Re:Reverse-engineering the first FPGA chip, the XC2064
by snvzz on Tuesday September 15, 2020 @07:30AM
(#24480006)
Not the author, but my advice would be to grab a cheap devboard and try doing something, anything.
My approach was to implement very simple interfaces without using libraries.
Simulators are nice and all, but you won't feel the magic with these.
There's many cheap options[0] these days, but I'd suggest something based on iCE40[1], as they are cheap and have the most mature support in the open stack thanks to icestorm[2].
Excellent, dirt-cheap options include icestick, tinyfpga bx and blackice mx. These are all <$70.
My approach was to implement very simple interfaces without using libraries.
Simulators are nice and all, but you won't feel the magic with these.
There's many cheap options[0] these days, but I'd suggest something based on iCE40[1], as they are cheap and have the most mature support in the open stack thanks to icestorm[2].
Excellent, dirt-cheap options include icestick, tinyfpga bx and blackice mx. These are all <$70.
[0]: https://joelw.id.au/FPGA/CheapFPGADevelopmentBoards
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICE_(FPGA)#iCE40_(40_nm)
[2]: http://www.clifford.at/icestorm/