FPGA on Bald Engineer

Arduino MKR Vidor 4000 Hands-On

Wed, 15 Aug 2018 13:27:52 +0000

Earlier this week, I looked at the Arduino MKR Vidor 4000 during an AddOhms live stream. My goal was to understand the Vidor better. It is the new FPGA-based Arduino which started shipping this month. It runs about $60. You can learn more at the Vidor Product Page on the Arduino website.

In this post, I briefly touch on the difference between an FPGA and a microcontroller. Then I walk you around the MKR Vidor 4000’s board. Using one of the examples, I talk a bit about how the various chips communicate with each other. This section also highlights what makes the Arduino FPGA board different from other development boards. Lastly, I answer “should you buy an Arduino MKR Vidor 4000?”

MKR 4000 VIDOR Hands-On Video | AddOhms Live

Tue, 14 Aug 2018 13:47:52 +0000

As promised, the Arduino team shipped the MKR 4000 VIDOR by the end of July. The graphical editor is still missing in action, but you can check out the board now. I received mine. In this AddOhms Live Stream, I turned it on and checked it out.

This video is a “working” live stream. Generally, I try to set up some demos and run through some canned actions. Not this time. I used the board once, on another computer. You get to watch how I attack a new board…live! Warts and all.

FleaFPGA Introduction

Wed, 04 Nov 2015 17:00:09 +0000

Can’t find the digital chip you need on Mouser or just wish you could make it yourself? With the FleaFPGA board, you can! As a college freshman, we heard rumors of a custom Integrated Circuit (IC) class. Surely what had to be a senior level class, I couldn’t wait until I understood electrical engineering enough that I got to make my own IC!

Two years passed, I was learning Verilog and VHDL in a class titled “Complex Programmable Logic Devices.” In short, CPLD. Those devices were the precursors to today’s modern FPGA devices.