Slashdot Mirror

• comp.arch.fpga Google archive of Usenet groups, where people interested in FPGA hang out.
• Opencores A set of free IP cores that can be implemented in FPGAs
• Comprehensive tutorial on FPGA
• A comprehensive list of FPGA CPUs
• A good FPGA tools overview
• FPGAworld news, jobs, forums, demos etc.(http://www.fpgaworld.com)
• FPGA Basics by Ray Andraka
• Fpga4Fun various fpga projects
• FPGA Boards
• AP100 PCI Platform FPGA Development Board
• Information about signal processing on FPGA by RF Engines
• FPGA manufacturers
  • Xilinx Xilinx has traditionally been the FPGA leader. Their general philosophy is to provide all the features possible, at the cost of extra complexity.
  • Altera Altera is the second FPGA heavyweight. Their philosophy is to provide the features that most people want while keeping their devices easy to use.
  • Lattice Lattice's focus is on low-cost, feature-optimized FPGAs and non-volatile, flash-based FPGAs.
  • Actel (http://www.actel.com/) and QuickLogic have antifuse (programmable-only-once) products.
  • Cypress
  • Atmel
  • Debian FPGA.

A couple of years ago I (while working for AMIRIX) ported Linux to a Lexra processor core that was running in an FPGA (See press release). Not a hard processor like on the V2Pro, a processor running entirely from the FPGA.

It's kindof neat to have a processor emailed to you :-)

I'd also like to add that Xilinx isn't the only one with a V2Pro based development board. AMIRIX has its own development board, although I don't know if there is a datasheet on our website yet. It'll be running PPCBoot and Linux.

Unfortunately, you are pretty much right.

I haven't got an mailing list email for it in a couple of months, and the last few were about LinuxBIOS.

I, however, will continue to listen and help out if other poeple do. I may be changing jobs soon (I'm fscking bored with my current one), and hope that maybe my next employer will like the idea. I'm looking at Amirix in my city who does embedded Debian and if they think so too (I'm specifically trained in embedded), there might be a chance for revival. I want to change my dev board design to PCI and make it better.

I'm giving my current employer one more chance before I take off (long story, even though it's a Linux company...).

Of all the projects I've been involved in, I thing OpenBIOS is the most important, though I haven't shown it lately...

If you're interested, I'd be extremely happy to talk to you. I still have a load of great OB email talking about the initial design issues.

I would like to see a free & open system such as LiVE at every ISP. Since cost could be very close to $0.00 for the ISP, & it drives demand for bandwidth, ISP's could ramp up on this very quickly.

Since you are 1 or 2 hops away from your linux machine "on the net", performance should be ok except for high performance graphics (that will have to wait until we get fiber to the home!).

The problem with free linux machines on the net (as has been pointed out) is to avoid having them used for DoS attacks, spam, etc.

The LiVE (Linux Virtually Everwhere) approach is to use VMWARE to provide a sandbox to play in. Hopefully, this sandbox is secure & spam/DoS, etc, will not be a problem.

We are looking for people to point out security problems with LiVE & the VMWare sandbox!

Using VMWare for your sandbox has some problems, e.g., performance (not as bad as some people think), but also advantages. e.g., you can use VMWare on your local machine, get it set up to your liking, etc., then put it on the net via a single FTP for when you are on the road.

You can also get a virtual linux session over the web from
live.amirix.com
This uses VMWare, to give you a virtual box, which has some advantages (and disadvantages).

Check out http://live.amirix.com. This gives you a Gnome/KDE interface to a machine.