EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Electronics => Microcontrollers => Topic started by: legacy on July 21, 2015, 02:03:38 pm
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hi guys
I have a small project which fits perfectly within the Papilo/Pro, which is good because it has a Spartan6, enough BRAM, an external SRAM and a pair of uart usb driven channels (Dual Channel FTDI FT2232 USB): that's perfect for my SoC + debug processor!
So I want a Papilo/Pro, the problem is … where to buy ? I live within Europe, Italy, I have seen these choices:
- to buy form seeedstudio (http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/Papilio-Pro-p-1301.html) 84.99 USD + shipping + shipping fee (22% of the declared value)
- to buy form skpang uk (http://skpang.co.uk/catalog/papilio-pro-spartan-6-lx9-fpga-with-64mbit-sdram-p-1190.html) 81UKP + shipping (low price), no shipping fee, ~115 euro
- to buy form store gadgetfactory (http://store.gadgetfactory.net/papilio-pro/) 84.99 USD + shipping + shipping fee (22% of the declared value)
Alternative boards (I prefer Xilinx, I find more comfortable with them), price from ~ 50USD + shipping + shipping fee
- Xilinx spartan6, chinese board (http://www.ebay.com/itm/291006137579)
- Altera cyclone IV, chinese board (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Altera-FPGA-CORE-Board-EP4CE10E22-with-SDRAM-Powerful-Cyclone-IV-/290889120764?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43ba57bbfc)
- terasic series (http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&CategoryNo=163#Category165). This series is more expensive than the two above, but … it's damn professionally made.
feel free to suggest alternatives, I'd to buy 5 of them (2 are for me, 3 are for my friends)
Thank you in advance, guys :D
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Hi,
i'm also italian, i bought some time ago this: http://numato.com/fpga-boards/xilinx/spartan6/mimas-v2-spartan-6-fpga-development-board-with-ddr-sdram.html (http://numato.com/fpga-boards/xilinx/spartan6/mimas-v2-spartan-6-fpga-development-board-with-ddr-sdram.html) and http://numato.com/breakout-boards/usb-to-serial/ft2232h-breakout.html (http://numato.com/breakout-boards/usb-to-serial/ft2232h-breakout.html) with an academic discount. The shipping costs and time was not bad to italy.
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I'm not sure what kind of experience you have with seeedstudio, but I have almost newer paid shipping, only on a few occasions only $3something, and never ever paid tax for anything I bought there.
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@exapod
the numato mimas-v2 (http://numato.com/fpga-boards/xilinx/spartan6/mimas-v2-spartan-6-fpga-development-board-with-ddr-sdram.html) board is very interesting
features I like
- SPARTAN XC6SLX9
- onboard 512Mb DDR SDRAM
and it's good price
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@neslekkim
Never bought from them before, but If the product is outside the Europe zone 1-5 then I have to pay the 22% of the declared value. That is the rule. Sadly.
From where do they ship ? Within Europe ? Is it possible they have a warehouse located within Europe ?
If so, I will be very happy to order from them :D
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China, but they declare a very low value.
Same in Norway, I have to pay 25% of declared value if the item cost more than 350NOK (with shipping), 350 is about $43 or €39. but seeed packages have always passed straight through..
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here the the threshold is 35 euro, above you have to pay, and they have always caught me :D
(too often caught that I am starting to believe they have my photo and my address somewhere in their office like a wanted: guys, if you see a parcel from that legacy-dude, catches it, can't get away, he MUST pay)
let's cross fingers, may be I will be lucky this time ;D
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If there is the possibility that you will need a larger FPGA, the Pipistrello is quite a good board (http://pipistrello.saanlima.com/ (http://pipistrello.saanlima.com/)) - it has a Spartan 6 LX45, 64 MB of LPDDR and a FT2232H USB interface (amongst other things), but it is more costly at USD$155.
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The Pipistrello is offering more resources, I am tempted but I am considering it for me (probably as second purchase but planned for xmass) . The Papilo/Pro is more than Ok for my friends, they do not need more resources :D
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another brick in the wall: see the Arty (http://store.digilentinc.com/arty-board-artix-7-fpga-development-board-for-makers-and-hobbyists/) board :D
It comes with DRAM, 4 PMOD connectors and a few arduino-like pins.