[oc] Martin,

["Paul McFeeters" <paul.mcfeeters@ntlworld.com>]

Martin,

> Post your code, I'll see what I can tell...

Too late after the Verilog proved perfect I deleted all my VHDL. It never
worked with Webpack so why keep it? No need to send you my Verilog as its
all perfect (as in it works not that its pretty).

> No, you can do printing in a single line of VHDL, so long as you don;t
want to synthesise it...

I need to synthesise people's printing in C not my own (so to speak).

> You still want to use WebPack for place and route, and possibly for
synthesis, just use someone
> else's simulator.  Free all round and the right tool for the right job.

I'll just convert to Verilog for now so people can still use their IP cores.
Might even do a
VHDL to Verilog program for people to use existing VHDL IP cores unless
there is a good one already
out there?

> Well, except that if you're spending $25K on SW, a couple of grand here
and there for software is nothing.
> Also, bear in mind that Celoxica claim some incredible cost-savings by
using a C-flow rather than straight
> to VHDL, so you could potentially save $25K on a single big project...

As most good ideas don't actually come from large companies (some actually
try to suppress creativity!) I
would rather enable individuals to program hardware via C than companies to
save a fraction off their
development costs. I believe the more people who can get their hands on the
tools the more/better ideas
will result.

> Nah, they'll still need to learn about hardware :-)

If they want to, would expect anybody who wants/needs to program hardware to
learn at least the basics about
hardware but they can code C programs from day one. My wish is to have a PCI
card with a VGA connector on it.
If the programming of the system is fast enough I can see the board being
used by standard C programmers as
a 'soft CPU'. Instead of a dedicated FPU like in the old days the FPGA could
be programmed for realtime
video or audio compression. For example, realtime MPEG2 compression is
achievable these days but the price
for the hardware is so extreme I think I would rather buy a large house.

> Xilinx and Altera both support educational programs, so you might be able
to persuade them of your good intentions...

I will approach them later, will want command line versions of Verilog
compilers and place and route programs
so can eliminate the Webpack step at the moment. Maybe Xilinx could bundle
my program with Webpack?

I have lived all over the place, was in Basildon Essex for ten years till
last December now home in Ulster just
North of Belfast.

Paul

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