Programming FPGAs: Getting Started with Verilog (ELECTRONICS)

The book probably stops a bit early as it didn't cover simulation, but it walked me through the process of installing the development tools, creating a project and implementing it.

A great intro to Verilog and FPGA for the newcomer. If you come up against things you can't do with an Arduino or Raspberry Pi then maybe it is time to move to FPGA?

Nice little book. However, it is no longer possible to purchase any of the development boards used to support the learning exercises. Look for something more up to date.

Für diejenigen, die schon Erfahrung mit FPGAs hatten wie ich, aber mit Verilog noch nicht so viel zu tun hatten (für mich war VHDL die Hauptsprache bei Digitalentwürfen) ist das Buch sehr geeignet um schnell voranzukommen. Ich kann mir vorstellen das es auch für Leute die keinerlei Kenntnisse digitaler Systemen haben, geeignet sein kann denn die Grundlagen werden ausführlich behandelt.

non ho ancora completato la lettura e sono in attesa di una delle demoboard per poter applicare gli esempi presenti. Un libro accettabile per iniziare con verilog e le fpga in generale. Molti aspetti però non vengono trattati ed in particolare l'aspetto della simulazione

Good book, interesting to read and good presented information, not too much text, but conshese. I like this book

I got multiple problem messages in the ISE trying to generate the .bit file for the very first exercise in the book, the data selector. The ISE reported these problems: INFO:Security:54 - 'xc6slx9' is a WebPack part. INFO:Security:61 - The XILINXD_LICENSE_FILE environment variable is not set. INFO:Security:63 - The LM_LICENSE_FILE environment variable is not set. ERROR:Security:9c - No 'ISE' nor 'WebPack' feature version 2013.10 was available for part 'xc6slx9'. The error prevents the ISE from building the .bit file, so I focused on fixing that first. In Simon's book he shows us how to get the Vivado/ISE Webpack license. The book goes through the process to get the Vivado license, but the ISE Webpack license is also needed. These two licenses should show up in the list of available licenses in the Xilinx License Configuration Manager (XLCM) within the Acquire a License tab, and they both have to be checked (I had only gotten the Vivado license initially so I had to go back through the process and check the ISE Webpack license selection). Then you generate the node locked license file which shows up in your email and stored on your computer. That is the license file that needs to be loaded via the "Load License" button in the Manage Licenses tab of the XLCM by typing in the file path in the field and clicking Load. Note that you can get the licenses in two separate steps like I did, you will get a second license email, just be sure to delete the original license file (or just overwrite it) when loading it via XLCM. The second effort that is not described in Simon's book fixes these issues: INFO:Security:61 - The XILINXD_LICENSE_FILE environment variable is not set. INFO:Security:63 - The LM_LICENSE_FILE environment variable is not set. I'm not sure if it's a big deal or not to fix this. In any event, in the Manage Licenses tab of the XLCM there is a "Set" button and to the left are fields marked XILINXD_LICENSE_FILE and LM_LICENSE_FILE. You plug in the location of your license file into both fields and click on Set. Once those steps were done I reran the project and successfully generated the .bit file. I am using a Mojo so I ran the Mojo loader program and successfully uploaded the file to the FPGA which then worked fine. I should also note that finding the loader for the Mojo board was a bit nitsy in that Embedded Micro appears to have changed its name to Alchitry, and it's not obvious where the file is in the website. The Mojo loader is here: https://alchitry.com/pages/mojo-loader I hope this info helps. I think very highly of Simon Monk's books and his writing style helps make these complex projects easy to implement.

Going into this, I have some computer programming knowledge and very basic electronics skills, but knew nothing about FPGAs. After reading this, I feel like I have enough basic knowledge to at least experiment with some ideas. The one thing worth noting though, the 3 dev boards used in this book are currently out of stock or have newer versions are now available that are not exactly the same pin outs as described in the book.