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Messages from 3200

Article: 3200
Subject: Atmel vs Xilinx
From: nic@imc4.eej.ulst.ac.uk (Nicholas Doyle)
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 1996 09:26:06 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
I am currently designing a data-acquisition system, 10-15k gates. I am
designing for Xilinx 5200 family but have recently been recommended
Atmel devices, particularly the AT6010.

I use Viewlogic, tied to Xilinx, and so would need to spend some cash
to convert to Atmel.

Has anyone any info on the benefits, or not, of either device. I am
particularly interested in Readback / checkback and device sizes.

Thanks

(responses can be posted here, or e-mail robert@imc4.eej.ulst.ac.uk)






Article: 3201
Subject: so little posts about PCI :(
From: tw38966@vub.ac.be (Rafiki Kim Hofmans)
Date: 24 Apr 1996 12:27:31 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>

Anyone else busy with implementing PCI interfaces in FPGA's ?
Or am I the only newsreader busy with it at the moment ? :(

Regards,

Kim 

--


==============================================================================

			************************************
			*	Hofmans Kim 		   *	
  		       	*				   *
			*	tw38966@vub.ac.be	   *
			*	khofmans@info.vub.ac.be	   *
			*                                  *
			*	Brouwerijstraat 62         *
			*	1630 Linkebeek             *
			*	Belgium 		   *
			*				   *
			*	32-2-3771012		   *
			*				   *
			************************************



Article: 3202
Subject: Re: On FPGAs as PC coprocessors
From: guccione@xilinx.com (Steve Guccione)
Date: 24 Apr 1996 12:30:25 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
(...Stuff about FPGAs and CPUs working together deleted...)

I agree that a 400 MHz Alpha is able to get a lot of work done in a
short time.  But the problem is the memory interface.  When you start
getting cache misses, performance drops dramatically.

Lots of folks are optimistic about using FPGAs as coprocessors.  I see
them complementing instruction set CPUs, particularly doing
data-intensive jobs that choke cache-dependent IS CPUs.  I don't
believe that FPGAs will beat traditional CPUs on their own turf -- at
least not for a few years.

-- Steve
-- 4/24/96



Article: 3203
Subject: Re: On FPGAs as PC coprocessors
From: kee@ssc.eecs.harvard.edu (Kee Chan)
Date: 24 Apr 1996 13:52:23 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Scott Kroeger <scott.kroeger@mei.com> wrote:
> The FPGA belongs on the CPU die.

For those who are interested in one version of how this can be accomplished,
I suggest you read the paper from Razdan and Smith in Micro-27.

	http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~hube/papers/micro94.ps

-- 
- Kee
kee@eecs.harvard.edu


Article: 3204
Subject: Re: high gate count FPGA for small volumn production?
From: Patrick Drolet <pdrolet@galea.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 1996 11:47:41 -0400
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Felix K.C. CHEN wrote:
> 
> Dear friends,
> 
> people always talk about "prototyping ASIC" with FPGA(s).  But at least
> in my case, due to the uncertainty of market, ASIC solution is not
> possible at the moment.  I have to find FPGA device whose gate count
> is about 20000 (at real utilization) and whose price is relative
> low to make the final product competitive.

We are happy with AT&T ORCA series.  40k and 25k gates solutions are 
"quite" expensive, but if your design could fit in a couple of 10k gates 
or 12k gates, your FPGA cost would be low.

Patrick.


Article: 3205
Subject: Looking for SIS to XILINX path
From: Varin Udompanyanan <vjoe@engrhub.ucsb.edu>
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 1996 11:25:27 -0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
I am looking for a way to implement a SIS output in XILINX
implementation.
SIS output in blif, pds format. If anyone knows how to convert these
output to xnf please respond. XACT have a conversion program that is
suppose to convert .pds to .pld format but I haven't had much success
with it and online help at XILINX doesn't have any useful information
on the subject. THANK YOU in advance.

-- 
Joe aka. Varin Udompanyanan
x( 
vjoe@engrhub.ucsb.edu   | http://www.engineering.ucsb.edu/~vjoe
:% 
                                                GRRrrr...
8b


Article: 3206
Subject: Re: On FPGAs as PC coprocessors
From: timothyc@ICSI.Berkeley.EDU (Tim Callahan)
Date: 24 Apr 1996 19:19:28 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
>Scott Kroeger (scott.kroeger@mei.com) wrote:
>
>: The FPGA belongs on the CPU die.  Once there it gets "free" use of much
>: of the CPU's facilities (registers, cache, memory interface etc).  
>: This should allow the FPGA to achieve performance improvements over 
>: the CPU for operations too wierd to be contemplated in the normal
>: instruction set.  For example, think how easy it would be to 
>: rewire an ALU to perform CRC.

Graeme Gill <graeme@wallaby.digideas.com.au> wrote:
>Hmm. Ever thought about how such a chip is going to switch context ?
>(Similar problems confront programable instruction sets.)
>	Graeme Gill.


No doubt that much state can be a problem.  But with an efficient
configuration encoding, the configuration size doesn't have to be much
greater than the capacity of a typical L1 cache.  With reasonable
bandwidth for loading configurations, it won't take much more time to
reload the configuration state than it does to fill up an L1 cache
when a process is brought in, and no one worries about that.

Depending on the exact architecture, there is usually much less
`data' state in the gate array that has to be saved at a context
switch.  For example, Razdan & Smith's PRISC architecture had NO
data state in its programmable function unit.

There's lots of other issues too, but I don't think there are any
that can't be resolved.  My view of the big picture pretty much
agrees with the others who have posted to this thread ---
a reconfigurable coprocessor will be useful for general purpose
computing when it is on the CPU die, and then it will only
be used for the things that it excels at; there will be other coprocessors
(vector, VLIW, ???) to perform computation that maps better to them.
Side note: the MATRIX architecture from MIT is interesting in that
it should be able to perform computation using any of these paradigms
(coarse-grain FPGA, vector, or VLIW) fairly efficiently.

Plug mode on: for those of you who haven't found it already, the
BRASS (Berkeley Reconfigurable Architectures, Systems, and Software)
Research Group's page is now up at

    http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/projects/brass/

There isn't a whole lot there yet, but we'll be adding to it as
work progresses.

	--Tim

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tim Callahan			441 Soda Hall, (510) 643-8229
timothyc@cs.Berkeley.EDU	http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/~timothyc/
------------------------------------------------------------------------


Article: 3207
Subject: Re: ECL, PECL gate arrays or FPGA's
From: thebert@tom.on-luebeck.de (Thomas Ebert)
Date: 24 Apr 1996 21:36:00 +0200
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
> Let me try it again...
>
> Does anyone know where (or if) I can get ECL or PECL (preferrable) gate
> arrays or FPGAs?  I'm trying to design a high-speed (100 MHz) crossbar
> switch and I need some way to build multiple multi-bit 16-1 MUXs.  I've
> looked at Lattice's CPLDs (1K, 2K, and 3K families), but I have serious
> doubts about their performance.  I'm laess concerned with the propagation
> delay than I am about the output edge rates.  I assume I can skew the clock
> for the receiving latch to compensate for the prop. delay (assuming I can
> fix it in a range), but I can't very well have a 10 ns period if I have 5ns
> (or more) edge rates.  Any suggestions?

Hi Mike,

have you heared of ICUBE ? They sell programmable switch crossbars of
different sizes. As far as I can remember they are able to handle data
rates up to appr. 100 MHz.

Cheers Tom


## Thomas Ebert  e-mail: thebert@on-luebeck.de  Tel.:+49(0)451 391322 ##


Article: 3208
Subject: Altera FLEX10k
From: Alfred Fuchs <alfred.fuchs@banyan.siemens.co.at>
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 1996 18:08:55 -0500
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Has anyone tried to use the DEV_CLRn function in 
Alteras FLEX10k FPGAs? With this function enabled 
one I/O-pin ought to reset all FFs in the device 
regardless of whether they are connected in the 
design to that pin or not.
Actually the pin does reset them, but it is driven 
low from inside the chip - thus resetting the whole 
design forever - and I could not figure out how to 
tri-state the pin. The MAX+ SW (even the new V.6.1) 
reports an error due to an assignment conflict when 
I e.g. want to declare the pin to be an input.
So far I did not get appropriate feedback from 
Altera though I contacted their app-engs several 
times.
Thanks in advance.


Article: 3209
Subject: run time reconfiguration
From: rabah@lien.u-nancy.fr (Hassan rabah)
Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 03:46:30 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Hi everybody !

I'm interesting for run time reconfiguration of Xilinx fpga. my
questions are :

- Is it possible with actual Xilinx Family ( XC3000, XC4000) ?
- How many time is necessary to reconfigure an XC3090 ?
- Is there some references talking about this ?

			Thank you .


e-mail: guermoud@lien.u-nancy.fr




Article: 3210
Subject: Re: run time reconfiguration
From: peter@xilinx.com (Peter Alfke)
Date: 26 Apr 1996 04:10:45 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
In article <4loha0$5rr@arcturus.ciril.fr>, rabah@lien.u-nancy.fr (Hassan
rabah) wrote:

> Hi everybody !
> 
> I'm interesting for run time reconfiguration of Xilinx fpga. my
> questions are :
> 
> - Is it possible with actual Xilinx Family ( XC3000, XC4000) ?
> - How many time is necessary to reconfigure an XC3090 ?
> - Is there some references talking about this ?
 You can configure and reconfigure the XC3090 in several different modes.
The fastest is called Slave Serial, where you provide the clock that
shifts in the serial configuration data, 64,200 bits in the case of the
XC3090. Max frequency is 10 MHz, so you can get the job done in 6.4
milliseconds. Other modes can be up to 15 times slower.

You find the number of serial bits on page 2-120, and the 10 MHz limit on
page 2-131 of the Xilinx Data Book.

Peter Alfke, Xilinx Applications


Article: 3211
Subject: Re: Inferring or design ware (modgen)?
From: "Karl W. Pfalzer" <karlp@ez-synthesis.com>
Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 07:14:42 -0400
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Felix K.C. CHEN wrote:
> 
> Dear Friends,
> 
> I am designing a FPGA whose main function is a multi-channel DMA
> engine.  As you know that DMA engines consists of many counters.
> The counters I need are not simple "incrementers".  They are loadable,
> count enable and asynchronous clear.
> 
> we all know that VHDL synthesizer from both Synopsys and Exemplar
> can infer counter from VHDL operators "+" and "-".  But they also
> provide users with the alternative of technology independant
> component instantiation for counters, called design ware with
> Synopsys and Modgen with Exemplar.  By chance my company have
> them both.
> 
> Because the synthesized result of my design is so large that I
> can not help suspect that the inferring style I used (please see
> the sample code below) is not efficient.
> 
> I'd like to try the component instanitiation alternative.  But
> I will have to modify my source code.  At least I have to rebuild
> the design hierarchy when I extract the counter out of the state
> machine.  So before I do this engineering, I ask you
> for any opinion about these two approaches.
> 
> With component instantiation appraoch, will there be any improvement on
> the control signal generating logic, like LOAD CONTROL and COUNT ENABLE?
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Felix K.C. CHEN
> 
> -- the sample code
> 
> process: counter(RESETZ, CLK, state, count, ...)
> begin
> if (RESETZ='0') then
>   count <= 0;
> elsif (CLK'event and CLK='1') then
>   case state is
>   when S1 =>
>     if (condition) then
>       count <= load_value_1; -- load the counter
>     end if;
>   when S2 =>
>     if (condition) then
>       count <= 0; -- clear the counter, a load too
>     end if;
>   when S3 =>
>     if (condition) then
>       count <= count + "1";  -- count up
>     end if;
>   when S4 =>
>     if (condition) then
>       count <= count + "1"; -- count up
>     end if;
>   when S5 =>
>     if (condition) then
>       count <= count + "1";  -- count up
>     end if;
>   when others =>
>     null;
>   end case;
> end if;
> end process;


Knowing that you will have several counter-like functions, which may
likely be controlled differently, I would suggest that you
decouple the state machine from the controlled counter.

This way you will be able to experiment w/ different implementations
of the counter w/o having to rip-up your state machine each time.

The instanced DesignWare or modgens are likely to be "optimal"
in the sense of a standalone implementation; however, depending
on whether you need ALL the function, it may not be optimal
in your usage.  If so, you might try "ungrouping" the counter
within the context of the enclosed state machine and counter
module, during compile.

-- 
Synthesis Solutions
http://www.ez-synthesis.com
vmail: (415) 431-6429


Article: 3212
Subject: FPGA leaders - Who are they? Xilinx, Altera, Actel?
From: Eric Ryherd <eric@vautomation.com>
Date: 26 Apr 1996 14:26:16 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Does anyone have a reference on the annual number of FPGAs shipped
(or even revenue) by the top 3 FPGA companies.

I assume the order is 
1) Xilinx,
2) Altera,
3) Actel.

Plenty of other players in the market, but from where I sit, these
look like the big three.

I've got a reference or two which includes PLDs which brings AMD
and lattice up to the #3 & 4 positions ahead of actel. 
But they don't have much
in the way of FPGAs (that I know of).

-- 
Eric Ryherd                eric@vautomation.com  
VAutomation Inc.           Synthesizable HDL Cores 
20 Trafalgar Square        http://www.vautomation.com
Suite 443 Nashua NH 03063  (603) 882-2282 FAX:882-1587




Article: 3213
Subject: Re: run time reconfiguration
From: wirthlim@crackle.ee.byu.edu (Michael J. Wirthlin)
Date: 26 Apr 1996 09:12:35 -0600
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>

In article <4loha0$5rr@arcturus.ciril.fr>, rabah@lien.u-nancy.fr (Hassan rabah) writes:
|> Hi everybody !
|> 
|> I'm interesting for run time reconfiguration of Xilinx fpga. my
|> questions are :
|> 
|> - Is it possible with actual Xilinx Family ( XC3000, XC4000) ?

It is possible to configure Xilinx FPGAs at run-time. Since you must
configure the entire FPGA, you must be able to tolerate configuration
times in the order of mili-seconds (10 Mhz config rate with ~64k config
bits). There are applications which make this feasible.

|> - How many time is necessary to reconfigure an XC3090 ?

In order to justify lengthy reconfiguration times, the application must
operate with a single configuration for a considerable length of time
(i.e. it is difficult to justify clock cycle configuration when configuration
takes several orders of magnitide more time). Applications which tolerate this
time include image processing and neural networks (see below).

|> - Is there some references talking about this ?

I have listed a few references I am aware of below.

- Mike



@InProceedings{eldredge-hutchings:94,
  author =       "J. G. Eldredge and B. L. Hutchings",
  title =        "Density Enhancement of a Neural Network Using {FPGA}s
                 and Run-Time Reconfiguration",
  key =          "app,rtr",
  booktitle =    "Proceedings of IEEE Workshop on {FPGA}s for Custom
                 Computing Machines",
  editor =       "D. A. Buell and K. L. Pocek",
  year =         "1994",
  month =        apr,
  address =      "Napa, CA",
  pages =        "180--188",
}

@InProceedings{ross-vellacott:93,
  author =       "D. Ross and O. Vellacott and M. Turner",
  title =        "An {FPGA}-based Hardware Accelerator for Image
                 Processing",
  key =          "system, app, rtr",
  booktitle =    "More {FPGAs}: Proceedings of the 1993 International
                 workshop on field-programmable logic and applications",
  year =         "1993",
  month =        sep,
  address =      "Oxford, England",
  pages =        "299--306",
  editor =       "W. Moore and W. Luk",
}

@Article{lautzenheiser:86,
  author =       "D. P. Lautzenheiser",
  title =        "Using Dynamic Reconfigurable Logic in {A} {XC2064}
                 Logic Cell Array",
  key =          "device,rtr,app",
  journal =      "Electro/86 and Mini/Micro Northeast Conference
                 Record",
  year =         "1986",
  pages =        "26/2/1--10",
  month =        may,
}

@InProceedings{lysaght:91,
  author =       "P. Lysaght",
  title =        "Dynamically Reconfigurable Logic in Undergraduate
                 Projects",
  key =          "app,rtr",
  booktitle =    "{FPGAs}: Proceedings of the 1991 International
                 workshop on field-programmable logic and applications",
  editor =       "W. Moore and W. Luk",
  publisher =    "Abingdon EE and CS Books",
  address =      "Oxford, England",
  month =        sep,
  year =         "1991",
}
-- 
Michael J. Wirthlin
Brigham Young University - Electrical Engineering Department
Reconfigurable Logic Laboratory (801) 378-7206


Article: 3214
Subject: Call for Participation - 6th Annual Advanced PLD & FPGA Conference
From: Peter Clarke <pclarke@lfields.demon.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 12:38:04
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

in the 6th Annual Advanced PLD & FPGA Conference and Exhibition.

Tues/Wed 14th-15th May 1996

at the Excelsior Hotel, Heathrow, near London

organised by Miller Freeman Technical Limited (see programme below)




For registration details: 

email to ed98@cityscape.co.uk

or visit http://dotelectronics.co.uk/ on the world-wide-web

or contact

Cathy Johnston
Electronics Times
Miller Freeman Technical Limited
30 Calderwood Street
London
SE18 6QH
Tel: +44 181 316 3288
Fax: +44 181 316 3341 or +44 181 854 8980


PROGRAMME

14th May - Introductory day

2.00 - 5.00pm 'Introduction to PLDs and FPGAs'
presentation and workshop session hosted by
University of Kent





15th May Advanced PLD & FPGA Day

9.00am 	Registration & exhibition opens

9.20am 	Opening remarks

9.30am 	Keynote - "A users perspective and possibilities for the future'
	Mike Muller, marketing director Advanced RISC Machines Ltd.



STREAM A


APPLICATIONS

10.20am 'Image processing in Flex10K devices', 
	Caleb Crome, Altera

10.50am	'A new method of implementing large high-speed multipliers in 	
	FPGAs', 
	Tom Smart, Lucent Technologies

11.50am	'a 100Mbit Ehernet controller using time-driven place and 
route', 	Andy Biddle, Actel 

 
ASIC PROTOTYPING

12.20pm	'ASIC design through FPGA conversion and direct synthesis', 
	Larry Lapides, Antares

2.15pm	'A cost-effective prototyping solution for ASIC design'
	Henry Sun, Crosspoint Solutions

2.45pm	'Timing and modeling issues when prototyping on FPGAs',
	Daniel Brasen, Minc-IST


DSP & RECONFIGURABILITY

3.45pm	'DSP acceleration using a reconfigurable coprocessor FPGA'
	Joel Rosenberg, Atmel

4.15pm	'The DSP challenge',
	Thomas Oelsner, Quicklogic 



STREAM B


ARCHITECTURE

10.20am	'An SRAM-based FPGA architecture'
	Scott Gould, IBM Microelectronics

10.50am	'Mach 5 - the future of CPLDs'
	Peter Trott, AMD

11.50am	'XPLA architecture for complex PLDs'
	Mark Aaldering, Philips Semiconductors

12.20pm	'Retargetting: a natural process step to increase perfromance 
and 	cut cost'
	Ludwig Klingenbeck, Motorola Semiconductors


DESIGN ISSUES

2.15pm 'Navigating the FPGA design tool maze through work flow 	
management',
	Wesley Ryder, Mentor Graphics

2.45pm	'Designing with CPLDs and FPGAs: dealing with diversity'
	Mark Flomenhoft, Synario Design Automation

3.45pm	'The LPM approach to high-level FPGA design',
	Jonathon Talbot, Veribest International

4.15pm	'Map, place and route: the key to high density PLD 	
implementation',
	Bradly Fawcett, Xilinx

4.45pm	CONFERENCE ENDS

Peter Clarke
Program Co-ordinator
for 6th Advanced PLD & FPGA Conference



Article: 3215
Subject: Re: high gate count FPGA for small volumn production?
From: Bob Elkind <eteam@aracnet.com>
Date: Sat, 27 Apr 1996 17:15:12 +0100
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Patrick Drolet wrote:
> 
> Felix K.C. CHEN wrote:
> > people always talk about "prototyping ASIC" with FPGA(s).  But at least
> > in my case, due to the uncertainty of market, ASIC solution is not
> > possible at the moment.  I have to find FPGA device whose gate count
> > is about 20000 (at real utilization) and whose price is relative
> > low to make the final product competitive.

> We are happy with AT&T ORCA series.  40k and 25k gates solutions are
> "quite" expensive, but if your design could fit in a couple of 10k gates
> or 12k gates, your FPGA cost would be low.
> 
> Patrick.

The Lucent (formerly AT&T) Orca series is currently priced very low,
possibly in an effort to gain market share and attention.  I think
you'll find that you can get the 2C26 in a typical 208QFP package
for under $150 through normal distribution.  You'll easily attain
20K utilised gates, if your design halfway "FPGA-friendly".

Xilinx makes good parts, too... but for the moment Lucent is being
very aggressive on pricing.  Check with your local distributor or
sales rep.

Good Luck,

Bob Elkind

**************************************************************************
Bob Elkind                email:eteam@aracnet.com             CIS:72022,21
7118 SW Lee Road                         part-time fax number:503.357.9001
Gaston, OR 97119                     cell:503.709.1985   home:503.359.4903
******** Video processing, R&D, ASIC, FPGA design consulting *************


Article: 3216
Subject: Re: high gate count FPGA for small volumn production?
From: Brad Taylor <blt@emf.net>
Date: Sat, 27 Apr 1996 10:08:52 -0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
> 
> Felix K.C. CHEN wrote:
> 
> > I have to find FPGA device whose gate count
> > is about 20000 (at real utilization) and whose price is relative
> > low to make the final product competitive.
> >
> > Don't tell me Altera's Flex10K-50.  Its high price and its sole huge
> > PGA package (more than 390 pins) stops me.  I have tried Actel's
> > DX32140 but its gate count is not enough either.  They told me
> > that Actel's backend tool does not support DX32200 yet.  I have
> > also tried the Xilinx's XC5200.  But the result remained the same.
> > I do not care for the operating speed of the final chip, as long
> > as the chip can hold my design.
> >
> > What else FPGA vendors can I tried?
> 


Unfortunately 20K+ gates is still a large expensive FPGA.  
For instance the Xilinx 4020E is about $200 in slower speed grades and 
might not be large enough.  You might consider the following alternatives.

- 2 XC5210 FPGAs @ $60 each and up to 192 pins for interconnect between them.
- Reconsider the algorithm, and code portions of into a more sequntial form.
  This might allow you to trade time for space.  Multipliers, barrel shifters
  and multiplexers are good candidates.  
- If your design has RAM, Adder/Subtracters or large data path MUXs, the XC4000   
  FPGAs can be very efficient, since they have hardware assist for these 
  functions. 
- If speeed really isn't important for all functionality,  it is possible to build 
  a small CPU in the FPGA and to program it to implement the functionality 
  sequentially.

Maybe you could tell us more about your application?

-
Brad





/========================================<>===========================================\
|            Brad Taylor                                   blt@emf.net             
   |
\========================================<>===========================================/


Article: 3217
Subject: FPIC
From: guermoud@lien.u-nancy.fr (Hassane Guermoud)
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 00:12:52 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>

Hi everybody !


I need some informations about FPIC or FPID ( field programmable
interconnect component or device ).

References, Datasheet, leadership etc...

			Thanks for help.


				Tchao !




Article: 3218
Subject: Proc+FPGA/reconfig-logic
From: andre@ai.mit.edu (Andre' DeHon)
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 02:26:51 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>

	In the aftermath of FCCM, Jan Gray kicked off some discussion of
FPGA-coprocessors.  As a coupled of posting pointed out, there are now
several efforts in various stages of exploring tightly coupled proc+FPGA
architectures.  I put together the following page as a central starting
point for people interested in research in this area.

	<http://http.cs.berkeley.edu/projects/brass/reproc.html>

	I'm sure I left a few things out, so send me personal mail and I'll
expand it as I become aware of additional, relevant work in the area.

					Andre'



Article: 3219
Subject: Where to buy IC chips...
From: Ying Zhang <yingz>
Date: 29 Apr 1996 02:32:53 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Can someone tell me where can I find the following IC chips?
   SMDIC
   1) MC/LM
   2) 8870 (MITEL/MT/MCD)
   3) LM 224
   4) MAX250 /MAX251
  DIP IC
   1) GN137
   2) 8870
   3) NE561

Large volume order.

Thanks.
-- 
yingz@cs.tamu.edu



Article: 3220
Subject: Re: FPIC
From: Grason Curtis <gcurtis>
Date: 29 Apr 1996 03:17:32 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>

Check out ICUBE at http://www.icube.com.

Regards...Grason
gcurtis@worldnet.att.net


guermoud@lien.u-nancy.fr (Hassane Guermoud) wrote:
>
>Hi everybody !
>
>
>I need some informations about FPIC or FPID ( field programmable
>interconnect component or device ).
>
>References, Datasheet, leadership etc...
>
>			Thanks for help.
>
>
>				Tchao !
>
>




Article: 3221
Subject: Synario Universal FPGA Design System
From: kurt@emphasys.de (Volker Kurt Kamp)
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 11:55:45 +0200
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Hi,
we think about using the "Synario Universal FPGA Design System" from DATA/IO.
Can anybody, who uses this system, give us some tips/hints ?
Thanks for all infos,
Kurt.

-- 
 _/_/_/_/_/_/_/
             _/   Volker Kurt Kamp (kurt@emphasys.de)
 _/_/_/_/_/  _/
         _/  _/   EMPHASYS Informationstechnik GmbH
 _/_/_/  _/  _/   Alt-Moabit 94 - 10559 Berlin - Germany - Europe
     _/  _/  _/   Tel: +49.30.399883  FAX: +49.30.3922836
 _/  _/  _/  _/


Article: 3222
Subject: Re: Looking for FPGA Boards taking Xilinx 4000 series FPGA
From: guccione@xilinx.com (Steve Guccione)
Date: 29 Apr 1996 11:41:41 GMT
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In article <robyn.830313480@reef.cs.jcu.edu.au>,
Robyn Cheyne <robyn@cs.jcu.edu.au> wrote:
[... search for FPGA boards deleted ...]

I maintain a list of such hardware at:
"http://www.io.com/~guccione/HW_list.html".  There are currently about
50 such boards (mostly research projects) out there.

Hope this helps,

-- Steve
-- 4/29/96



Article: 3223
Subject: Re: On FPGAs as PC coprocessors
From: mbutts@netcom.com (Mike Butts)
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 16:16:24 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
guccione@xilinx.com (Steve Guccione) writes:

>(...Stuff about FPGAs and CPUs working together deleted...)

>I agree that a 400 MHz Alpha is able to get a lot of work done in a
>short time.  But the problem is the memory interface.  When you start
>getting cache misses, performance drops dramatically.

Precisely.  The most fundamental, and potentially the most important
difference between CPUs and FCCMs is the processor-memory model.

The sequential Von Neumann CPU model has a single unified memory
space with only a single sequence of memory accesses permitted.
Implementations of CPUs, memory systems and compilers infer some
parallelism beyond that, but the model that programmers
must code to is still limited to that sequential, one reference at
a time model.

FCCMs need not share that limitation.

   --Mike

-- 
Mike Butts, Portland, Oregon   mbutts@netcom.com



Article: 3224
Subject: Re: ECL, PECL gate arrays or FPGA's
From: vincent@dtcs09.kodak.com (John Vincent)
Date: 29 Apr 1996 16:58:04 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
In article 41C67EA6@rice.edu, Michael Filippo <filippo@rice.edu> () writes:
>Let me try it again...
>
>Does anyone know where (or if) I can get ECL or PECL (preferrable) gate arrays
>or FPGAs?  I'm trying to design a high-speed (100 MHz) crossbar switch and I need
>some way to build multiple multi-bit 16-1 MUXs.  I've looked at Lattice's CPLDs
>(1K, 2K, and 3K families), but I have serious doubts about their performance.  I'm
>laess concerned with the propagation delay than I am about the output edge rates.  I
>assume I can skew the clock for the receiving latch to compensate for the prop.
>delay (assuming I can fix it in a range), but I can't very well have a 10 ns period
>if I have 5ns (or more) edge rates.  Any suggestions?
>
>-- 
>Mike Filippo    
>filippo@rice.edu  
>http://www-ce.rice.edu/ce/members/filippo/htdocs/filippo.html


  Try looking into a relatively new startup company called Dyna Logic. They offer
some very fast SRAM baased parts with ECL, PECL, and GTL I/O, claiming 200 MHz
system performance and 5K usable gates.

  I have a card from ar marketing person you can reach at chiki@dyna.com



************************************************************************
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