On Mon, 2007-02-26 at 09:23 -0800, Phil Keller wrote:
> Its time for me to start, or actually re-start, my ability to use 
> CPLD's.  I last used them about 10 years ago and much has changed.  The 
> distinction between CPLD's and FPGA's has blurred as the capabilities of 
> the CPLD's increased.
> 
> Assuming that I have no tools, which is not far from the truth,
> * which CPLD family is a good starting point?
> * what  hardware?
> * what software?
> * what tutorials or learning aids would you recommend?
> 
>   Your suggestions and guidance is greatly appreciated.

What experience do you have? Do you know either VHDL or Verilog?

If not then that's the first step. Many manufacturers have "easy" tools
to design with that allow you to plug things together with a GUI. While
quick, they are completely useless for anything but the most simple
tasks, and you won't learn much doing it that way. I find it's best to
skip these sorts of tools and go right to learning an HDL language.

Once you've got a grasp of either VHDL or Verilog (I recommend Verilog
BTW, VHDL is slowly disappearing), then any of the major vendors would
be a good choice. Most give away a size limited version of their
software which covers all their smaller parts (and many of the midrange
parts). 

I'm personally most experienced with Xilinx parts. Their 95xx series of
CPLDs are very cheap, and come in packages that are OK for hobbyists
(PLCC). They have a "webpack" version of their software which is fully
functioning. They even point you to a free simulator.

As an example of a project using this CPLD:

http://repatch.dyndns.org:8383/pic_stuff/logan

TTYL

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