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I've really wanted to play with FPGAs but never really has good learning resources. This comment section is a gold mine! This is the kind of HN I like. Can any

I've really wanted to play with FPGAs but never really has good learning resources. This comment section is a gold mine! This is the kind of HN I like. Can anyone point me toward good beginner dev boards? Doesn't have to be particularly powerful or anything, just cheap

yummypaint 6y ago
Check out the upduino v3. Its as cheap as they come and supported by a fully open source toolchain. I just got one a few weeks ago and it's excellent.
liaukovv 6y ago
There is a ton of cyclone iv boards on aliexpress
gchadwick 6y ago
How cheap is cheap? The Arty A7 is a good board: https://store.digilentinc.com/arty-a7-artix-7-fpga-development-board/ https://store.digilentinc.com/arty-a7-artix-7-fpga-developme... though costs $129 I do like the Terasic boards, the DE10 Nano is very capable: https://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&CategoryNo=165&No=1046 https://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=... DE0 doesn't look too bad and also cheaper: https://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&CategoryNo=165&No=593 https://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=... The downside with the Terasic boards is the Intel tooling, it's pretty terrible and has bad SystemVerilog support. Vivado (the Xilinx software that you'd use with the Arty A7) is superior in my experience. On the cheaper end of the scale the Lattice ICE40 and EPC5 FPGAs are popular searching for ICE40 board gives you a number of options (here's one that looks reasonable: https://www.olimex.com/Products/FPGA/iCE40/iCE40HX1K-EVB/open-source-hardware https://www.olimex.com/Products/FPGA/iCE40/iCE40HX1K-EVB/ope... and cheap at 16 euro). There's also good open source toolflow support with https://symbiflow.github.io/ https://symbiflow.github.io/ For a beginner I'd recommend going for the more expensive boards from a well known manufacturer (such as Digilent). You should have an easier out of the box experience with getting some basic stuff running. Yes there are some very cheap boards out there especially from places like AliExpress but you want to concentrate on learning an HDL and doing some designs not hours trying to get a poorly supported driver or toolflow to work or struggling with programming the thing because it uses some custom method that isn't well documented and doesn't just work with the FPGA vendor tooling.
- colejohnson66 6y ago
  > The downside with the Terasic boards is the Intel tooling, it's pretty terrible and has bad SystemVerilog support. If you don’t mind nMigen, it can target the DE-10 Nano. You still need to install Intel’s bloated Quartus suite however. It also supports the ICE40 line.
Graziano_M 6y ago
Definitely get something ICE that is compatible with the new open source tool chains. I recommend the Icebreaker[1], though you can get the Icestick for cheaper[2], it's not as good a deal. [1] https://www.crowdsupply.com/1bitsquared/icebreaker-fpga https://www.crowdsupply.com/1bitsquared/icebreaker-fpga [2] https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/lattice-semiconductor-corporation/ICE40HX1K-STICK-EVN/4289604?s=N4IgTCBcDaIJYGMCmBnALog1iAugXyA https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/lattice-semicondu...
Cerium 6y ago
Are you in the USA? I have a few Digilent Atlys [1] boards going to waste here. If you would like them I can send them your way. I don't have the power adapter, but it just needs 5v. [1]: https://reference.digilentinc.com/reference/programmable-logic/atlys/start https://reference.digilentinc.com/reference/programmable-log...
- anon_tor_12345 6y ago
  i'm interested. how can one get in contact with you?
  - Cerium 6y ago
    I'm waiting to hear back from jedimastert.
- WFHRenaissance 6y ago
  likewise, are these still available?
  - Cerium 6y ago
    Sorry, no they are not.
panpanna 6y ago
This is probably what you want http://www.latticesemi.com/Products/DevelopmentBoardsAndKits/iCE40HX8KBreakoutBoard.aspx http://www.latticesemi.com/Products/DevelopmentBoardsAndKits... ICE40 board directly from the FGPA manufacturer. It's cheap has an open source toolchain and works without any additional hardware. Just plug it in and go.

yummypaint 6y ago

Check out the upduino v3. Its as cheap as they come and supported by a fully open source toolchain. I just got one a few weeks ago and it's excellent.

liaukovv 6y ago

There is a ton of cyclone iv boards on aliexpress

gchadwick 6y ago

How cheap is cheap? The Arty A7 is a good board: https://store.digilentinc.com/arty-a7-artix-7-fpga-development-board/ https://store.digilentinc.com/arty-a7-artix-7-fpga-developme... though costs $129 I do like the Terasic boards, the DE10 Nano is very capable: https://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&CategoryNo=165&No=1046 https://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=... DE0 doesn't look too bad and also cheaper: https://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&CategoryNo=165&No=593 https://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=... The downside with the Terasic boards is the Intel tooling, it's pretty terrible and has bad SystemVerilog support. Vivado (the Xilinx software that you'd use with the Arty A7) is superior in my experience. On the cheaper end of the scale the Lattice ICE40 and EPC5 FPGAs are popular searching for ICE40 board gives you a number of options (here's one that looks reasonable: https://www.olimex.com/Products/FPGA/iCE40/iCE40HX1K-EVB/open-source-hardware https://www.olimex.com/Products/FPGA/iCE40/iCE40HX1K-EVB/ope... and cheap at 16 euro). There's also good open source toolflow support with https://symbiflow.github.io/ https://symbiflow.github.io/ For a beginner I'd recommend going for the more expensive boards from a well known manufacturer (such as Digilent). You should have an easier out of the box experience with getting some basic stuff running. Yes there are some very cheap boards out there especially from places like AliExpress but you want to concentrate on learning an HDL and doing some designs not hours trying to get a poorly supported driver or toolflow to work or struggling with programming the thing because it uses some custom method that isn't well documented and doesn't just work with the FPGA vendor tooling.

colejohnson66 6y ago
> The downside with the Terasic boards is the Intel tooling, it's pretty terrible and has bad SystemVerilog support. If you don’t mind nMigen, it can target the DE-10 Nano. You still need to install Intel’s bloated Quartus suite however. It also supports the ICE40 line.

Graziano_M 6y ago

Definitely get something ICE that is compatible with the new open source tool chains. I recommend the Icebreaker[1], though you can get the Icestick for cheaper[2], it's not as good a deal. [1] https://www.crowdsupply.com/1bitsquared/icebreaker-fpga https://www.crowdsupply.com/1bitsquared/icebreaker-fpga [2] https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/lattice-semiconductor-corporation/ICE40HX1K-STICK-EVN/4289604?s=N4IgTCBcDaIJYGMCmBnALog1iAugXyA https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/lattice-semicondu...

Cerium 6y ago

Are you in the USA? I have a few Digilent Atlys [1] boards going to waste here. If you would like them I can send them your way. I don't have the power adapter, but it just needs 5v. [1]: https://reference.digilentinc.com/reference/programmable-logic/atlys/start https://reference.digilentinc.com/reference/programmable-log...

anon_tor_12345 6y ago
i'm interested. how can one get in contact with you?
- Cerium 6y ago
  I'm waiting to hear back from jedimastert.
WFHRenaissance 6y ago
likewise, are these still available?
- Cerium 6y ago
  Sorry, no they are not.

panpanna 6y ago

This is probably what you want http://www.latticesemi.com/Products/DevelopmentBoardsAndKits/iCE40HX8KBreakoutBoard.aspx http://www.latticesemi.com/Products/DevelopmentBoardsAndKits... ICE40 board directly from the FGPA manufacturer. It's cheap has an open source toolchain and works without any additional hardware. Just plug it in and go.