This is the first FPGA board that is all mine.
I always liked FPGAs from the first time I got to use them. I started with a board based on a Xilinx Spartan IIIE so I am happy that this board is based on an Altera FPGA.
I already wrote that this board is based on an Altera FPGA. The FPGA, being a Cyclone, is already obsolete but as the board was really cheap and included a JTAG programmer I didn’t care. Moreover, the Cyclone will be more than enough for my first projects.
The board has also two voltage regulators (1.5V, 3.3V), a 50MHz clock generator, a DS1302 (Trickle-Charge Timekeeping Chip), a MAX232, some LEDs, some push-buttons and many headers.
As the Cyclone is obsolete, the latest version of Quartus II doesn’t support it. Version 11.0sp1 is the last one that supported the Cyclone.
Downloading and installing Quartus II is easy and straightforward.
Now I have to start working with the board, which means that I have to start again with VHDL. I found a nice book that already helped me: Free Range VHDL. It is open source and an enjoyable read so I recommend it.
I am planning to start with the push-buttons and the LEDs, then working with the clock generator, then the MAX232… I like serial communication.
It is a little shame that, even if the board has a header for a gLCD, it will not work with the one I got.
I hope that soon I’ll have something cool based on this board to show off.
A.C.
