fpga programing board

[navidrct]

HI
I want start with fpga programing.and first i want build programer for it
any suggestion for building cheap programer for spartan 6?

[ale500]

The cheapest is probably a parallel cable 3, but you need a PC with a real parallel port. For like 15 $ you get a cheap china clone on ebay... is there any reason why you want to build the programmer ? A USB programmer needs a Cypress USB chip and a CPLD....
There are also boards FPGA+Programmer all in one...

[navidrct]

The cheapest is probably a parallel cable 3, but you need a PC with a real parallel port. For like 15 $ you get a cheap china clone on ebay... is there any reason why you want to build the programmer ? A USB programmer needs a Cypress USB chip and a CPLD....
There are also boards FPGA+Programmer all in one...

i don't have PC
can i use USB to serial to build fpga programer?

[ale500]

FPGAs are programmed in several ways. For development purposes mostly JTAG is used. Some USB-to Serial ics have some extra pins that with the right software can be used to talk to JATG. FT245 is one of those chips and used to talk to Altera and Lattice FPGAs. Another programming methods  exists like synchronous serial... I'd recommend you read this app note:

http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/user_guides/ug380.pdf

[tggzzz]

HI
I want start with fpga programing.and first i want build programer for it
any suggestion for building cheap programer for spartan 6?

If you want to program FPGAs, you probably don't want to build your own programmer, and probably don't want to build the board it is on.

Your best option is almost certainly to buy a small board containing an FPGA, since that will already have programming and debugging features built in and be connected to a suitable development toolchain.

[that_guy]

Well, the cheapest way would be to use any 3.3V microcontroller dev board that you probably already own and bit-bang the spartan's slave-serial programming mode. You'd have to write the code though and your time may not be cheap.

[Scrts]

Buy a programmer clone. It's the best option not because of the program capability, but for debug reasons as well. You will be able to use ChipScope or debug embedded softcore processor using break points.

The other option is to buy a proper development kit.

[daqq]

The best and probably cheapest option for you would be to pick your FPGA vendor and get a cheap programmer from ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/altera-Mini-Usb-Blaster-Cable-For-CPLD-FPGA-NIOS-JTAG-Altera-Programmer-new-/161597061343?hash=item259fef78df
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Xilinx-Platform-USB-Download-Cable-Jtag-Programmer-for-FPGA-CPLD-C-Mod-XC2C64A-/151748009964?hash=item2354e2dfec

These (atleast the xilinx one, I have no experience with Altera) can be used with the original IDE.

i don't have PC

To the best of my knowledge there are no FPGA tools for Macs, tablets or other similar toys.

[free_electron]

i don't have PC

then how are you going to develop the FPGA code ? You need a computer for that. And it needs to run Windows or a version of Linux in order to get the devtools loaded...