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A project log for ICEd = an Arduino Style Board, with ICE FPGA

DIPSY-EPT Emulator and Programme Tool - Open Source Hardware for Open Source FPGA Toolchain

antti-lukatsAntti Lukats 08/31/2015 at 07:5110 Comments

Now we have some board to spare, until today I only had one for testing, as form the first assembly round we assembled only 4 and 3 from those I sent to Pasadena..

Discussions

Antti Lukats wrote 09/20/2015 at 19:03 point

I added IGOGO log, that confirming HX4K .!

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Antti Lukats wrote 09/20/2015 at 16:55 point

I would say it is almost not possible to brick - you should not burn the OTP, but the tools will default to RAM load, flashing the SPI flash or using bad config does not make damage. HX4K support should be piece of cake, as it is just between 1 and 8 and has 100% same technology. We hope  to get UltraLite support also, but that takes bit more work..

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andrea venturi wrote 09/20/2015 at 18:46 point

great i'm sold for one -4k board! :-) i want to be part of the game... i smeel great fun (and sweat too!).

can you tell me how i could sign for a -4k PERK ? 

big thumbs up for your commitment and mood. the more i read about it, the more i like it!

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andrea venturi wrote 09/20/2015 at 14:55 point

hello, very nice board; i'm quite interested to dip my toes into the "open toolchain" for FPGA track started by iCEstorm.

did you put some iCE40-4K chip on the PCB too?

i'm wondering if you are going to provide your card away for a price...  
BTW is there a "community" hanging around on the net about this "open FPGA toolchain" project? 

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Antti Lukats wrote 09/20/2015 at 15:27 point

general availability very soon, the very first ones are reserved for the PERKS

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dipsy-the-book/x/4524007#/story

We have donated some away so our stock is not that high any more - for production run 2 we probably swap the ESP8266 header with PMOD, I realized it when I tried to plug in some PMODs.

As of community we hope it will grow, in any case we support the ICEstorm from our side.

HX4K, no we have not assemled but we can do it.

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andrea venturi wrote 09/20/2015 at 16:40 point

thanx for the fast reply and the link to the indiegogo campaign. it's just started, i would say.. i missed it, i hope you are promoting it a lot (a link from the iCEstorm would help a lot, i suppose.

the iCE40-4K should not be a lot more expensive then the -1K at least looking at digikey page:

http://www.digikey.nl/product-search/en/integrated-circuits-ics/embedded-fpgas-field-programmable-gate-array/2556262?k=ICE40HX

do you think it can be feasible with a note in the perk request?

i'd like mor the -4k part because i fear the smallest part has too few LUTs to be really effective for real (simple) projects. no?

i suppose also that the -4K is still not supported by iCEstorm just because there are no available dev board? right? i should be just a middle scale setup between -1k and -8k parts. right?

BTW the iCE40-8K dev board from LatticeSemi is not that cheaper if one count that the postal cost are to be added.. 

finally i'm wondering how high are the odds of "bricking" the FPGA, when playing with iCEstorm if someone configure a "broken routing" between element (shorts on an internal path?)... it would be a bitter experience to me.. as usually electronic gears is quite "forgiving" the current day..

sorry for the long reply, maybe not completely on topic on your project, but just looking for advice from experienced people, here.. could be useful to many, i hope.

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Wladimir van der Laan wrote 10/04/2015 at 13:18 point

@andrea venturi Well it's anecdotal, but in all my experimentation with the iCEstick and the open source toolchain I've never managed to brick one (and I'm not a verilog/FPGA pro, so it is not like I was overly responsible or careful :-) ).

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Jonathan Chetwynd wrote 08/31/2015 at 12:56 point

ah well you can easily find my address online and post me one?

hint: SW8 4RJ

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Jonathan Chetwynd wrote 08/31/2015 at 11:54 point

is there a link to purchase or request board?

I did not find when searching trenz.

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Antti Lukats wrote 08/31/2015 at 12:54 point

we have so many products that are not in the shop... i am too fast !!! 

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