

Zedboard, dual ARM cores with an FPGA attached - ChuckMcM
http://zedboard.org/

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ChuckMcM
So I submit this because I just bought one ($395 from Arrow) and the parts are
supposed to be like $15 in quantity. My goal is to build a simple framebuffer
in it such that you can have not only an ARM SOC with memory controllers,
gigabit ethernet, etc. But also a well documented (and actually changeable)
way to display stuff.

Prior to finding out about this chip I was sort of half-heartedly working on a
simple 1080p framebuffer to attach over the ARM PMI bus to an Atmel SAM9 part
but this is much nicer being fully integrated. My plan now is to build a
system out of it and then spin a board without the extra bits to get the board
price down around $99 rather than $400. Very interesting architecture.

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nva
I'd be interested in knowing how fast data can be transferred between the fpga
fabric and the processor. Any idea?

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ChuckMcM
I believe the 2.4GB/sec is the spec rate for this chip. Their demo board does
three 1080p feeds mixed into a 1080p output which suggests it is pretty
usable.

One of the key differences in this chip versus other architectures is that ARM
system boots first and has some ability to do reconfiguration. (all of the key
subsystems for the ARM core to boot are hard blocks.)

I don't hold out a _lot_ of hope for open floorplanning tools from Xilinx but
they do have a Linux toolchain so hopefully it will be possible to do native
development.

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jws
Isn't this the same CPU/FPGA that is on the Parallella? The 7020?

Should provide a decent sized ecosystem if it is.

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duskwuff
Early publicity photos of Parallella had this exact dev board in them. :)

