
What It Takes to Build True FPGA as a Service - binaryanomaly
https://www.nextplatform.com/2016/12/02/takes-build-true-fpga-service/
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cannonpr
While it's nice finally having access to FPGA's on the cloud, it's still a
shame that there isn't much going on with Open source development on FPGA's,
on either the toolset or libraries/modules. Though this is largely due to
manufacturer hostility. Maybe wider access and adoption might finally do
something about this situation.

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boxerab
Yes, agree. Also, SDKs are quite expensive - while GPU vendors give theirs
away for free. This might be one reason for relatively low adoption vs GPU.

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planteen
I don't think that is it. The tools aren't open source free, but they are
dollar free.

Xilinx is the leader in FPGAs and their tools are free. Lattice tools are also
free. Not sure about Altera, who is #2.

I've worked multiple places that shipped products using only the FPGA vendor's
free offerings. The FPGA vendors see the tools as a way to sell silicon.

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spilk
Altera was acquired by Intel last year and they dropped the Altera brand -
they are now Intel FPGA.

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brian-armstrong
If you're looking to learn an HDL on an FPGA, it's probably still cheaper and
easier to just buy your own, maybe something like
[http://store.digilentinc.com/arty-board-artix-7-fpga-
develop...](http://store.digilentinc.com/arty-board-artix-7-fpga-development-
board-for-makers-and-hobbyists/) ($99). And for that matter, you can also get
started by just using a sim and no FPGA for free

~~~
vvanders
If you don't care about the DSP units you can pick up a CPLD kit for ~$20 [1].

[1] [http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/lattice-
semiconduct...](http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/lattice-
semiconductor-corporation/LCMXO3L-6900C-S-EVN/220-1935-ND/5039065)

~~~
duskwuff
You can also get a "real" \-- albeit small -- FPGA from Lattice for $25:

[http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/lattice-
semiconduct...](http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/lattice-
semiconductor-corporation/ICE40HX1K-STICK-EVN/220-2656-ND/4289604)

The Arty is a much more capable board, though.

~~~
thatcat
What do you like about the Arty?

I'm considering the parallella board, which is around the same price.

[https://www.parallella.org/board/](https://www.parallella.org/board/)

~~~
duskwuff
Between the two I'd recommend the Arty without hesitation.

The Parallella is intended as a demonstration board for the Epiphany SOC. The
$99 model has no GPIOs or JTAG interface, making it essentially unusable for
FPGA development; the higher-end models will still be awkward to work with.

The Arty is intended for FPGA development, and is much better suited for it --
built-in JTAG controller, lots of GPIOs on easily accessible connectors, user
I/Os, etc.

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mmaunder
For reference (30 November): [https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/developer-
preview-ec2-insta...](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/developer-preview-
ec2-instances-f1-with-programmable-hardware/)

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pluglus
FPGA newbie here; How does this relate to toolsets that Cadence, Synopsys and
Mentor Graphics and others make for chip design? Would you use tools from
these companies to design VHDL / Verilog for the 'FPGAs as a service' or is
this at all related?

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wmf
Yes, you use EDA tools to synthesize (compile) and debug VHDL/Verilog code for
FPGAs, although Xilinx provides their own tools.

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mmaunder
"Each FPGA contains approximately 2.5 million logic elements and approximately
6,800 Digital Signal Processing (DSP) engines."

Can an FPGA guru provide a real-world example of the kind of processing power
this provides?

~~~
homero
Just from experience. Bitcoin mining 10x from gpu to fpga so there's a lot of
potential. But then again we aren't even using gpgpu in web apps.

~~~
nraynaud
I do :)

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askvictor
Perhaps we should rename them to CPGA (Cloud programmable) - Field
programmable seems a bit archaic when they're cloud-based

