CPLDs are nice to have since it can have so many purposes and interconnect to other chips. Perfect replacement for glue-logic too. Some small 100 pin chips would be nice. Xilinx, Lattice, Altera. They are not so expensive either.
I have the Pluto II FPGA board. FPGAs are finer-grain than CPLDs, and really worth a look!
darkfader: I ran a cross your site when I was peeking into the GBA world last year. I wanted to use the GBA as a low cost storage scope.
I realized I was in way over my head, and got out just before my head exploded. Luckily, I found educatingmario.com has a product that does just what I need.
Scroll down to the bottom of this page to see a pic comparing accelerometer data displayed on my laptop data collection system and the GBA system:
Thanks kierenj, that was a great site!
Unfortunately Spark Fun Electonics does not have an FPGA board at the moment. Untill then, I would check out www.digilent.us . One of the best values you will find on FPGA boards is their Spartan3 Starter Board. You can get one with up to 1M gates for $150 or 200K gates for $100. If you are more interested in CPLDs, you can get their CMOD boards for under $20.
I use their Spartan3 board and I really like it. Xilinx actually buys the same board and resells it as their own. I have looked everywhere for the best value possible and I haven’t found anything as good as this.
-Bill
I like XESS boards as well (www.xess.com). They have some really affordable models and their documentation and support is very nice.
Hi John - do you know what the maximum frequency the GBA system can display when used as an o-scope? It seems to me that it might make for a great portable scope, but I can't find any specs on it's abilities.John at J&S:
darkfader: I ran a cross your site when I was peeking into the GBA world last year. I wanted to use the GBA as a low cost storage scope.I realized I was in way over my head, and got out just before my head exploded. Luckily, I found educatingmario.com has a product that does just what I need.
Scroll down to the bottom of this page to see a pic comparing accelerometer data displayed on my laptop data collection system and the GBA system:
Hi John - do you know what the maximum frequency the GBA system can display when used as an o-scope? It seems to me that it might make for a great portable scope, but I can’t find any specs on it’s abilities.
I don`t think that this would be a high speed scope (8 Msps) due to the interface being connected to the multiplayer port.
I have been working on a board that uses fifo memory and stores the software on flash memory.
I hope to get a speed of 100Msps using this method.
The current version is using a LatticeXp FPGA
As kierenj mentioned, [http://www.fpga4fun.com/ is an awesome site. You can buy FPGA boards from their sales site, KNJN.com.
I have one of the Pluto II boards, as well as their Flashy data acquisition device and I have been very happy with it. Great low-cost 1-channel oscilloscope. The guy who runs the site provides the oscilloscope software with the purchase. He has also been very helpful with questions/problems.
Basic FPGA boards from KNJN are well under $100, and the fpga4fun tutorials are great.](http://www.fpga4fun.com/)