I'm trying to learn FPGA design in my spare time whilst a postgrad student.  I think I
understand the languages used (Verilog/VHDL) reasonably well, but find that the best way to
learn is to actually test things out.

So I was wondering if I should buy a development board, and if so, which one?     And once I
have such a thing, what do I try to do with it first?

Sorry if this seems vague, but trying to do this alone is tricky, and I'm not sure where to
start on the hardware front!

Cheers

The Spartan-3E boards from http://www.digilentinc.com/ are pretty
well-documented and approachable.  I've been working with the Xylo-L from
www.knjn.com , myself.

All of the develoment/educational boards seem to come with simple test
projects that you can use to ramp yourself up to speed with the tools.

-- john, KE5FX
> -----Original Message-----
> From: f...@yahoogroups.com [mailto:f...@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf
> Of f...@gmail.com
> Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 5:57 AM
> To: f...@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [fpgadsp] Learning FPGA Design - what board?
> I'm trying to learn FPGA design in my spare time whilst a
> postgrad student.  I think I understand the languages used
> (Verilog/VHDL) reasonably well, but find that the best way to
> learn is to actually test things out.
>
> So I was wondering if I should buy a development board, and if
> so, which one?     And once I have such a thing, what do I try to
> do with it first?
>
> Sorry if this seems vague, but trying to do this alone is tricky,
> and I'm not sure where to start on the hardware front!
>
> Cheers