Hi guys,

This is one just for FPGA newbies, and possibly also a place where you can
point people when they ask you what an FPGA is...

Video #2 here answers the question "What is an FPGA?"
http://www.burched.com/freevideos.ag.php

That video also answers these other newbie questions:
  And how is that different to a microcontroller?
  Who makes FPGAs?
  What can I use FPGAs for?
  Why would I want to use FPGAs?
  How can I learn FPGA design?...

...hope that is useful for FPGA newbies:)

Cheers,
Anthony

I find it hard to elegantly explain sometime what an fpga is for people used
to program sequential machines in sequential languages. And for everyone else
what's is good for. They easily get caught in the "how do I get my sequential
programs on it".

The common answer is that it's a matrix of logic gates that can act as any
other kind of chip at will, be it cpu, hdd controller, translator interface,
dsp, etc.. I just don't think that answer really has a punch line thoe.

I say, use variables and a single process/block.

      -- Mike Treseler

On Mar 29, 12:48 am, sky46...@trline4.org wrote:

For those who understand hardware, I say that a CPLD or FPGA is like a
board full of chips of flip flops and gates.  This mind set keeps me
from the newbie mistake of "how do I wait for xx ns?" (no one-
shots!).  A simple view of a HARDWARE description Language (VHDL or
Verilog) is that it is used to describe how those gates and flops are
connected (wired).  If the FPGA is "large enough" one can make almost
anything, even a microprocessor.  I have done both simple hardware
design using 74LS chips in the past (but now I prefer CPLDs), and I do
software programming in embedded systems, too.  I understand how
peripheral chips work, but I suspect that many programmers don't
understand hardware.  When I started VHDL programming, I did have to
remind myself that I was designing hardware, even though I was writing
code that kinda looked like Pascal or Ada.
-Dave Pollum