Gadget Factory

FPGA

  • Welcome to the online home of The Zynq Book

    Curious about the Xilinx ZYNQ processor – an FPGA core coupled with two ARM hard processors? Take a look at this free eBook released by Xilinx to learn more! The Zynq Book is the first book about Zynq to be written in the English language. It has been produced by a team of authors from…

  • Flavia: the Free Logic Array

    Check out this amazing project from John Beetem. Make small Digital Logic designs without the heavyweight vendor tools. Flavia tool chain lets you make bit files for the Papilio One 250K with completely FLOSS software! Only CPLD sized designs are possible, but this is a boon for learning Digital Logic on ARM based boards like…

  • A CPLD Video Card With VGA And NTSC

    Here is a project to generate VGA and NTSC from a CPLD. The brains of the outfit is a $5, 100-pin CPLD from Xilinx. Apart from that, the rest of the components are a crystal, PLL, and an almost hilarious number of resistors for the R2R ladder. The one especially unique component is the 25.056815 MHz…

  • Intelligent LEDs – Using WS2812B LEDs with the Papilio.

      Hamster shows us how to use the latest and greatest WS2812B LEDs! The interface is pretty simple – the state of the bus has to be reset by holding the data signal low for 50us, followed with sending out 24 bits for each LED that is connected in the string. The ‘1’ bits are sent…

  • SD card testing

    Check it out as Hamster plays around with SD cards. So far he has it initializing the card using VHDL! Here is the test setup – a Papilio FPGA board from http://www.gadgetfactory.net/, and a SD adapter from http://www.futurlec.com/: via hamsterworks.co.nz

  • Bil Herd – Designer of Commodore 128 – talks about CPLD/FPGAs!

    Wow! Watch this video as Bil Herd – the designer of the Commodore 128 – talks about the early days of PLA’s. Get the full scoop on Hack a Day. Then he talks about CPLD’s and shows how to get started with a simple counter design. Get the full scoop on Hack a Day. This…

  • Nick Johnson builds an FPGA with 7400 parts.

    Well, this is a little bit after the fact, but in case anyone missed it this is a really entertaining project to check out. This was an award winning project in the 2012 Open 7400 Logic Competition put on by Dangerous Prototypes. The author, Nick Johnson, put together an FPGA slice using only 7400 series…

  • DIY 8-Bit Computer Using An FPGA and Classic Computer CPUs In VHDL

    We found a pretty unique project that was covered recently over at Hackaday, involving a hacked-together 8-bit retro-styled computer.  The kicker here is that it was made using an FPGA combined with  VHDL inplementations of classic CPUs such as the 6502, 6809, and Z80. In its full configuration, the Multicomp, as [Grant] calls his project, includes…