Re: [oc] Prototype boards like the XSA-100

["Tony Burch" <tony@burched.com.au>]

Hi Agador,

> Paul;
>
> I considered getting a BurchEd board but I liked the packaging
> of the Xess; it comes with a ps2, a parallel, a few other things,
> and for another $100 I can get the XStend addon board. BurchEd looks
> like its more modular and more add ons, but the tally appeared to make

That is exactly the philosophy that we follow with
the BurchED boards - modularity.  This lowers the
average cost to users, because they buy and plug on
only what they need.  And can upgrade with
new plug-on modules / resources, as they become
available.  Many engineers buy only the "base" board,
and build their systems around it (the base board is
only US$149).

> it more expensive to buy all the capabilities that would equal the same
> components on the two Xess boards. There's nothing wrong with BurchEd

Well, it's like comparing apples and oranges.  But if you
are only looking at the prices (which I suggest you don't do
- look at the features to make sure you get what you need),
then the breakdown is:
*  XESS: XSA-100 plus XST-1 Extender, Total cost US$379
* BurchED:  B5-Super-Value-Pack, Total cost US$359
There is alot in the B5-Super-Value-Pack, see
http://www.burched.com.au/B5SuperValuePack.html
Plus note that the BurchED board has the
200K gate FPGA (twice the gate capacity of the Xess board).

> though and I will most likely aquire one in the future.
>
> I guess I'll keep using my mousepad as a mounting for my Xess.

It's interesting that the board mounting issue has come
up here.  We always designed the BurchED units
with mechanical robustness as an important feature.
At the beginning of next week we will be shipping
the B5-Super-Value-Pack with a clear perspex mounting
board, which will hold all of the plug-on modules
down.  This hasn't been a big issue, since the system
is quite robust as it is - it just makes it a little nicer,
and a bit more portable if you need to pick the
whole thing up quickly and take it somewhere eg. for
a demo offsite.

Best regards
Tony Burch
http://www.BurchED.com
Low cost FPGA boards, for System-On-Chip
prototyping and education

> --- "Paul McFeeters" <paul.mcfeeters@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> >Agador,
> >
> >couldn't you use the board 'upside-down' or even on its side if you are
worried about
> >the prototyping pins shorting out? Or get a piece of wood and cut out a
mounting
> >cradle for it?
> >
> >I don't think mousemats are conductive unless you've got a weird silver
foil one or
> >suchlike. Obviously try not to spill anything on it as I accidentally did
on a hard
> >disk years ago which killed the drive completely.
> >
> >Paul
> >
> >PS I don't use any Xess boards myself yet, I only use BurchEd boards so
we don't have
> >this problem but I hope the suggestions help you.
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: owner-cores@opencores.org [mailto:owner-cores@opencores.org]On
> >> Behalf Of Agador Sparticus
> >> Sent: 09 February 2002 00:58
> >> To: cores@opencores.org
> >> Subject: RE: [oc] IDE/ATA-5 controller with DMA and Hard Disk support
in
> >> Verilog?
> >>
> >>
> >> For those of you using prototype boards like the <a
href="http://www.xess.com/prod026.php3">Xess</a>, what are you
> >> "mounting" them on (for lack of better verbiage)?
> >> I'm just keeping mine on a mousepad but that makes me nervous.


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