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Just ordered a BE Micro CV for $60, delivered — Parallax Forums

Just ordered a BE Micro CV for $60, delivered

cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,155
edited 2015-01-22 16:20 in Propeller 1
The BE Micro CV looks like a nice FPGA board featuring a Cyclone V -A2 device which has 25K LE's and >1.8Mb of RAM:

http://components-asiapac.arrow.com/file_system/intranet/MAR/ADRE/File/Hardware_Reference_Guide_for_BeMicro_CV_A2_v1.04.pdf

It was $60, delivered. This seems to be the best value for Prop1 Verilog development.

When the board arrives, I'll make a set of files for it and post them.
«13456

Comments

  • Bill HenningBill Henning Posts: 6,445
    edited 2014-08-07 13:13
    Very cool!

    Time for me to order one as well...

    Did you notice the 128MB of memory & uSD socket on it?
  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,155
    edited 2014-08-07 13:18
    Bill Henning wrote: »
    Very cool!

    Time for me to order one as well...

    Did you notice the 128MB of memory & uSD socket on it?

    I did.
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2014-08-07 13:21
    (runs to cabinet, takes out BE Micro CV, runs back to computer)

    ...ok, I got mine!


    Edit: I just found my PayPal receipt - I purchased mine in March for $60.31 delivered to my door.
  • ctwardellctwardell Posts: 1,716
    edited 2014-08-07 13:24
    Ordered it.

    C.W.
  • jazzedjazzed Posts: 11,803
    edited 2014-08-07 13:25
    Great.

    I ordered one also. 1.8MB RAM makes big HUBRAM things possible I'd bet.

    Cheers.
    --Steve
  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,516
    edited 2014-08-07 13:47
    I nabbed one as well.
  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2014-08-07 14:20
    mindrobots wrote: »
    Edit: I just found my PayPal receipt - I purchased mine in March for $60.31 delivered to my door.

    I was robbed! Those dirty scoundrels charged me $61.96, same month. They shall rue the day they were born!
  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,516
    edited 2014-08-07 14:21
    User Name wrote: »
    I was robbed! Those dirty scoundrels charged me $61.96. They shall rue the day they were born!
    I paid $55.99 but I live in a state with no sales tax. :-)
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,173
    edited 2014-08-07 14:29
    cgracey wrote: »
    The BE Micro CV ...
    It was $60, delivered. This seems to be the best value for Prop1 Verilog development.

    And also quite good for P2 development too :)
    Having an eco-system of proven/ready test benches, ready for P2 code, will be a great advantage to Parallax.
  • SRLMSRLM Posts: 5,045
    edited 2014-08-07 14:34
    Ordered mine too: $60.06.
  • Bill HenningBill Henning Posts: 6,445
    edited 2014-08-07 15:10
    Ordered two for $98+s/h from www.arrownac.com (don't know the shipping charge yet)

    They still have 12 left in stock...

    The nice part is I can use my SchoolBoard ][ and EZasPie 300 & 600 prototyping boards with it as the BE has 40 pin headers!
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2014-08-07 15:15
    Hey, I use your Schoolboard II too!! I have to honestly say, they are handy!
  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,516
    edited 2014-08-07 15:16
    Bill Henning wrote: »
    Ordered two for $98+s/h from www.arrownac.com (don't know the shipping charge yet)

    They still have 12 left in stock...

    The nice part is I can use my SchoolBoard ][ and EZasPie 300 & 600 prototyping boards with it as the BE has 40 pin headers!
    Hmmm... Maybe I should order one!
  • Bill HenningBill Henning Posts: 6,445
    edited 2014-08-07 15:17
    Thank you for the kind words Rick!
    mindrobots wrote: »
    Hey, I use your Schoolboard II too!! I have to honestly say, they are handy!
  • Bill HenningBill Henning Posts: 6,445
    edited 2014-08-07 15:18
    I have a feeling you should order the BE before they go out of stock... it may take them weeks to re-stock.
    David Betz wrote: »
    Hmmm... Maybe I should order one!
  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,516
    edited 2014-08-07 15:21
    Bill Henning wrote: »
    I have a feeling you should order the BE before they go out of stock... it may take them weeks to re-stock.
    I ordered mine before you ordered yours! See message #7 in this thread.
    I also just sent you email about the SchoolBoard II.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2014-08-07 15:26
    I got one last year from Verical. I see that they are selling them for $31.53, they were more expensive when I got mine. Here is the previous thread:

    http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/150849-BeMicro-CV-FPGA-Board-for-P2
  • base2designbase2design Posts: 78
    edited 2014-08-07 15:33
    Count me in. I just ordered mine too. Let's see if Propeller 1+ desire can get me over the Verilog learning hump...

    -joe
  • RsadeikaRsadeika Posts: 3,837
    edited 2014-08-07 15:37
    When I went to the Arrow site, a couple of hours ago, the count was in stock 20, now it is 14. Arrow is probably wondering, what in all blazes is going on. Yes, I did order one also, not sure what I will be doing with it, but...

    Ray
  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,516
    edited 2014-08-07 15:40
    Rsadeika wrote: »
    When I went to the Arrow site, a couple of hours ago, the count was in stock 20, now it is 14. Arrow is probably wondering, what in all blazes is going on. Yes, I did order one also, not sure what I will be doing with it, but...

    Ray
    I'm not sure how much I'll be able contribute either with all of the hardware superstars here likely to finish before I even get started. It will at least be fun to run code other people create and I will certainly try my hand at designing some of my own extensions even if they are too amateurish to be used by anyone else.
  • SRLMSRLM Posts: 5,045
    edited 2014-08-07 15:52
    My goal: make PC run backwards! :)
  • Bill HenningBill Henning Posts: 6,445
    edited 2014-08-07 16:00
    Sorry, I forgot and that you were thinking of the BE.

    Thanks, got the email and we are having a nice chat via email.
    David Betz wrote: »
    I ordered mine before you ordered yours! See message #7 in this thread.
    I also just sent you email about the SchoolBoard II.
  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,516
    edited 2014-08-07 16:02
    Bill Henning wrote: »
    Sorry, I forgot and that you were thinking of the BE.

    Thanks, got the email and we are having a nice chat via email.
    I started thinking seriously when Chip bought his. I figure it's guaranteed to have P1 working on it shortly after Chip gets his! :-)
    I'm also hoping it can support 64k or more of hub RAM.
  • Bill HenningBill Henning Posts: 6,445
    edited 2014-08-07 16:04
    True!

    Once I get mine, I'll have to start hunting for a connector to match that nice 80 pin edge connector.
    David Betz wrote: »
    I started thinking seriously when Chip bought his. I figure it's guaranteed to have P1 working on it shortly after Chip gets his! :-)
    I'm also hoping it can support 64k or more of hub RAM.
  • YanomaniYanomani Posts: 1,524
    edited 2014-08-07 16:41
    Thanks Leon, for the tip!

    One weird thing, for me at least, is that they are selling them only in pairs!

    Even there, the price seems to be a bargain!!!

    Yanomani

    Leon wrote: »
    I got one last year from Verical. I see that they are selling them for $31.53, they were more expensive when I got mine. Here is the previous thread:

    http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/150849-BeMicro-CV-FPGA-Board-for-P2
  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,155
    edited 2014-08-07 17:00
    I just got the files done for the BeMicroCV board.

    I don't have a board to test them on, but in this .zip file are all the unique files you'll need:

    P8X32A_BeMicroCV.zip

    Start off with the DE2-115 directory setup and get rid of all files that have DE2_115 in their names. Then, put these files into that folder and rename the folder P8X32A_BeMicroCV. After that you can follow directions in the readme.txt file.

    It turns out that even though this Cyclone V -A2 part has 25k LE's, the P8X32A takes 85% of them! That's 33% more LE's than it takes on the Cyclone IV. Plus, it took 3x longer to compile. Oh, and Fmax is still over 80MHz, but slower than Cyclone IV. Only good thing is, these Cyclone V FPGA's cost half what the Cyclone IV devices cost in similar (higher) densities.

    Maybe someone can try these files out and see if they work.
    zip
    zip
    P8X32A_BeMicroCV.zip
    2M
  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2014-08-07 18:06
    cgracey wrote: »
    It turns out that even though this Cyclone V -A2 part has 25k LE's, the P8X32A takes 85% of them! That's 33% more LE's than it takes on the Cyclone IV.

    Is this with the character ROM restored? Or perhaps that has no influence on the number of LEs used. But I'm still curious if they're restored in the BE Micro CV version.
  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,155
    edited 2014-08-07 18:08
    User Name wrote: »
    Is this with the character ROM restored?

    Yes, if you start with the contents of the DE2-115 directory in the release from yesterday, it will have the hub_mem.v file without line 93 being commented out.
  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,516
    edited 2014-08-07 18:12
    cgracey wrote: »
    Yes, if you start with the contents of the DE2-115 directory in the release from yesterday, it will have the hub_mem.v file without line 93 being commented out.
    Will 64K of hub memory fit with a tiny loader ROM?
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,173
    edited 2014-08-07 18:55
    David Betz wrote: »
    Will 64K of hub memory fit with a tiny loader ROM?

    or, rephrased, how much HUB memory can fit with a tiny loader ?
    The part indicates ~ 220kB of RAM. Bigger RAM may impact the speed a little?
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