Okay Cool, Most everything you have mentioned I have already done and been through, I just have to start going through some tutorials on VHDL and how to add the files in to a blank project now.
Most of my projects I am just looking to use certain CPU cores and I/O blocks by themselves without making a whole SOC configuration, the 6821 in one of them too.
I know about the pin planner, My point was to have the same hardware made so that I could just load other example projects using the DE2 and have it work right way without having to set any pins (providing that those configurations have been saved in the project) by just compiling and uploading to the FPGA.
Like I have done with the few projects I made on my CPLD.
I am not trying to get away from learning how to do it the right way from the very beginning, it just usually helps me to see what is going on with a project that is already working and then start modifying it in whatever way I choose once I see it working.
That is how I have been able to learn some C projects, by seeing it work first.
A lot of this has had to do with verifying that everything is setup correctly in Linux typically envolving the programming hardware.
Yes, In widows it works just fine, but I have already stated what I think about windows.
When I started working with the STM32's (when they became the big fad 5-6 years ago) there was very little hobbyist support for them then and it was difficult to get some projects working due to the different versions of IDE's that were being used and getting the correct version of GCC as well as being determined to make it all work in Linux.
I had gotten a Free STM32F429I discovery board (3 of them actually) by taking an online course sponsored by STM and I only had a limited time to use IAR, and most of the noobs were using Coo Cox and making it work.
It was my Very First venture into that field and the 30 or 60 days that IAR allowed me to use the IDE was hardly enough to even get me going as I knew nothing about C at the time
I do understand how the parallel processing works as well and is not sequential like normal programming, that is what I really like about VHDL.
It is almost the way I think all the time and is why programming in general on Microcontrollers or any other cpu is just very boring to me because it is just a glorified sequencer really.
Just so that I do understand................
let's say I have the whole circuit written up in VHDL and I realized that I needed to add another function like adding an inverter or some other gate in there for whatever reason, I can just add that right at the bottom of my HUGE script and it will pick it up and add it to the circuit properly, (providing I have used the proper connection labeling) and it does not have to be anywhere near the section of the script to where the part was added too, right?
As an example of the Black box, who cares about what is in there as far as registers and such, The Only Thing That Matters Is, just as long as the input/output functions work as required that is all that is needed.
This is what I love about this type of programming with VHDL and Verilog!!
Yes, it can be very tedious using the schematic editor, but I am used to this as a tech, and reading them for years has gotten me over that.
Imagine back in the 90's when I used to draw the exact same project I did on the CPLD only on a 800x600 resolution or worse in Circuitmaker version 4, 6 and 2000, But I did it !!! He,he,he,he
Let alone trying to see the simulation work !!! He,he,he,he
It is sad that using the schematic editor doesn't produce portable code, but the good thing is that it forces me to want to learn VHDL!!
Ya, I can go in and change my part using the schematic method, but the project is useless if I want to use a part form a different company like Xilinx or Lattice.
I took another look at Grant's page and your right I don't see the Python code I had mentioned.
I must have gotten that from another version of the project where a python script was used to help select the options and it would generate the code to add in the original format that Grant used, and then just paste that file into the project.
If I run across it again I will post the link for you to check it out if you like.
Sorry for taking up your thread on my learning issues, But this conversation has helped me Tremendously and I Truly Appreciate it !!
I am now ready to continue on and get cracking on some VHDl and learn some more !!
It is not often that I get to communicate with someone on my level of thinking and that is why I finally joined this forum, I have only known about it for a short time and I am very impressed at what I have seen by lurking around.
I have been on many other websites were just plain lame IMHO, or, have very little action going on at all.
I don't even get on DIYaudio anymore because in general the same subjects come up all of the time and I find myself just repeating everything that I had already explained previously in several other threads !!!!
I Do, Do My Best at researching subjects before I go asking anyone any questions.
And as you can see, I do like to be very detailed in my posts, as I have been caught up with comments from others thinking that I am a complete noob and know nothing at all !!!
But, Your advice has helped me a lot as I Am New to the Wonderful World of FPGA's !!
I Thank You Very Much for Your Time on this !!!
Cheers !!!
Jer