PyroElectro - News, Projects & Tutorials » fpga http://www.pyroelectro.com PyroElectro.com brings you cool projects & tutorials that you can do at home. Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:15:06 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 DE0 Nano Intro Tutorial http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/12/15/de0-nano-intro-tutorial/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/12/15/de0-nano-intro-tutorial/#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:00:15 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=3571
This article gives a quick intro to how you get started using the DE0 Nano development board with a simple example program. All you need is a DE0 Nano and a laptop, and you can get started building and programming your own FPGA logic.

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]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/12/15/de0-nano-intro-tutorial/feed/ 0 DE0 Nano VGA via FPGA Reborn http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/12/08/de0-nano-vga-via-fpga-reborn/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/12/08/de0-nano-vga-via-fpga-reborn/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:00:50 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=3512
This article will look at how to build the same functionality that the Masochist's Video Card (built only with 7400 logic IC's) had, however this time we will use the DE0 Nano development board to complete the task, instead of wrist-breaking, pain-staking, masochist-loving wire-wrapping.

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]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/12/08/de0-nano-vga-via-fpga-reborn/feed/ 1 FPGA PDP-10 Clone http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/10/28/fpga-pdp-10-clone/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/10/28/fpga-pdp-10-clone/#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:00:16 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=3192
“The PDP-10/X is a re-build of the PDP-10, with 512KW of memory, a line-frequency clock, an interface to an RS-232 terminal, and an interface to an ATA-2 disk, that I designed and built just for fun.”

The PDP-10 was a widely used mainframe computer way back in the day. Any re-make of the computer is purely for nostalgia for the few who remember what a legend it was.

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]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/10/28/fpga-pdp-10-clone/feed/ 0 FPGA 512 Color VGA Controller http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/05/05/fpga-512-color-vga-controller/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/05/05/fpga-512-color-vga-controller/#comments Thu, 05 May 2011 18:11:48 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=1772
Learn how to create a video VGA controller that uses a resistor DAC to create 512 unique VGA colors. The tutorial uses an Altera CPLD and VHDL code to create all the video signals. The theory, hardware schematics and software are all explained and available for viewing/download.


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]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/05/05/fpga-512-color-vga-controller/feed/ 1 VHDL Keyboard Input http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/04/17/vhdl-keyboard-input/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/04/17/vhdl-keyboard-input/#comments Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:28:01 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=118
Keyboards are all around us yet the information for interfacing with them is somewhat a mystery. This tutorial shows you (with a working example) how to interface a keyboard with the Altera UP1/UP2 board.



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]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/04/17/vhdl-keyboard-input/feed/ 4 Advanced VGA On A UP2 http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/04/10/advanced-vga-on-a-up2/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/04/10/advanced-vga-on-a-up2/#comments Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:22:20 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=103
This tutorial covers how to make a character generating rom using the CPLD/FPGA based UP2 board. Those old famous arcade games all used character roms, now you can make one too!



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]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/04/10/advanced-vga-on-a-up2/feed/ 0 Creating VGA With VHDL http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/03/27/creating-vga-with-vhdl/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/03/27/creating-vga-with-vhdl/#comments Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:22:39 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/03/28/creating-vga-with-vhdl/
Once again we'll take a look at how to generate VGA timing signals. This time with a different approach using the VHDL programming language with the Altera UP2 board. This method is far more flexible and reliable so it is definitely worth a look.



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]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/03/27/creating-vga-with-vhdl/feed/ 3 A Simple VHDL Counter http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/03/06/a-simple-vhdl-counter/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/03/06/a-simple-vhdl-counter/#comments Thu, 06 Mar 2008 21:32:23 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/03/06/a-simple-vhdl-counter/
FPGA/CPLD devices don't inherintly have or require clocks so timing can become an issue when you want to talk with a processor or instruction based machines. If we add a clock input like the UP2 has onboard, we can now control timing precisely. This tutorial does just that.


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]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/03/06/a-simple-vhdl-counter/feed/ 0 An Introduction To VHDL http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/03/04/an-introduction-to-vhdl/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/03/04/an-introduction-to-vhdl/#comments Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:58:45 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/03/04/an-introduction-to-vhdl/
The two main programming languages for fpga/cpld devices in the world today are Verilog & VHDL. Both are concurrent programming languages (similar to Ada) and both are used globally. The difference between them is merely syntax, formation but not funcationality. This tutorial provides an intro to VHDL using the altera UP1/UP2 board.

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]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/03/04/an-introduction-to-vhdl/feed/ 2 An Introduction To Verilog http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/02/26/an-introduction-to-verilog/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/02/26/an-introduction-to-verilog/#comments Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:39:13 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/2008/02/26/an-introduction-to-verilog/
Verilog is the other half of the CPLD/FPGA world in terms of programming languages. With its similarities to C & Java it is a prime choice for many developers. This tutorial uses the CPLD Development Board from last week's tutorial for a 'Learn By Example' approach for understanding Verilog.


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