Port to another FPGA.

[Arty]

Hello Dear Group. 

What do you think are the problems when porting the gateway HL2 to another platform? The choice is now very limited. For example, FPGA ECP5 from Lattice is  commercially available. In the HL2 code, I don't see .qip files. How can I find IP component settings? Maybe someone already has developments for inexpensive FPGA from Lattice?
Of course, I immediately remember the Zync-7000 from Xilinx, but not everyone needs a system on a chip. It seems to me that it is quite possible to use the classical construction on the FPGA.

[Clifford Heath]

The original author appears to have made a start on support for an Efinix FPGA. I was considering using one of those in a new design but to gain familiarity, decided to purchase a Hermes Lite first.

It needs lots of multipliers. Probably an Efinix T35.

Clifford Heath 

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[Arty]

Yes, the number of hardware multipliers plays a significant role. But with a decrease in the number of virtual receivers, less capacious FPGAs can also be used. I think it is possible to use Trion T20 as a junior model or Trion T35 as an older model to replace the existing FPGA.

воскресенье, 4 сентября 2022 г. в 11:30:39 UTC+3, cliffor...@gmail.com:

[Don [N5SKT]]

Any idea how Apache Labs is doing this? Can anything be learned from what they are doing?

73 de N5SKT

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Best Regards,

Don - N5SKT

[Arty]

All source codes are now adapted for Intel's Altera. We need people who can support code for another manufacturer.

среда, 7 сентября 2022 г. в 07:27:12 UTC+3, n5skt...@gmail.com:

[Clifford Heath]

On 7 Sep 2022, at 2:31 pm, Arty <cqdx...@gmail.com> wrote:
> All source codes are now adapted for Intel's Altera. We need people who can support code for another manufacturer.

The work did get started:
<https://github.com/softerhardware/Hermes-Lite2/commit/265ae429962ce0b0811d8ac3b7c26fb2c18e543c>
<https://github.com/softerhardware/Hermes-Lite2/commit/9e388efd839554039104f923eedcefd56b55b5fd>

The Efinix FPGAs are in stock at Mouser and other places. I was planning on learning to use them to include in a new SDR design, but decided to get familiar with HPSDR first, so bought a Hermes Lite.

No promises, but I do plan to try to become sufficiently competent.

The other problem is that the LTC cable modem chips have very few other users and so are likely to go EOL soon, so we'll need a new converter architecture too.

Clifford Heath.

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[Terry Fox]

Hello there.

AS a point of interested, I am involved with the S100computers group, which have been using Waveshare FPGA boards to emulate Z80, I/O, and other S100 boards.

With the shortage of Waveshare Cyclone 4 EP4CE10 boards, one of the members has designed a replacement using the Efinix T35 FPGA chip.  It fits to the Waveshare footprint, but also has some extra connectors for the additional T35 pins.  I have one of his boards, and am trying to fit various projects onto the T35.  I think he had a run of about 75 T35 boards, and is finishing the proofing of the board now.

If you are interested, please look at the Forum found on the s100computers.com website.

This T35 board has me re-interested in FPGA boards

73, Terry, N4TLF (ex WB4JFI)

[Arty]

Hi all!
This is an interesting FPGA in terms of resources. But what stops me is that there is no free software IDE. If I buy their  Xyloni development kit , will I be able to get access to the development for Trion T35? Also, I'm not sure if I can now buy something on Digikey, because my country is in a difficult situation and there may be problems with delivery from other countries. Is there any other way to get the software?

https://www.efinixinc.com/products-efinity.html

четверг, 8 сентября 2022 г. в 20:00:55 UTC+3, wb4...@gmail.com:

[WB4JFI]

If you buy any of the Efinix development boards, you get a one year license to Efinity that works on ALL their FPGAs.  The license may be extended by Efinix I think.  The two least-expensive solutions are the Efinix Xyloni and the Crowd Supply FireAnt ($38 US).  I hope Efinix opens up their Efinity development sometime.  From what I hear, they have been overwhelmed with interest due to Xilinx and Altera shortages.

I purchased both the Xyloni and FireAnt about six months ago.  I also have their T20-256 development board that I was playing with until the T35 board is available.  I believe the T35 board will cost about $100.  I have no financial interest in the T35 board.  I just like the design a lot.

Terry

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[Steve Haynal]

I saw this interesting tweet the other day. New SDR.

https://twitter.com/fei666888/status/1567122099361447936

[Steve Haynal]

Open source FT8 receiver:

https://www.radiostack.com/

https://github.com/Radio-Stack/caravel_ft8_receiver

Google sponsored open source IC fabrication:

https://github.com/efabless/caravel

[Clifford Heath]

On Fri, 9 Sept 2022, 06:36 Steve Haynal, <softerh...@gmail.com> wrote:

I saw this interesting tweet the other day. New SDR.

https://twitter.com/fei666888/status/1567122099361447936

Justin Peng is... not known for the integrity of either his designs or his business. Almost all his products are inferior clones or violate copyrights. Read the QTs before getting excited about this half-baked product, e.g. https://twitter.com/ryzerth/status/1567273221229056001

[Clifford Heath]

Terry, I'd like to help if I can. Are the S100computers boards available to purchase? Is the board design open source? 

On a different topic, I understand that the 1 year software license when buying an official Efinix board covers 1 year of upgrades. The software continues to work beyond that year, it just can't be upgraded any more.

Clifford Heath 

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[WB4JFI]

The boards are still in final checking by the designer.  He is having some verification issues with the onboard SDRAM that he included.  You can follow more on the s100computers.com forum.  His name is Jefferey Wilson.  The board looks really nice to me.  He just got the onboard config memory chip running.  Yes, he says the board design is open source.

BTW, I am in no way an expert in FPGAs, but I did play with them a few years ago, when we did the old Charleston SDR receiver board (it used a Nexys2).  It seems that Efinix is really in the Verilog camp, which is good for me.  The retro groups seem to be mostly using VHDL.  I did have some issues with using Efinix VHDL memory designs, so I slowly converted whatever I'm working on to Verilog top modules, but have called VHDL modules within my Verilog with little problems.  I have almost all of Grant Searle's Z80 Multicomp design, except for the VGA.  It does boot with two serial ports, and CP/M on an SD card.
Terry