V G wrote:
> Now I'm fully interested in FPGAs. I'm looking into getting a starter kit=
 of
> some sort.
>
> What would you guys recommend getting?
>
> I searched around and the Cyclone II or Spartan 3 kits were suggested but
> then it was also said that they're only good for "student" learning work =
and
> later on they're "pretty much useless". What do they mean by "useless"?
>  =20
The big issue I noticed with the cyclone 2 kit is that all the IO bank=20
voltages are hardwired to 3.3V. This makes it pretty much impossible to=20
experiment with the more advanced IO options like LVDS which at least=20
according to the datasheet require lower IO bank voltages and given the=20
lengths of the tracks to the connectors I suspect you would have trouble=20
running them at high speed generally.

So you have a powerful FPGA but no easy and fast way of getting data in=20
and out of it. This somewhat limits the usefulness.
--=20
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