EIM Technology Aims to Demystify FPGA Development with the STEPFPGA MXO2Core Board, Tutorial Book
Designed to walk the user from base concepts to Verilog projects, and using a quick-start web IDE to boot, EIM's guide promises simplicity.
EIM Technology is preparing to launch a tutorial series designed to introduce newcomers to the fundamentals of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and the Verilog hardware definition language (HDL) — using its low-cost STEPFPGA MXO2 Core development board.
"If you have some basic knowledge of electronics or would like to go further beyond Arduino, or [are] simply interested in FPGAs but don't know where to start, then you will very likely love this board," claims EIM's Zhendong Cao of the MXO2Core. "We wrote an easy-to-read tutorial to help you systematically learn the fundamentals of FPGA and Verilog with this board. This single alone is capable to implement and demonstrate most of your fundamental digital circuits appeared in your curriculum textbooks such as Logic Gates, Decoders, Multiplexers, Flip-Flops, Counters, ALUs…"
Built around a Lattice Semi MachXO2 MXO2-4000 FPGA, which includes 4,302 look-up tables (LUTs), 92kb of block RAM and 64kb of user flash, the breadboard-friendly gumstick-format STEPFPGA MXO2Core include an on-board two-digit seven-segment display with decimal separators, two RGB LEDs, eight single-color red LEDs, four toggle switches, and eight push-buttons.
Elsewhere on the board is a USB Type-C connector for data and power, while unpopulated general-purpose input/output (GPIO) headers around both sides of the board break out 36 GPIO pins, power, and I2C and SPI buses.
Alongside the hardware, EIM has developed a web-based integrated development environment (IDE) — still in alpha, Cao admits — and is working on a companion book that walks the reader through FPGA fundamentals and the development of a range of projects including an elevator control system, a digital locker, an LED chaser, and an electronic piano.
The MXO2Core, also known as the STEP-MXO2, is already available to purchase on EIM's Tindie store at $54.99 per board; the Kickstarter campaign to fund development of the web IDE and tutorial book has physical rewards starting at CA$59 (around $47) — though the tutorial book is only available with pledges starting at CA$89 (around $71), with many of the projects requiring add-on hardware to complete. All boards are expected to be delivered starting in July.