| Electronics > Beginners |
| Online FPGA simulator? |
| << < (6/7) > >> |
| Dmeads:
Okay, Im the OP, and here's what I did with the information yall gave me: I bought a Lattice ICEstick FPGA dev board (25 bucks) I am currently going through a bunch of Hackaday forums and thats helping me learn EDA playground. The simulator on that is just fine for what I need, and its in a browser, not a an application. I haven't actually programmed the hardware yet, but I will soon! Thanks for all the info! Its actually a lot more fun than I thought! |
| tggzzz:
--- Quote from: KE5FX on February 12, 2019, 10:59:01 pm --- --- Quote from: jmelson on February 12, 2019, 10:45:06 pm ---Really, trying to debug an FPGA in a more complex system with just a scope can be very frustrating. --- End quote --- As opposed to simulating a USB controller, DDR SDRAM, and numerous complex proprietary peripherals for which you don't have models? Simulation has its value in education, but you'll never convince me that it's a win in real-world complex designs. The effort required to keep the simulation faithful to the peripheral hardware, including aspects that aren't documented, will generally be higher than the effort needed to debug the hardware itself. --- End quote --- Those are valid points, but there is another benefit to simulation: rerunning previous validation and verification tests when something changes. Changes can be any of: * the next incremental implementation of part of a design. The software world has triumphantly reinvented this concept as TDD! * a peripheral change * changed requirements, either from the customer or based on improved understanding * changed device, within limits!and there are many others, of course. Of course the temptation is to use TDD as a crutch, "it passes the simulation tests, therefore it works". Inappropriate use of any tool is possible, and probable with some people :( Normally in large designs developing and maintaining tests takes at least as much time as developing the implementation. The benefits can and should be reduced integration times, coupled with the ability to point fingers at other people/companies :) |
| KE5FX:
--- Quote from: tggzzz on May 20, 2019, 07:14:52 am ---Of course the temptation is to use TDD as a crutch, "it passes the simulation tests, therefore it works". Inappropriate use of any tool is possible, and probable with some people :( --- End quote --- Old serviceman's adage: "The only tube tester that matters is the set itself." The more things change... |
| rstofer:
A free book: http://freerangefactory.org/pdf/df344hdh4h8kjfh3500ft2/free_range_vhdl.pdf |
| Old Printer:
--- Quote from: rstofer on May 20, 2019, 01:56:50 pm ---A free book: http://freerangefactory.org/pdf/df344hdh4h8kjfh3500ft2/free_range_vhdl.pdf --- End quote --- Thanks, price is right and it's under 200 pages. To the OP... If any of those Hackaday pages were particularity useful a link or two would be a good followup for those of us tagging along. Thanks. |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Next page |
| Previous page |