[HH] Learn FPGAs Using Arduino Approach

[Greg London]

Well, for $50, not a bad price.
I'm not sure what someone would do with an fpga+arduino though.
If you need that kind of horsepower, you probably should be
using something besides an arduino processor.

Since arduino's run at 16mhz max, most FPGA's could plug
directly into the pins of an arduino chip, i.e. someone
could make an FPGA shield if there was a calling for it.

I suppose for someone already familiar with arduino,
it could be a good way to branch out and learn about FPGA's.
Except the physical connector isn't compatible with existing
which means a person's familiarity with arduino will only
help them so much.

If it had been an fpga that worked just like an arduino,
I could see it as a good way for software folks to transistion
from arduino to FPGA/hardware design.

But the mismatch in horsepower just seems weird to me.


> Learn FPGAs Using Arduino Approach
> http://www.microcontrollercentral.com/author.asp?section_id=1758&doc_id=248276&f_src=microcontrollercentral_sitedefault
>
>   The Papilio FPGA board comes with pre-made configuration files that
>   turn its Xilinx Spartan 3E FPGA into an Arduino module. I went ahead
>   and purchased a Papilio at gadgetfactory.net to see if it would be a
>   decent bridge between the FPGA and MCU worlds.
>   [...]
>   There are a lot of options for those wanting to bridge the MCU-FPGA
>   gap. Some are more FPGA and some more MCU. The Papilio hardware is
>   more FPGA, but as it's packaged up it's more MCU. It's a pretty
>   capable board in general. You can use it as a raw FPGA with a lot of
>   I/O pins available, as an Arduino with some unique capabilities, as a
>   soft MCU with a good set of I/O, or a combination thereof. One
>   important note is that the form factor is not mechanically compatible
>   with Arduino shields, so you can't directly plug them in.
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