I'm looking to try my hand at using PLD/PGA's. I'm thinking of starting off with
something simple, like flashing LED's controlled by one of ftdi's usb modules
(I've been looking for an excuse to play with those). Naturally my first thought
was to ask the wise and wonderful piclist for advice.

So far I've been reading up on Xilinx's stuff, I seem to remember somebody
mentioning that they're best for hobbyists. They're free WebPack software looks
a bit convoluted. Has anybody used it?

What's the best way to get started?
What kind of programming hardware do I need?
Verilog or VHDL?
Any good books for learning [Verilog | VHDL]?
Any *nix based tools around for this?

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics
(like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics