Xilinx based props???

rogloh

For those into Xilinx based FPGAs, this might make an interesting platform for a propeller. I wonder if it would fit the LX25.

http://www.xess.com/shop/product/xula2-lx25/

Has anyone used one of these boards before? They look interesting if a little minimalist.

Roger.

Cluso99

I was wondering the same thing...

I think there may be the same problem of less efficiency with the LUTs in the Spartan-6 which I understand are similar to the Cyclone V.
Similar LUT sizes, similar Distributed RAM (hub?). Not sure how to compare 52*18Kb blocks with 196*M10K blocks (cog?) but think Cyclone has 2x but we don't need it.

I have a Spartan 3A board. IIRC it has 200,000 somethings.

Might be worthwhile trying a compilation for the LX25.

Has anyone looked at the resource usage on the DE0? Just checked Chip's post - Cyclone V uses 33% more LUTs than IV (DE0)

AntoineDoinel

Cluso99 wrote: »

I was wondering the same thing...

I think there may be the same problem of less efficiency with the LUTs in the Spartan-6 which I understand are similar to the Cyclone V.
Similar LUT sizes, similar Distributed RAM (hub?). Not sure how to compare 52*18Kb blocks with 196*M10K blocks (cog?) but think Cyclone has 2x but we don't need it.

I have a Spartan 3A board. IIRC it has 200,000 somethings.

Might be worthwhile trying a compilation for the LX25.

Has anyone looked at the resource usage on the DE0? Just checked Chip's post - Cyclone V uses 33% more LUTs than IV (DE0)

Lately there is a flood of LX9 based boards, expecially in kickstarter projects (LogiPi/LogiBone, Papilio DUO, miniSpartan+, etc)
I think the LX9 is approximately equivalent to a Spartan 3A/3E 500, (which had 500,000 "somethings" :-)
The LX25 would be approx 3x the LX9.

Also I believe it is much faster, even in the lowest speed grade, as many of these boards are coming with HDMI directly connected to FPGA pins.

overclocked

I give it a try to synth it for my xilinx cards. Though these are older Spartan3 and Spartan3E

Leon

I've got one of the Digilent Spartan 3 boards, but a better board would be the Adapteva Parallella Embedded board which I bought recently which has a Xilinx Zynq Z-7020 SOC (Artix FPGA with a dual-core ARM A9):

http://www.xilinx.com/products/silicon-devices/soc/zynq-7000/silicon-devices/index.htm

Heater.

Is there enough room on a Adapteva Zynq to put the Propeller? That boards runs hot.

Leon

85K logic cells, it should be enough. The current boards have a much larger heat sink and don't need a fan.

Heater.

Leon,

Interesting. If one can create an interface from the propeller HDL on the FPGA side to the Zynq ARM core that looks like a serial port and can by used by SimpleIDE. And create the interface to the IO pins on the other side the we have a great ARM + Propeller I/O processor combo in one chip.

Leon

There are Cyclone V SoCs with ARMs, as well. They should be cheaper. The Zynq chips have other stuff that might be useful, though.

overclocked

Talking COM-ports, isn't this the way to go with all Altera-based cards to get a common solution?

http://idle-logic.com/2012/04/15/talking-to-the-de0-nano-using-the-virtual-jtag-interface/

I have not tried it myself, just found it by searching. Seem to be a JTAG-based solution showing up like a COM-port! Any comments? This would suit my upcoming BEMicroSDK-port perfectly! I'm missing the COM-port, but have everything else.