------------------
Steven K. Knapp
Applications Manager, Xilinx Inc.
General Products Division
Spartan-3/II/IIE FPGAs
http://www.xilinx.com/spartan3
---------------------------------
Spartan-3:  Make it Your ASIC



Article: 70878
Subject: Re: Xilinx $99 Spartan-3 kit
From: ptkwt@aracnet.com (Phil Tomson)
Date: 30 Jun 2004 21:05:16 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
In article <cbv7cv$4sj$1@lnx107.hrz.tu-darmstadt.de>,
Uwe Bonnes  <bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de> wrote:
>Phil Tomson <ptkwt@aracnet.com> wrote:
>: In article <40e2e1f9$0$291$cc9e4d1f@news-text.dial.pipex.com>,
>: Leon Heller <leon_heller@hotmail.com> wrote:
>: >Xilinx has a Spartan-3 kit selling for $99, via their web site. Price from
>: >Insight (UK) will be 70 GBP, but they don't know when they will be in stock.
>: >
>
>: Anyone know if the software that comes with it works on Linux?  I looked 
>: at the site, but didn't see any info on supported platforms for this 
>: board.
>
>It's not impossible to run ISE under a recent Wine. Programming with impact
>however is not possible.
>

Any idea what keeps it from running under Wine?

Are you saying that ISE doesn't run under Wine, but programming does work?

Phil

Article: 70879
Subject: Re: Xilinx $99 Spartan-3 kit [Windows Only]
From: ptkwt@aracnet.com (Phil Tomson)
Date: 30 Jun 2004 21:12:27 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
In article <cbv8of$q41@cliff.xsj.xilinx.com>,
Steven K. Knapp <steve.knappNO#SPAM@xilinx.com> wrote:
>
>"Phil Tomson" <ptkwt@aracnet.com> wrote in message
>[snip]
>>
>> Anyone know if the software that comes with it works on Linux?  I looked
>> at the site, but didn't see any info on supported platforms for this
>> board.
>
>Good point.  The kit comes complete with both the Xilinx ISE Foundation 6.2i
>Foundation and the ISE 6.2i WebPack CD-ROMs.
>
>ISE Foundation 6.2i Evaluation
>http://www.xilinx.com/ise_eval/index.htm
>
>ISE WebPACK 6.2i
>http://www.xilinx.com/xlnx/xebiz/designResources/ip_product_details.jsp?sGlobalNavPick=PRODUCTS&sSecondaryNavPick=Design+Tools&key=DS-ISE-WEBPACK
>
>The software provided runs on Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows XP only.
>
>However, the full-up Xilinx ISE Foundation software has limited support for
>Linux (RedHat 8.0).
>http://www.xilinx.com/xlnx/xebiz/designResources/ip_product_details.jsp?sGlobalNavPick=PRODUCTS&sSecondaryNavPick=Design+Tools&key=DS-ISE-FND
>
>---------------------------------
>Steven K. Knapp
>Applications Manager, Xilinx Inc.
>General Products Division
>Spartan-3/II/IIE FPGAs
>http://www.xilinx.com/spartan3
>---------------------------------
>Spartan-3:  Make it Your ASIC
>
>

Since you work at Xilinx... Any idea if a Linux version will become 
available?  This looks like a cool kit, but I really 
don't want to have to get Windows to use it.  

If not, then perhaps it could be fixed to run under Wine?  (another post 
said it currently doesn't run under Wine)

Phil


Article: 70880
Subject: Re: Xilinx $99 Spartan-3 kit
From: Uwe Bonnes <bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 21:41:22 +0000 (UTC)
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Phil Tomson <ptkwt@aracnet.com> wrote:
: In article <cbv7cv$4sj$1@lnx107.hrz.tu-darmstadt.de>,
: Uwe Bonnes  <bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de> wrote:
: >Phil Tomson <ptkwt@aracnet.com> wrote:
: >: In article <40e2e1f9$0$291$cc9e4d1f@news-text.dial.pipex.com>,
: >: Leon Heller <leon_heller@hotmail.com> wrote:
: >: >Xilinx has a Spartan-3 kit selling for $99, via their web site. Price from
: >: >Insight (UK) will be 70 GBP, but they don't know when they will be in stock.
: >: >
: >
: >: Anyone know if the software that comes with it works on Linux?  I looked 
: >: at the site, but didn't see any info on supported platforms for this 
: >: board.
: >
: >It's not impossible to run ISE under a recent Wine. Programming with impact
: >however is not possible.
: >

: Any idea what keeps it from running under Wine?

: Are you saying that ISE doesn't run under Wine, but programming does work?

ISE runs to great extends. Impact can't be used, as for the parallel port
access, the external WinDriver interface is used. WinDriver is a windows
kernel driver and can be run on Wine. 

Bye
-- 
Uwe Bonnes                bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de

Institut fuer Kernphysik  Schlossgartenstrasse 9  64289 Darmstadt
--------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------

Article: 70881
Subject: Cyclone 5V Tolerance
From: "Gary Pace" <xxx@yyy.com>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 22:53:14 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
I have a couple of questions about this :

1. What is the current limit of the PCI calmp diode when this option is
turned on for an input pin - i.e. what is the correct resistor value.

2. What happens during power up and configuration ? Is the PCI diode in
circuit at this time ?

Thanks



Article: 70882
Subject: Re: a question in the pci interface design
From: "rat" <rattt@col.edu.cn>
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 08:49:37 +0800
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>

>
> Our PCI target core registers every signal, IRDY and TRDY too.
> It works greatly, and it was used in about 11 commercial products.
>
> Regards,
> Laurent Gauch
> www.amontec.com

register FRAME, too?



Article: 70883
Subject: Re: Nios II and eCos
From: Mustafa <m.kanli@student.unsw.edu.au>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 19:49:58 -0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Hello Everyone, 

I have a port of Ecos built under Cygwin using binutils-2.13.1. I build 
applications that run with this build of Ecos for the PPC405 (in a VP7) 
using the EDK (6.2). The application compiles and runs OK. However, I am 
unable to debug using Insight under EDK because it generates DWARF errors 
when opening the executable.elf file. The problem is that the version of 
binutils used by 'xygwin' is 2.11.2 which is older than the binutils used 
to build ecos. 

Has anyone had a similiar problem? Several solutions I can think of are: 
1) building ecos with older binutils, though this is not recommended by 
   ecoscentric guys. 
2) building the application under cygwin. I've tried this, though i get a 
   very strange linking issue. The same linkerscript that works under EDK, 
   generates an empty data segment under cygwin. 

Any suggestions? 

Regards, 
Mustafa.


Article: 70884
Subject: Re: Programming Altera Devices
From: ssharma@gmail.com (xyz)
Date: 30 Jun 2004 20:03:12 -0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
PL-USB-BLASTER is faster than PL-BYTEBLASTER2 (specially in Passive
Serial programming mode)

ALuPin@web.de (ALuPin) wrote in message news:<b8a9a7b0.0406280522.1fe77b20@posting.google.com>...
> Hi newsgroup users,
> 
> can someone tell me how to define the programming time of a EP1C12 Cyclone
> when using PL-BYTEBLASTER2 cable in comparison to PL-USB-BLASTER cable?
> 
> Thank you for your help.
> 
> 
> Rgds

Article: 70885
Subject: *RANT* Ridiculous EDA software "user license agreements"?
From: license_rant_master <none@nowhere.net>
Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 04:46:42 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
I am an ASIC engineer who frequently 'takes work home' with me.
Recently, I began using ssh to remotely login to our company's
servers to run some Verilog/VHDL simulations.  Launching
sims (from the UNIX command line) is fairly easy and painless,
but any kind of interactive (GUI) operations are pitifully
slow over an WAN/internet connection.  In the past, I
haven't needed to do much more than check on running jobs,
restart them, then logout.  Now, I find the need to do some
interactive debugging work (waveform viewing, code editing,
etc.)

So I thought, ok, I'll just install Linux at home and check
out a license remotely from the company.  The system
administrator told me "NO!" this is forbidden, due to the license
agreements of just about every EDA-tool vendor.  According to the
language/legalese of the license-agreement, a license 'seat'
is tied to a physical location called 'site.'

There are minor differences among the 'site-radius', but the
end-result is the same ... no executing the tool on hardware outside
of the radius:

Cadence : 1 mile radius within licensed machine-node
           (Sysadmin told me this...didn't double-check myself.)

Synopsys: 5 mile radius within licensed machine-node
           (couldn't find the agreement, but found this on Solvnet.)

Model/Mentor: 800 meter (0.5mi) radius within licensed machine-node
           (Download the user's manual for any Modelsim product.)

...

At this point, I think, well alright, most of these EDA tools
are $100,000 USD and up, so it's reasonable for the vendor to impose 
these terms.  EDA companies don't want 1 company buying a huge site-wide 
(100+) licenses, then randomly 'renting' them out over the internet.

I mentally used this analogy to convince myself this is ok:
I buy broadband internet service for my household.
It's "unlimited" for my household -- not my neightborhood or someone
driving by on a WiFi laptop.  Fair enough...

Since I can't use the company's tools on *my* home machine, I
started investigating various low-cost Verilog simulators to run
under Windows.  (I can't use Icarus because it fails to compile a
lot of our company's Verilog RTL.)

/RANT ON

1) Modelsim/PE "Personal Edition" -- *exact* same license agreement
    as their premiere Modelsim/SE.

"Mentor Graphics
grants to you, subject to payment of appropriate license fees, a 
nontransferable, nonexclusive license to use
Software solely: (a) in machine-readable, object-code form; (b) for your 
internal business purposes; and (c) on
the computer hardware or at the site for which an applicable license fee 
is paid, or as authorized by Mentor
Graphics. A site is restricted to a one-half mile (800 meter) radius."

    *RIDICULOUS*  If I were a design-consultant, and my laptop were
    my primary compute platform, how am I supposed to comply with a
    'site' radius?  By their language, I can't run Modelsim
    if I drive more than 0.5mi from my home-residence/business?!?

2) ok, so next I move on to Cadence's "Verilog Desktop"

    Wow, same story -- the language of their license agreement brings
    me to the same conclusion.  Install on laptop -- automatic
    non-compliance with their agreement (unless you 'lock down' the
    laptop with a 1-mile chain.)  Funny how their salesman now use
    x86-laptops for nearly *all* customer-site product demos?!?

3) I may investigate Verilogger Pro or Simucad, but I figure why bother.
    I'll probably just end up getting angrier...

...

/RANT OFF

Any comments?
What pisses me off the most, is those Cadence/Synopsys/Mentor 
"travelling salesman."  They come to our company-site, armed with
laptops and LCD-projectors -- then show off how a small x86-laptop
now runs jobs faster than a low-end Sun/IBM RISC workstation.
These EDAs need to be sued for false advertising.  At a minimum,
someone needs to challenge their ridiculous license agreement
for products aimed at 'personal' use.

For now, I've simply told my supervisor 'project schedule slip.'
And I've given up on doing real work at home (now mostly just
catching on documentation and inline RTL-comments.)


Article: 70886
Subject: Quartus web editions vs licenced compatibility problems
From: tns1 <tns1@cox.net>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 21:57:38 -0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
I am using the QII4.0 SP1 web edition, SOPC4.0, Nios3.2 tools to develop 
on a Cyclone C4 system. I have had problems taking working projects 
created with the licensed versions of the tools, and re-building, 
re-generating, and compiling some C with the web edition, and getting 
the resulting pof & srec to work properly. If I leave the project alone 
and just re-compile the C, it works. Somehow the  pof or the srec I 
produce is faulty. The timing report says timing is good, so I suspect 
that the Generate step is not producing good libraries. The resulting 
system partially runs, but strips off the leading chars of every printf, 
along with other quirks.

So whats the story on compatibilty? Should it work, or is the web 
edition intentionally crippled in this way?


Article: 70887
Subject: Compact FPGA Board?
From: daragoth@kuririnmail.com (Daragoth)
Date: 30 Jun 2004 22:18:55 -0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Hi, I have just began working with FPGA devices and have been trying
to apply them in real-world situations.  For my first project I need a
very small, relatively inexpensive "bare-bones" type FPGA board.  But
I have been having difficulty finding one.  I just need one with the
following features (please tell me if I'm missing anything vital):

-FPGA device with at least 15,000 usable gates (more would be
preferable).  I only need a small number of user IOs, so that
shouldn't be an issue at all.  The device doesn't need to be very fast
either, as it will be running only at around 4 MHz.
-clock with only around 4 MHz frequency range... higher isn't a
problem however.
-in-circuit reprogrammable non-volatile memory device for storing the
FPGA's configuration data.
-The most important thing is that it all fits within a 40 mm x 30 mm x
10 mm volume or less.

More features than this obviously isn't a problem, provided it doesn't
make the board larger than the specified volume.  Do boards like this
exist for purchase, or will I have to build it myself?  I am
inexperienced in the area of designing PCBs so I would prefer to buy
it already made.  Is it even possible to build this device in such a
small volume?  Thanks for your help.


Sincerely,
Darien A. Gothia

Article: 70888
Subject: Re: *RANT* Ridiculous EDA software "user license agreements"?
From: Allan Herriman <allan.herriman.hates.spam@ctam.com.au.invalid>
Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 15:20:46 +1000
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
On Thu, 01 Jul 2004 04:46:42 GMT, license_rant_master
<none@nowhere.net> wrote:

>I am an ASIC engineer who frequently 'takes work home' with me.
>Recently, I began using ssh to remotely login to our company's
>servers to run some Verilog/VHDL simulations.  Launching
>sims (from the UNIX command line) is fairly easy and painless,
>but any kind of interactive (GUI) operations are pitifully
>slow over an WAN/internet connection.  In the past, I
>haven't needed to do much more than check on running jobs,
>restart them, then logout.  Now, I find the need to do some
>interactive debugging work (waveform viewing, code editing,
>etc.)

Have you tried tightVNC on maximum compression?  The lossy compression
leads to some visible artefacts on bitmaps (e.g. your modelsim wave
window), but it's a lot better than anything else I've tried over a
voice band modem.

http://www.tightvnc.org/

Regards,
Allan.

Article: 70889
Subject: Re: FPGA with fully asynchronous RAM
From: Fuchs Gottfried <fuchs@ecs.tuwien.ac.at>
Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 09:44:32 +0200
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
I know that synchronous RAMs are preferable, but the asynchronous RAMs 
are needed in my design due to the fact that it is a processor design 
that is fully asynchronous.

regards
Gottfried

Symon wrote:
> Hi Gottfried,
> I assume you're talking about on chip RAM? If so, I respectfully suggest
> that you don't need asynchronous RAMs at all. What you do need to do is
> think harder about your application! You'll have a more robust solution if
> you keep everything synchronous.
> cheers, Syms.
> "Fuchs Gottfried" <fuchs@ecs.tuwien.ac.at> wrote in message
> news:40E2DB28.20501@ecs.tuwien.ac.at...
> 
>>I am looking for a FPGA Development Board, with a FPGA that supports
>>fully asynchronous RAMs. I know that Altera APEX20k supports fully
>>asynchronous RAMs.
>>Are there also Xilinx FPGAs that provide this functionality (large FPGAs
>>like the APEX20K1000C or APEX20K1500E)?
>>
>>regards
>>Gottfried
>>
> 
> 
> 


Article: 70890
Subject: Re: *RANT* Ridiculous EDA software "user license agreements"?
From: Uwe Bonnes <bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de>
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 08:04:13 +0000 (UTC)
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
In comp.arch.fpga license_rant_master <none@nowhere.net> wrote:
: I am an ASIC engineer who frequently 'takes work home' with me.
: Recently, I began using ssh to remotely login to our company's
: servers to run some Verilog/VHDL simulations.  Launching
: sims (from the UNIX command line) is fairly easy and painless,
: but any kind of interactive (GUI) operations are pitifully
: slow over an WAN/internet connection.  In the past, I
: haven't needed to do much more than check on running jobs,
: restart them, then logout.  Now, I find the need to do some
: interactive debugging work (waveform viewing, code editing,
: etc.)

Look at NX. It what LBX (Low Bandwidth X ) promised, but NX
delivers. Probably not to easy to set yet, but worth a try. 

Bye
-- 
Uwe Bonnes                bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de

Institut fuer Kernphysik  Schlossgartenstrasse 9  64289 Darmstadt
--------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------

Article: 70891
Subject: Re: *RANT* Ridiculous EDA software "user license agreements"?
From: Just an Illusion <illusion_to_net@yahoo.fr>
Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 10:18:47 +0200
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Hi license_rant_master,

For Mentor Sales Man, that not seems violated their license, because the 
program and the license can be attached to the laptop, or can be 
authorized by them.

I don't know very well all license aspect but do you said that the 
maximum physical distance between the license server and the computer 
which run the program must be the site-radius, don't you ?

That strange because I know some worldwide companies which share their 
licenses all around the world (in the different company centers).

Another question, in the Mentor Graphics license, you have:
"(c) on the computer hardware or at the site for which an applicable 
license fee is paid, or as authorized by Mentor Graphics."

If your company provide you a computer which have a license (the 
computer must be  the license server for this program too? I don't 
know). That can solve your problem, no ?

In the license that you give, nothing seems said that you couldn't 
shared the run between different computers, as clusters.

A last solution can be transmit the result in standard format, and use 
different tools.

Example:
* to analyze waveform, you can use the vcd format and gtkwave. The vcd 
format has lot of limitation (i.e. can't handle enumerate type...)
* to edit vhdl, that depend of what you do. Me I like Xemacs and the 
vhdl-mode. But if you use only schematics that can be a problem.

The file exchange can be very time consuming, but you are generally 
software independent.

Bye,
JaI

license_rant_master wrote:

> I am an ASIC engineer who frequently 'takes work home' with me.
> Recently, I began using ssh to remotely login to our company's
> servers to run some Verilog/VHDL simulations.  Launching
> sims (from the UNIX command line) is fairly easy and painless,
> but any kind of interactive (GUI) operations are pitifully
> slow over an WAN/internet connection.  In the past, I
> haven't needed to do much more than check on running jobs,
> restart them, then logout.  Now, I find the need to do some
> interactive debugging work (waveform viewing, code editing,
> etc.)
>
> So I thought, ok, I'll just install Linux at home and check
> out a license remotely from the company.  The system
> administrator told me "NO!" this is forbidden, due to the license
> agreements of just about every EDA-tool vendor.  According to the
> language/legalese of the license-agreement, a license 'seat'
> is tied to a physical location called 'site.'
>
> There are minor differences among the 'site-radius', but the
> end-result is the same ... no executing the tool on hardware outside
> of the radius:
>
> Cadence : 1 mile radius within licensed machine-node
>           (Sysadmin told me this...didn't double-check myself.)
>
> Synopsys: 5 mile radius within licensed machine-node
>           (couldn't find the agreement, but found this on Solvnet.)
>
> Model/Mentor: 800 meter (0.5mi) radius within licensed machine-node
>           (Download the user's manual for any Modelsim product.)
>
> ...
>
> At this point, I think, well alright, most of these EDA tools
> are $100,000 USD and up, so it's reasonable for the vendor to impose 
> these terms.  EDA companies don't want 1 company buying a huge 
> site-wide (100+) licenses, then randomly 'renting' them out over the 
> internet.
>
> I mentally used this analogy to convince myself this is ok:
> I buy broadband internet service for my household.
> It's "unlimited" for my household -- not my neightborhood or someone
> driving by on a WiFi laptop.  Fair enough...
>
> Since I can't use the company's tools on *my* home machine, I
> started investigating various low-cost Verilog simulators to run
> under Windows.  (I can't use Icarus because it fails to compile a
> lot of our company's Verilog RTL.)
>
> /RANT ON
>
> 1) Modelsim/PE "Personal Edition" -- *exact* same license agreement
>    as their premiere Modelsim/SE.
>
> "Mentor Graphics
> grants to you, subject to payment of appropriate license fees, a 
> nontransferable, nonexclusive license to use
> Software solely: (a) in machine-readable, object-code form; (b) for 
> your internal business purposes; and (c) on
> the computer hardware or at the site for which an applicable license 
> fee is paid, or as authorized by Mentor
> Graphics. A site is restricted to a one-half mile (800 meter) radius."
>
>    *RIDICULOUS*  If I were a design-consultant, and my laptop were
>    my primary compute platform, how am I supposed to comply with a
>    'site' radius?  By their language, I can't run Modelsim
>    if I drive more than 0.5mi from my home-residence/business?!?
>
> 2) ok, so next I move on to Cadence's "Verilog Desktop"
>
>    Wow, same story -- the language of their license agreement brings
>    me to the same conclusion.  Install on laptop -- automatic
>    non-compliance with their agreement (unless you 'lock down' the
>    laptop with a 1-mile chain.)  Funny how their salesman now use
>    x86-laptops for nearly *all* customer-site product demos?!?
>
> 3) I may investigate Verilogger Pro or Simucad, but I figure why bother.
>    I'll probably just end up getting angrier...
>
> ...
>
> /RANT OFF
>
> Any comments?
> What pisses me off the most, is those Cadence/Synopsys/Mentor 
> "travelling salesman."  They come to our company-site, armed with
> laptops and LCD-projectors -- then show off how a small x86-laptop
> now runs jobs faster than a low-end Sun/IBM RISC workstation.
> These EDAs need to be sued for false advertising.  At a minimum,
> someone needs to challenge their ridiculous license agreement
> for products aimed at 'personal' use.
>
> For now, I've simply told my supervisor 'project schedule slip.'
> And I've given up on doing real work at home (now mostly just
> catching on documentation and inline RTL-comments.)
>


Article: 70892
Subject: Compilation relation between `ifdef and //synthesis translate_off
From: "Kelvin" <student@nowhere.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 16:42:05 +0800
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Hi, there:

In my situation after I put "`ifdef SKIP_THIS", the XST still compiles the
synthesis directives like "//synthesis attribute INIT of lut_left is 1"
within this
block of codes...weird...

Is my observation true?

Best Reghards,
Qijun






Article: 70893
Subject: How to prevent MAP from removing floating inputs?
From: "Kelvin" <student@nowhere.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 17:06:37 +0800
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Hi, there:

I remembered there was a constraint that can prevent MAP from
removing floating input pins? What is it?

Thanks.
Kelvin





Article: 70894
Subject: Re: Xilinx $99 Spartan-3 kit
From: jon@beniston.com (Jon Beniston)
Date: 1 Jul 2004 02:07:42 -0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Lukasz Salwinski <lukasz@mbi.ucla.edu> wrote in message news:<cbuuto$dd5$1@daisy.noc.ucla.edu>...
> Just wonder - Is there any chance the same board will be loaded
> with a bigger chip ?

Forgive the me too aspect of this post, but I'd like to see a bigger
device too! (I guess you'll only make it if lots of people ask for
it.)

Cheers,
JonB

Article: 70895
Subject: Re: Compact FPGA Board?
From: "Leon Heller" <leon_heller@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 10:46:17 +0100
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
"Daragoth" <daragoth@kuririnmail.com> wrote in message
news:317379a8.0406302118.32829ee1@posting.google.com...
> Hi, I have just began working with FPGA devices and have been trying
> to apply them in real-world situations.  For my first project I need a
> very small, relatively inexpensive "bare-bones" type FPGA board.  But
> I have been having difficulty finding one.  I just need one with the
> following features (please tell me if I'm missing anything vital):
>
> -FPGA device with at least 15,000 usable gates (more would be
> preferable).  I only need a small number of user IOs, so that
> shouldn't be an issue at all.  The device doesn't need to be very fast
> either, as it will be running only at around 4 MHz.
> -clock with only around 4 MHz frequency range... higher isn't a
> problem however.
> -in-circuit reprogrammable non-volatile memory device for storing the
> FPGA's configuration data.
> -The most important thing is that it all fits within a 40 mm x 30 mm x
> 10 mm volume or less.
>
> More features than this obviously isn't a problem, provided it doesn't
> make the board larger than the specified volume.  Do boards like this
> exist for purchase, or will I have to build it myself?  I am
> inexperienced in the area of designing PCBs so I would prefer to buy
> it already made.  Is it even possible to build this device in such a
> small volume?  Thanks for your help.

I was thinking of designing something like that, with an Altera Cyclone
EP1C100 (2,910 LEs) and an EPCS1 configuration device. I don't know how many
gates 2,910 LEs is, but it might be enough for you.

Leon
-- 
Leon Heller, G1HSM
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller



Article: 70896
Subject: Re: 5V board in a 3.3V PCI slot
From: Sylvain Munaut <tnt_at_246tNt_dot_com@reducespam.com>
Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 13:18:43 +0200
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Uwe Bonnes wrote:
> Dwayne Surdu-Miller <miller@sedsystems.nospam.ca> wrote:
> : I'd suggest trying the board in an older PC that has 5-volt PCI slots. 
> : It might simply be incompatible with your newer mainboard's 3.3-volt PCI 
> : slots.
> 
> I found several boards incompatible the other way round: Indicating an
> "universal board" by having to slots in the connector row, but not running
> in a boards that only supply 5 Volt. I'm glad, that I have a soldering iron
> and low drop 3.3V regulators :-)
> 
> Bye

The worst thing I've seen is a PCI card claiming to be universal. But 
the IO pins were driven by the 5V rail and not the VIO rail. So when you 
plug it in a 3.3V slot, it starts sending 5V !

Article: 70897
Subject: Re: Compact FPGA Board?
From: "www.amontec.com" <laurent.gauch@DELETE_CAPSamontec.com>
Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 13:29:15 +0200
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Daragoth wrote:
> Hi, I have just began working with FPGA devices and have been trying
> to apply them in real-world situations.  For my first project I need a
> very small, relatively inexpensive "bare-bones" type FPGA board.  But
> I have been having difficulty finding one.  I just need one with the
> following features (please tell me if I'm missing anything vital):
> 
> -FPGA device with at least 15,000 usable gates (more would be
> preferable).  I only need a small number of user IOs, so that
> shouldn't be an issue at all.  The device doesn't need to be very fast
> either, as it will be running only at around 4 MHz.
> -clock with only around 4 MHz frequency range... higher isn't a
> problem however.
> -in-circuit reprogrammable non-volatile memory device for storing the
> FPGA's configuration data.
> -The most important thing is that it all fits within a 40 mm x 30 mm x
> 10 mm volume or less.
> 
> More features than this obviously isn't a problem, provided it doesn't
> make the board larger than the specified volume.  Do boards like this
> exist for purchase, or will I have to build it myself?  I am
> inexperienced in the area of designing PCBs so I would prefer to buy
> it already made.  Is it even possible to build this device in such a
> small volume?  Thanks for your help.
> 
> 
> Sincerely,
> Darien A. Gothia

My company can do this work very quickly. PCBs - FPGA configuration - 
DC/DC. Spartan-II or Spartan-IIE would be great for.

Do you need onboard DC regulators ?
Which kind connectors?

Laurent
www.amontec.com


Article: 70898
Subject: Re: How to prevent MAP from removing floating inputs?
From: Allan Herriman <allan.herriman.hates.spam@ctam.com.au.invalid>
Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 22:42:24 +1000
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
On Thu, 1 Jul 2004 17:06:37 +0800, "Kelvin" <student@nowhere.com>
wrote:

>Hi, there:
>
>I remembered there was a constraint that can prevent MAP from
>removing floating input pins? What is it?

-u flag on the command line.

You may also need to tell your synthesiser.

Regards,
Allan.

Article: 70899
Subject: Re: Newbie Q
From: Jose Antonio <xxxx@xxxx.xx>
Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 15:08:05 +0200
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Look in

https://digilent.us/sales/Product.cfm?Prod=pegasus



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