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Which FPGA/CPLD dev-kit should I go for ?

Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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I want to learn more about Avalon interfaces, Quartus Platform Designer, NIOS II, etc. 

I know people may have preferences, but for learning more about digital design, which board should I go for ? 

Which board will have more reference designs and reference literature available online ?  

PS, price is also an issue !
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Altera_Forum
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The Cyclone V GX Starter Kit has a price of $179 (Terasic Website) 

a kit with around 77K Logic Elements 

 

It also has 

HDMI Video Output 

Plenty of other interfaces 

SDCard Slot 

4Gb LPDDR2 

4Mb SRAM 

etc 

 

If you want to understand  

Platform Designer 

NIOS 

the mSGDMA controller & a Video Frame Buffer for HDMI  

then 

the files I put on the altera wiki a while ago may help you. 

 

www.alterawiki.com/wiki/cyclone5_starterkit_hdmi
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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Cyclone V boards from Terasic are a good starting point and are under $200.

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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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Hi C1Ron,  

 

To learn more Avalon interfaces, Quartus Platform Designer, NIOS II, etc. 

You can go through the University Program tutorial link below.  

https://www.altera.com/support/training/university/materials-tutorials.html 

 

For Design Tools, IP and Design Examples, you can refer to the link below.  

https://www.altera.com/documentation/design-tools-ip-and-design-examples.html 

 

With the features mention above, I would suggest you to get DE10-Nano Kit from Terasic with price of $130. 

http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?language=english&categoryno=205&no=1046&partno=1
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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--- Quote Start ---  

Cyclone V boards from Terasic are a good starting point and are under $200. 

--- Quote End ---  

 

Is this still true, given that the Cyclone is being discontinued? (see announcement) Perhaps it is still the best selection for finding FPGA demo and development kits, but it looks like some or all Cyclones are to be no more. Perhaps there is a new Altera FPGA that replaces it? 

Hope this helps.
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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--- Quote Start ---  

Is this still true, given that the Cyclone is being discontinued? (see announcement) Perhaps it is still the best selection for finding FPGA demo and development kits, but it looks like some or all Cyclones are to be no more. Perhaps there is a new Altera FPGA that replaces it? 

Hope this helps. 

--- Quote End ---  

 

 

Where did you hear this? Do you mean older Cyclone devices? I don't think Cyclone is going anywhere. C10 just came out. Here's a board from Intel: 

 

https://www.altera.com/products/boards_and_kits/dev-kits/altera/cyclone-10-lp-evaluation-kit.html
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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Cyclone V seems like a good choice. Thanks

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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
273 Views

 

--- Quote Start ---  

Where did you hear this? Do you mean older Cyclone devices? I don't think Cyclone is going anywhere. C10 just came out. Here's a board from Intel: 

 

https://www.altera.com/products/boards_and_kits/dev-kits/altera/cyclone-10-lp-evaluation-kit.html 

--- Quote End ---  

 

 

Thank you, sstrell. So only the Cyclone I is to be discontinued.
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