[no subject]

I feel as though I'm the least knowledgeable CB
> owner here as my only PLD experience is that I just figured out how to
> convert 1980's PALs to GALs using OPAL. =A0Converting those PALs into
> WinCUPL is my next goal. =A0So you can see, I'm way behind.

What?! Dude - your advanced. I found those tools were a lot more
difficult when I was using them. ISE is great - plug and play! And
Altium desiger makes things a breeze (when it works..)
If you have PAL's, PLD's etc down pat, then multiply that up a few
thousand times, thrown in some large static RAMs, and few phased
locked Loop clock controllers and you have an FPGA.


>
> My questions are:
>
> =A0 1. =A0Steve, would you provide a list of all the current
> Applelogic.org CB pages, and the best order for a beginner to go
> through them?

Can do. - Hope to. (soon?) - I still have all the ISE docco's to do -
Ill try.

>
> =A0 2. =A0For making logic designs with the CB, apparently one must obtai=
n
> additional parts and accessories. =A0What's the recommended parts list a
> beginner should obtain? =A0 =A0There appears to be many options, so
> specific recommended models would be very helpful. =A0 It's a bit of
> trouble but I can have a parallel port.

Parallel port is fine. Xilinx, Digilent and Altium have parallel port
JTAG adaptors. Digilent is nice and cheap too.
 >
> =A0 =A03. =A0Same as #2 but for needed software. =A0 I take it that Altiu=
m
> Designer is not viable for beginners...

Its a bit off the mark when it comes to price. I use it, but I think
im the only one.

but I see constant refs to it
> on the Applelogic.org sites. =A0 By chance, I have the "ISE Design Suite
> 10.1" DVD which includes ISE Foundation and ISE WebPACK. =A0 Is this the
> software and version that everyone here will be using?

ISE webpack is the one. Its free and readily available. For the FPGA
device on CB (which is a spartan E series) ISE versions greater than
8.2 is needed, so 10.1 is fine (i am using 10.1 actually).

hope this helps.

Steve