[myhdl-list] Cheap USB FPGA board needed

[Christopher L. <loz...@fr...>]

I applied to Techshop
http://TechShop.ws

to teach a MyHDL class.  They charge about $60 per class, so charging 
$200 plus for the board seemed a bit high to me, and a potential show 
stopper to them.  Basically we need a $50 board, so that people can try 
it out.  A $20 board would be even better.   If they like it, then they 
can upgrade to a $200 board.   Or I could give the students a choice of 
board.

So can anyone recommend a cheap board? There was talk of the Lattice 
Semiconductor Brevia board for $49.  But it turns out that it only has a 
parallel port connection, not a USB port,  so that if your computer only 
has USB, then it requires a $150 connector.   Useless!

The required board does not need a lot of LUTs, or transistors or I/O.  
Just a blinking light, enough transistors to implement a blinking light 
tutorial, and a USB connection.  The goal is to minimize the barrier to 
entry to the MyHDL community.

Conceptually what I have done is moved from targeting the FPGA 
community, to the Python community, to the larger software developer 
community in Silicon Valley.  Lots of people will want to play with 
FPGAs.  The code for a flip flop in MyHDL is so much simpler than in 
Verilog.  Python has a great reputation.

So if anyone can recommend a board, that would be most appreciated.

-- 
Regards
Christopher Lozinski

Check out my iPhone apps TextFaster and EmailFaster
http://textfaster.com

Expect a paradigm shift.
http://MyHDL.org