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This machine is way out of my price range; but I am very interested in the frequently mentioned "open-toolchain FPGAs" in their descriptions. AFAIK there are o
by bitshiffed 10y ago
This machine is way out of my price range; but I am very interested in the frequently mentioned "open-toolchain FPGAs" in their descriptions.
AFAIK there are only a handful of very specific chips that you can currently get away with not using vendor tools against, like ICE40s.
I would be willing to put a fair amount of money into crowdfunding for better open source -full- toolchains for FPGAs (especially something targeting Xilinx devices). The vendor tools, aside from being closed source, are all huge bloated disasterpieces, and none available for macOS.
- blackguardx 10y agoYeah and unless the FPGA manufacturers start supporting open toolchains, it can end in an instant when the parts become EOL and Lattice (maker of the ICE40 series) starts obfuscating. The problem with open toolchains from the manufacturer's point of view is that they have nothing to gain and everything to lose. They don't want to sell chips one at a time to hobbyists. They want to sell them millions at the time to GM and other companies. In their mind, open toolchains buy them nothing but leave them open to competitors stealing their designs. I'm not saying this view is accurate, it is just how chip vendors think.