Author Topic: Chinese FPGAs sold by LCSC, has anyone tried those? (Read 15837 times)

Axk · « **on:** December 03, 2018, 11:08:28 pm »

LCSC has these FPGAs/CPLDs from 2 chinese companies: AGM Microelectronics and An Road, Shanghi Info Tech.

https://lcsc.com/products/CPLD-FPGA_492.html

Has anyone tried using these?

Is there programmers for these available? Tools?

ale500 · « **Reply #1 on:** December 04, 2018, 06:22:18 am »

I can't read chinese but they have a TQFP-44 part !, with like 300 LUTs that is interesting !. Regarding tools and programmers... I'll have to look a bit more for those...

Bassman59 · « **Reply #2 on:** December 04, 2018, 05:37:38 pm »

Quote from: Axk on December 03, 2018, 11:08:28 pm

LCSC has these FPGAs/CPLDs from 2 chinese companies: AGM Microelectronics and An Road, Shanghi Info Tech.

https://lcsc.com/products/CPLD-FPGA_492.html

Has anyone tried using these?

Is there programmers for these available? Tools?

I question the longevity and reliability of these companies if you're considering using the devices in production.

kony · « **Reply #3 on:** December 04, 2018, 05:44:17 pm »

IIRC, they are Lattice clones (by ex-employees?) and I doubt they are not yet after them for IP rights infringement. Wouldn't dare to use it.

colorado.rob · « **Reply #4 on:** December 04, 2018, 06:03:38 pm »

If they are indeed Lattice clones then there is an open source toolchain available that may work with them. http://www.clifford.at/icestorm/

http://www.alta-gate.com/support.aspx?lang=&p=16

Should probably see if they have tools available in English.

I will also note that Google is indexing the hell out of lcsc.com now. Searching for "AGM fpga" turns up lcsc.com links and images near the top for me.

Berni · « **Reply #5 on:** December 04, 2018, 06:52:51 pm »

I also noticed they have some Altera and Xilinx parts for very nice prices.

But i would assume this is just something they happen to get there hands on and likely disappears once the stocks are up.

Axk · « **Reply #6 on:** December 04, 2018, 08:39:57 pm »

Searching for "anlogic" on ebay finds some development boards with one of these compaines' chips:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/64Mbit-SDRAM-Onboard-FPGA-Downloader-Dual-Flash-Core-Board-RISC-V-Development/362486473357?epid=6008289069&hash=item5465e0a28d:g:HGYAAOSw3T5b64kU:rk:2:pf:0

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anlogic

janoc · « **Reply #7 on:** December 04, 2018, 08:54:01 pm »

Quote from: colorado.rob on December 04, 2018, 06:03:38 pm

If they are indeed Lattice clones then there is an open source toolchain available that may work with them. http://www.clifford.at/icestorm/

http://www.alta-gate.com/support.aspx?lang=&p=16

Should probably see if they have tools available in English.

I will also note that Google is indexing the hell out of lcsc.com now. Searching for "AGM fpga" turns up lcsc.com links and images near the top for me.

Icestorm works only with one line of Lattice FPGAs - the iCE40 series. Lattice makes a lot of other things (e.g. the Mach family), so if something is a "Lattice clone", it doesn't imply that this toolchain will work with it.

Axk · « **Reply #8 on:** December 04, 2018, 09:34:14 pm »

Anlogic development software: http://www.anlogic.com/down.aspx?TypeId=23&fid=t14:23:14

Looks like a ripoff of some other FPGA tool?

mikeselectricstuff · « **Reply #9 on:** December 04, 2018, 10:22:54 pm »

Although the installer and manual are Chinese, the software is clearly Western, all good English. Also some other languages in some files.
Looking through files now for clues..
Has anyone found any example projects ?

mikeselectricstuff · « **Reply #10 on:** December 04, 2018, 10:59:57 pm »

So some more poking around.
Very few copyright messages, those that are are all Anlogic ( sometimes dated 2011-2021!)

There is no way this was developed by Chinese developers - the English is too good, and there is a LOT of it.

VERY small compared to other FPGA software - couple of ~32M executables
They have a github page https://github.com/AnlogicInfo
According to This from a year ago they're shipping millions. To who I wonder?

chickenHeadKnob · « **Reply #11 on:** December 04, 2018, 11:12:44 pm »

The ebay listing provided by Axk above includes the following blurb:
"Lichee Tang uses Anlogic Technologies' EG4S20 as the core unit, 20K logic unit (LUT4/LUT5 hybrid architecture), approximately 130KB
S RAM, built-in 32bit bit width 64MBit SDRAM, rich LVDS pin, built-in 12-bit 1MSPS ADC. "

Offhand that does not resemble any lattice product does it? especially the LUT4/LUT5. I am however not that familiar with the full breadth of the lattice line.

colorado.rob · « **Reply #12 on:** December 06, 2018, 04:38:06 am »

I don't see Anlogic FPGAs being sold by LCSC.

mikeselectricstuff · « **Reply #13 on:** December 06, 2018, 08:08:04 am »

Quote from: colorado.rob on December 06, 2018, 04:38:06 am

I don't see Anlogic FPGAs being sold by LCSC.

https://lcsc.com/products/CPLD-FPGA_492.html?q=fpga
For some reason the manufacturer is listed as "An Road, Shanghai Info Tech"

coppice · « **Reply #14 on:** December 06, 2018, 10:33:23 am »

Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on December 06, 2018, 08:08:04 am

Quote from: colorado.rob on December 06, 2018, 04:38:06 am
I don't see Anlogic FPGAs being sold by LCSC.
https://lcsc.com/products/CPLD-FPGA_492.html?q=fpga
For some reason the manufacturer is listed as "An Road, Shanghai Info Tech"

Their Chinese name is 安路科技 (an lu ke ji, which you can read as Anlogic with only minor twisting

)
安 == something like peaceful or safe
路 == road
科技 == technology

colorado.rob · « **Reply #15 on:** December 06, 2018, 06:45:39 pm »

Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on December 06, 2018, 08:08:04 am

https://lcsc.com/products/CPLD-FPGA_492.html?q=fpga
For some reason the manufacturer is listed as "An Road, Shanghai Info Tech"

Ah... that explains my confusion. You can clearly see the "Anlogic" name on their chips.

I just found this on Github: https://github.com/mmicko/prjtang -- Project Tang enables a fully open-source flow for Anlogic FPGAs using Yosys for Verilog synthesis and nextpnr for place and route.

up8051 · « **Reply #16 on:** December 12, 2018, 01:27:11 pm »

Chinese FPGA startup opens European office in UK
http://www.eenewseurope.com/news/chinese-fpga-startup-opens-european-office-uk

Regards,
up8051

technix · « **Reply #17 on:** December 13, 2018, 05:05:28 am »

Maybe I should call them up and ask for samples...?

Berni · « **Reply #18 on:** December 13, 2018, 06:11:25 am »

Quote from: up8051 on December 12, 2018, 01:27:11 pm

Chinese FPGA startup opens European office in UK
http://www.eenewseurope.com/news/chinese-fpga-startup-opens-european-office-uk

Regards,
up8051

I had a look trough the website and they do some nice stuff.

Going to one of the distributors you can get a small QFN package FPGA with built in 64Mbit of SDRAM for $3.79 in singles:
https://www.edgeelectronics.com/fpga/gw1nr-lv4qn88c5-i4/

Okay the FPGA is pretty poor in terms of LUTs but the large built in memory could really come useful in some simple video applications where you need a framebuffer but don't actually need to do heavy processing on the image. Some DSP applications also come to mind.

a59d1 · « **Reply #19 on:** January 10, 2019, 11:35:09 pm »

Quote from: Berni on December 13, 2018, 06:11:25 am

Quote from: up8051 on December 12, 2018, 01:27:11 pm
Chinese FPGA startup opens European office in UK
http://www.eenewseurope.com/news/chinese-fpga-startup-opens-european-office-uk

Regards,
up8051

I had a look trough the website and they do some nice stuff.

Going to one of the distributors you can get a small QFN package FPGA with built in 64Mbit of SDRAM for $3.79 in singles:
https://www.edgeelectronics.com/fpga/gw1nr-lv4qn88c5-i4/

Okay the FPGA is pretty poor in terms of LUTs but the large built in memory could really come useful in some simple video applications where you need a framebuffer but don't actually need to do heavy processing on the image. Some DSP applications also come to mind.

That's exactly the application I tried (and failed) to use an ICE40 for - practically ran out of pins fitting an external RAM on.

free_electron · « **Reply #20 on:** January 11, 2019, 05:30:30 pm »

how to get access to that software ? i keep running in circles, they need chinese mobile number . registrations doesnt work , download doesnt work...

ebclr · « **Reply #21 on:** January 11, 2019, 07:38:31 pm »

https://github.com/Lichee-Pi

ebclr · « **Reply #22 on:** January 27, 2019, 11:40:54 pm »

Anlogic software

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11TuOQpTJqdApgf-Q_WpMp1bdXBS4LhX4/view

64bit

https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1rfrjo8Hd9Q_g1j1CS5hjPMDlDrXCCzCn&export=download

English Manual

https://github.com/kprasadvnsi/Anlogic_Doc_English/blob/master/TD_User_Guide_V4.2_english.pdf

FrankBuss · « **Reply #23 on:** April 25, 2019, 05:16:28 am »

Seeedstudio has the same board as the eBay seller for the Anlogic FPGA, but cheaper:

https://www.seeedstudio.com/Sipeed-TANG-PriMER-FPGA-Development-Board-p-2881.html

I got one, will do some experiments with it.

But where do I get the Anlogic chips for my own products? Looks like they are available in hobby friendly TQFP packages:

https://lcsc.com/product-detail/CPLD-FPGA_An-Road-Shanghai-Info-Tech-EG4D20EG176_C134201.html

but I just requested a quote for this chip, and they answered with "unavailable".

Recently I tried to ask gowinsemi.com for their chips, and it was very difficult to get even a price quote, which was about $9 for a similar chip, and minimum order quantity of 200 ICs, and I couldn't get samples. I guess they want to trade with big companies only. But their support was good, I got a license for their Gowin_YunYuan IDE, because the apply for license button on their website didn't work. Probably as well based on some western IDE, all good English dialogs. Could blink an LED with this board:

https://shop.trenz-electronic.de/en/TEC0117-01-FPGA-Module-with-GOWIN-LittleBee-and-8-MByte-internal-SDRAM

alvieboy · « **Reply #24 on:** May 31, 2019, 06:53:38 am »

All Anlogic parts at LCSC show as "discontinued" now. Unsure about what that means, though.

Alvie


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Author Topic: Chinese FPGAs sold by LCSC, has anyone tried those? (Read 15837 times)

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