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From: Kevin Morris on 12 Jan 2006 15:15 I'm writing a feature article for FPGA Journal (www.fpgajournal.com) about FPGAs and the re-birth of the electronics hobbyist. My theory is that electronics as a hobby went through a "dark age" period, maybe from the early/mid 1970s until recently becuase of the inaccessibility and cost of designing with state-of-the-art technology. Radio Shack shifted their focus from 50-in-1 project kits and hobbyist parts to selling toys, cell-phones, and stereo equipment. Now, with the emergence of low-cost, high-capability FPGAs, development boards, and design software, I see a new age of hobbyist activity beginning (as often evidenced in this group). I'm looking for a few people that would be willing to express views on this topic for the article. I know, Austin will probably post a strong technical argument that Xilinx FPGAs are uniquely attractive to the hobbyist, somebody from Altera will send me a Cubic Cyclonium prototyping paperweight (they're very cool), and Actel and Lattice people will post just to remind us that they have low-cost kits too, but I'm primarily interested in some info from real, live, "working" hobbyists. Any takers?
From: Hal Murray on 12 Jan 2006 15:32 The low cost starter kits are great - not restricted to FPGAs. Both Microchip/PIC and Atmel/AVR have starter kits under $100, available from Digikey. Anybody got a list of hobbyist friendly vendors? I'm thinking of places like Digilent. The problem with FPGAs and CPLDs that I see is getting the raw parts in small quantities at hobbyist friendly stores. Most distributors are interested in large volumes. They aren't really setup for hobbyists. The Xilinx store still doesn't carry the small Coolrunner IIs. Digikey doesn't stock any of them. -- The suespammers.org mail server is located in California. So are all my other mailboxes. Please do not send unsolicited bulk e-mail or unsolicited commercial e-mail to my suespammers.org address or any of my other addresses. These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam.
From: Antti Lukats on 12 Jan 2006 15:39 "Kevin Morris" <kevin(a)techfocusmedia.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:1137096913.255199.239090(a)o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com... > I'm writing a feature article for FPGA Journal (www.fpgajournal.com) > about FPGAs and the re-birth of the electronics hobbyist. My theory is > that electronics as a hobby went through a "dark age" period, maybe > from the early/mid 1970s until recently becuase of the inaccessibility > and cost of designing with state-of-the-art technology. Radio Shack > shifted their focus from 50-in-1 project kits and hobbyist parts to > selling toys, cell-phones, and stereo equipment. > > Now, with the emergence of low-cost, high-capability FPGAs, development > boards, and design software, I see a new age of hobbyist activity > beginning (as often evidenced in this group). > > I'm looking for a few people that would be willing to express views on > this topic for the article. > > I know, Austin will probably post a strong technical argument that > Xilinx FPGAs are uniquely attractive to the hobbyist, somebody from > Altera will send me a Cubic Cyclonium prototyping paperweight (they're > very cool), and Actel and Lattice people will post just to remind us > that they have low-cost kits too, but I'm primarily interested in some > info from real, live, "working" hobbyists. > > Any takers? > I am actually not so hobbyist, but I have my fun some times Spartan3E VQ100 on single sided toner transfer made PCB http://xilant.com/content/view/35/2/ DIL24 (GAL like) Spartan3-100 based module works as MMC card in card reader http://xilant.com/content/view/33/55/ my FPGA protoboard pictures are lost unfortunatly xilinx isnt actually the best for hobby because of the 3 power supplies required sometimes you can get it with 2 power supplies (if VCCIO is 2.5) so all other vendors have an small advantage here, with the true single supply chips being the best, in generic it really looks like it may come to DIY electronic rebirth again - if I can help here I would be glad - there are so many thing any FPGA board can do because of its reprogrammability for true do it all yourself hobby bastler Lattice XP in TQ144 is possible the easiest to handle so what info are you looking and what is it where you look for takers ? Actel has no low kits (no real low cost). for xilinx/lattice kit prices start from 50USD 50EUR, for Altera has been same all actel kits are 149USD+ the only interesting Actel thing is the Fusion starterkit and that costs already 399EUR -- Antti Lukats http://www.xilant.com
From: Jim Granville on 12 Jan 2006 16:44 Kevin Morris wrote: > I'm writing a feature article for FPGA Journal (www.fpgajournal.com) > about FPGAs and the re-birth of the electronics hobbyist. My theory is > that electronics as a hobby went through a "dark age" period, maybe > from the early/mid 1970s until recently becuase of the inaccessibility > and cost of designing with state-of-the-art technology. Radio Shack > shifted their focus from 50-in-1 project kits and hobbyist parts to > selling toys, cell-phones, and stereo equipment. > > Now, with the emergence of low-cost, high-capability FPGAs, development > boards, and design software, I see a new age of hobbyist activity > beginning (as often evidenced in this group). There is also a parallel in the Microcontroller sector. With most new devices having FLASH and OnChip debug, the level of entry for capable in-system debug, has dropped. SiLabs have a sub $10 USB ToolStick, Zilog had some sub $10 demos, and I think now have $39 Eval/Demo Boards. Freescale have a new $50 promo USB system... > > I'm looking for a few people that would be willing to express views on > this topic for the article. > I know, Austin will probably post a strong technical argument that > Xilinx FPGAs are uniquely attractive to the hobbyist, somebody from > Altera will send me a Cubic Cyclonium prototyping paperweight (they're > very cool), and Actel and Lattice people will post just to remind us > that they have low-cost kits too, but I'm primarily interested in some > info from real, live, "working" hobbyists. Lattice have the OpenSource Mico8, and their MachXO means you can get a tiny, but working, SoftCPU in one low cost chip. AS Assembler has added support for the Mico8, giving a second ASM tool flow. > > Any takers? <paste> Hal Murray wrote: > The Xilinx store still doesn't carry the small Coolrunner IIs. > Digikey doesn't stock any of them. Yes, alas, more signs of 'big company syndrome' from Xilinx :( How hard can it have been to have ensured the newish '32A/64A' were there, before they yanked the older ones.... ? ( and in the new packages too ?! ) With the Webstore as it is now, users might think any/all of a) They do not want these in new designs b) There is some supply problem, with smaller CPLDs c) Xilinx is phasing out emphasis on smaller CPLDs [Xilinx are now last in release of new CPLD devices..] -jg
From: Brian Drummond on 12 Jan 2006 16:45
On 12 Jan 2006 12:15:13 -0800, "Kevin Morris" <kevin(a)techfocusmedia.com> wrote: >I'm writing a feature article for FPGA Journal (www.fpgajournal.com) >about FPGAs and the re-birth of the electronics hobbyist. My theory is >that electronics as a hobby went through a "dark age" period, maybe >from the early/mid 1970s until recently becuase of the inaccessibility >and cost of designing with state-of-the-art technology. Radio Shack >shifted their focus from 50-in-1 project kits and hobbyist parts to >selling toys, cell-phones, and stereo equipment. er, no, I wouldn't have said the late 70's or 80s were in any way a dark age for the hobbyist... admittedly around 1980 all a hobbyist had to play with was the Z80 or 6502, but at the time they WERE state of the art. It was probably the last time a hobbyist could build a computer, modify or even write the BIOS, and actually understand pretty much every detail of a machine capable of running the leading OS and applications. >Now, with the emergence of low-cost, high-capability FPGAs, development >boards, and design software, I see a new age of hobbyist activity >beginning (as often evidenced in this group). If anything, it's a return to those days, with Linux in the place of CP/M, (though Linux is too big to _really_ understand), and with WebPack in the place of that fat orange book (you know the one), 16-pin sockets, and the wire wrap tool. Pete A will probably maintain the fat book was actually bright red! >I'm looking for a few people that would be willing to express views on >this topic for the article. > but I'm primarily interested in some >info from real, live, "working" hobbyists. Digital clock, 1978. FM tuner, 1979. Dictation type cassette recorder, hacked for hi-fi stereo headphone use, in progress summer 1980. Yes, the summer the Walkman came out. Grrr... Richard Russell Board (Z80, 32k later 64k RAM; a BBC OS (not BBC Micro!) and later CPM 1982,3,4) An oddball (but good!) in the ZX80, ZX81 era. Mahogany laptop (64180 based) ca 1987, but it was getting obsolete faster than I could finish it... Vacuum tube amp restorations, various. Some deaf microphones, ca 1995, until I gave up and used commercial capsules. (The electronics and enclosures were my own though) Don't know if these count. ....then working from home and non-electronic hobbies started taking over... - Brian |