On: From ASCII to ASIC: Porting donut.c to a tiny slice of silicon

[tmaly]

I have not programmed an FPGA in 26 years.

What do you recommend for a FPGA brand today?

[Taniwha → tmaly]

Xilinx, Altera - there's also some really cheap stuff coming out of China (Tang Nano). Because they all have their own dev system you tend to choose the one you know

There's a standard for external add-ons called PMODs (small boards with external connectors or parts) tiny tapeout uses it too, picking a dev board with PMOD connectors is probably a good idea.