Re: [myhdl-list] Boards

[Christopher F. <chr...@gm...>]

On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 1:56 AM, Karl Kaiser <kk...@be...> wrote:

> Just a clarification on the DE2 boards. According to Altera's web site
> http://www.altera.com/education/univ/materials/boards/de2/unv-de2-board.htmlthe boards start around $500 or $270 for academics.
>
> BTW: DE2 is a really great board for classes and demos.
>


I am completely biased here but I disagree that the DE2 is a "great" board
for classes and demos, I think it is just ok.  Having taught classes I have
worked with a bunch of different boards.  We have used DE2 and similar
boards (and I have a couple).  For students starting out they like the large
buttons buttons and displays.  But after they blink some lights then the
boards aren't used for much.

I know the board has tons of peripherals but even the larger student
projects not many students finished projects with boards like the DE2, which
inspired me to help DSPtronics generate their board.  The DSPtronics board
is small in size and helps students stay focused.  It is this in-between
board, not too simple, but too complicated either.

Boards like the DSPtronics signa-x fills an intermediate step.  After the
blinking lights demos students can continue interfacing with the real
world.  From my experience I have seen this much more effective, and it
holds students interest much longer.  They can simply interface the board to
the PC with the USB.  And the boards size and cost lets student easily
integrate into a project.  The larger size of the DE2 makes it difficult.

I realize the DE2 has some of the features mentioned as well.  But either
all the interfaces need to be generated or the students were unable to find
the support for the interfaces.  Also note, there are 3 versions of the DE2
board.  We might not be thinking about the same boards.

Chris Felton


>
> --Karl
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 1:22 PM, Christopher Lozinski <
> loz...@sp...> wrote:
>
>> I spoke to Christopher Felton, he has 2 DSPTronics boards in inventory,
>> and an unsupported prototype board he could sell to a poor person for
>> less money. He sent one to England, but reportedly that has not arrived.
>>   His boards go for $200 or $230.
>>
>> I spoke to his manufacturer, they are producing 5 more boards.  So I am
>> confident in a supply of Xilinx boards.
>>
>> I had a long talk with Wayne Radohonski this morning.  He has committed
>> to supporting the
>> Altera Terasic DE2 board.   They are more expensive boards, he said
>> thousands of dollars.
>> We talked extensively about integrating MyHDL with the large stack of
>> proprietary libraries from Altera.
>>
>> Andrew Stone committed to supporting the entry-level Lattice board, and
>> Chris Felton offered to support that effort.  In fact Chris went ahead
>> and ordered that board for himself.
>>
>> Hope that helps.  Let me know if I missed anything.
>>
>> --
>> Regards
>> Christopher Lozinski
>>
>> Check out my iPhone apps TextFaster and EmailFaster
>> http://textfaster.com
>>
>> Expect a paradigm shift.
>> http://MyHDL.org
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Best regards,
>
> Karl Kaiser | 408 306 1755
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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