Re:Ask HN's FPGA users: FPGA tool woes & wants?
by harnhua on Wednesday June 02, 2010 @05:18AM
(#1397476)
Thank you for your comments.
Some thoughts in response to your comments:
> professional engineers
> A. They could figure out the answer to these questions on their own.
[harnhua] True - what they would gain by using our webapp is convenience and automated testing/evaluation.
> B. one of the large distribution companies would only be too happy to send out a sales engineer to assist with the decision making process.
[harnhua] Probably only if one is buying enough FPGAs/CPLDs to pay for that sales engineer? I reckon there should be many small-/medium-volume projects staffed by professional engineers who wouldn't attract such a level of customer service from the distributors.
Sales engineers who're skilled in FPGAs are probably in short supply.
> hobbyist market
[harnhua] Although there's little money there, we'd really like to make FPGAs easier to use for students and hobbyists as well.
Some thoughts in response to your comments:
> professional engineers > A. They could figure out the answer to these questions on their own. [harnhua] True - what they would gain by using our webapp is convenience and automated testing/evaluation.
> B. one of the large distribution companies would only be too happy to send out a sales engineer to assist with the decision making process. [harnhua] Probably only if one is buying enough FPGAs/CPLDs to pay for that sales engineer? I reckon there should be many small-/medium-volume projects staffed by professional engineers who wouldn't attract such a level of customer service from the distributors. Sales engineers who're skilled in FPGAs are probably in short supply.
> hobbyist market [harnhua] Although there's little money there, we'd really like to make FPGAs easier to use for students and hobbyists as well.
Any thoughts?