FPGA hardware supporting open source toolchains

[nickpunt]

Thought this overview of open-toolchain FPGA hardware might be of interest to hardware hackers looking to build new projects with FPGAs: 

https://www.ktemkin.com/exploring-open-fpga-hardware/

[quorten]

So looks like the state-of-the-art in open-source FPGAs is still pretty much "Lattice only."  Fortunately, looks like Lattice FPGAs might be good enough for implementing a replica BBU for the Macintosh SE.  Good thing was that I was already looking at candidate FPGAs from Lattice.

[aeberbach]

I'm wondering why open source matters here; you won't get very far without buying the proprietary silicon from one of the big vendors, so what does it matter if you use the tools provided by them also?

[paws]

All the same reasons you use an open source compiler to generate machine code for a proprietary CPU: Out of principle, because it's more future proof, and frequently also because they're just better software.

 

I don't know about the Lattice tools, I've only used the open source ones, but the Xilinx tools are gigantic, slow, buggy, and the versions I used made you do a complete 7GB download for each tiny bug fix upgrade.

[Kai Robinson]

On 11/26/2020 at 8:38 PM, quorten said:

So looks like the state-of-the-art in open-source FPGAs is still pretty much "Lattice only."  Fortunately, looks like Lattice FPGAs might be good enough for implementing a replica BBU for the Macintosh SE.  Good thing was that I was already looking at candidate FPGAs from Lattice.

 The iCE40 perchance? 

[quorten]

@Kai Robinson Yeah I believe I looked at that one.  The other thing I was thinking was that a CPLD might also fit the bill, the advantage being voltage level shifters would not be required.