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BOOKS & KITS
VHDL / BASYS / Nexys-2 / Nexys-3

There are 4 books in this category

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WHICH BOOK IS BEST FOR ME?  
 

1.   Digital Design Using Digilent FPGA Boards – VHDL/Active-HDL Edition ($44.95)

is the latest and most complete book.  It contains 13 chapters ranging from basic gates to the design of a VGA controller and the use of the PS2 port for interfacing a keyboard and mouse.  Over 75 complete examples work on the Digilent BASYS2, NEXYS2, and NEXYS3 FPGA boards.  This book can also be bundled with one of these FPGA boards directly from Digilent, Inc.  This is the best book if you want to learn to program in VHDL from the beginning.

 

  
 

2.  Introduction to Digital Design Using Digilent FPGA Boards – Block Diagram/VHDL Examples ($34.95)

contains 30 basic digital design examples that will run on either the Digilent BASYS2 and NEXYS2 FPGA boards.  In these examples, you create the design by drawing the circuit using the Active-HDL block diagram editor.  When you compile these block diagrams, the corresponding VHDL code is automatically generated.  This book will be useful if you want to understand basic digital design and get simple projects working on the FPGA boards without having to learn VHDL.  This book can also be bundled with one of these FPGA boards directly from Digilent, Inc. 

 

  
 

3.  Learning By Example Using VHDL – Basic Digital Design With a BASYS™ FPGA Board ($39.95)

contains the first 8 chapters (62 examples) of book #1 above, which covers material through state machines.  The examples will work on both the Digilent BASYS (or BASYS2) and NEXYS2 FPGA boards.

 

  
 

4.  Learning By Example Using VHDL – Advanced Digital Design With a NEXYS2™ FPGA Board ($39.95)

assumes the knowledge contained in Book #3.  In addition to the extra material in book #1, this book includes advanced material on interfacing the RAM and Flash memory on the NEXYS2 FPGA board.  Beyond the examples of any of the other books, the use of the external RAM for computer graphics, the design of a UART, and the design of a Forth core are included in this book.  

 
     

     

    Introduction to Digital Design Using Digilent FPGA Boards - Block Diagram/VHDL Examples
    Richard E. Haskell and Darrin M. Hanna
    (193 pages)

    This book assumes no previous knowledge of digital design.  We use 30 examples to show you how to get started designing digital circuits that you can implement on a Xilinx Spartan3E FPGA using either the Digilent BASYS™ system board that can be purchased from www.digilentinc.com for $59 or the Digilent Nexys-2 board that costs $99.  

    We will use Active-HDL from Aldec to design, simulate, synthesize, and implement our digital designs.  A free student edition of Active-HDL is available from Aldec, Inc. (www.aldec.com).   To synthesize your designs to a Spartan3E FPGA you will need to download the free ISE WebPACK from Xilinx, Inc. (www.xilinx.com).  The Xilinx synthesis tools are called from within the Aldec Active-HDL integrated GUI.  We will use the ExPort utility to download your synthesized design to the Spartan3E FPGA.  ExPort is part of the Adept software suite that you can download free from Digilent, Inc. (www.digilentinc.com).  A more complete book called Digital Design Using Digilent FPGA Boards – VHDL / Active-HDL Edition is also available from Digilent or LBE Books (www.lbebooks.com).  

    This more comprehensive book contains over 75 examples including examples of using the VGA and PS/2 ports.  Similar books that use Verilog are also available from Digilent or LBE Books.

    Preface

    Table of Contents

     

    Only $39.95

    Special Introductory offer $34.95

    Digital Design Using Digilent FPGA Boards - VHDL/Active-HDL Edition
    Richard E. Haskell and Darrin M. Hanna
    (383 pages)

    This book assumes no previous knowledge of digital design.  You start at the beginning learning about basic gates, logic equations, Boolean algebra, and Karnaugh maps. 

    In over 75 examples we show you how to design digital circuits using VHDL, simulate them using the Aldec Active-HDL simulator, and synthesize the designs to a Xilinx Spartan3E FPGA on either the BASYS2™ (or BASYS™) system board that can be purchased from Digilent, Inc (www.digilentinc.com) for $59 or the Nexys-2 board that costs $99. More recently, Digilent offers the Nexys-3 board with a Spartan-6 FPGA that costs $119.  A free student edition of the Aldec Active-HDL simulator is available from Aldec, Inc. (www.aldec.com).   To synthesize your designs to a Spartan3E FPGA you will need to download the free ISE WebPACK from Xilinx, Inc. (www.xilinx.com).  The Xilinx synthesis tools are called from within the Aldec Active-HDL integrated GUI.  We will use the Adept 2.1 utility to download your synthesized design to the Spartan3E or Spartan6 FPGA.  Adept 2.1 can be downloaded free from Digilent, Inc. (www.digilentinc.com). 

    You should use Adept 2.1 to download your bit files to either the BASYS2, Nexys-2, or Nexys-3 boards.  All references to the BASYS board in this book apply to the newer BASYS2 board.  The only difference is that if you are using the BASYS board, you must use the user constraints file (.ucf) for the BASYS board (basys.ucf), while if you are using the BAYSY2 board, you must use the user constraints file (.ucf) for the BASYS2 board (basys2board.ucf).  Both of these user constraints (.ucf) files can be downloaded from http://www.lbebooks.com/downloads.htm.   

    Preface

    Table of Contents

    Only $54.95

    Special Introductory offer $44.95

     

    Learning by Example Using VHDL - Basic Digital Design
    With a BASYS FPGA Board
    Richard E. Haskell and Darrin M. Hanna
    (286 pages)

    This book assumes no previous knowledge of digital design.  You start at the beginning learning about basic gates, logic equations, Boolean algebra, and Karnaugh maps.  In over 60 examples we show you how to design digital circuits using VHDL, simulate them using the Aldec Active-HDL™ simulator, and synthesize the designs to a Xilinx Spartan3E™ FPGA on the BASYS™ system board that can be purchased from Digilent, Inc. for $59.  A free student edition of the Aldec Active-HDL simulator is available from Aldec, Inc.   To synthesize your designs to a Spartan3E FPGA you will need to download the free ISE WebPACK from Xilinx, Inc.  The Xilinx synthesis tools are called from within the Aldec Active-HDL integrated GUI.  We will use the ExPort utility to download your synthesized design to the Spartan3E FPGA on the BASYS board.  ExPort is part of the Adept software suite that you can download free from Digilent, Inc.

    All of the examples contained in this book will work on the Digilent Nexys-2 Board. These examples are in VHDL and can be implemented on any prototyping board containing the appropriate peripherals.

    Preface

    Table of Contents

    Example from Text

    Only $49.95

    Special Introductory offer $39.95

Learning by Example Using VHDL - Advanced Digital Design
With a Nexys-2 FPGA Board
Richard E. Haskell and Darrin M. Hanna
(350 pages)

This book assumes knowledge of digital design using VHDL that you can acquire from the book Learning By Example Using VHDL – Basic Digital Design With a BASYS FPGA board described above.  We show you how to design advanced digital circuits using VHDL and implement them on a Xilinx Spartan3E FPGA on the NEXYS2™ board that can be purchased from Digilent, Inc. for $99.  More than 50 examples are included in the book that display graphics and photos on a VGA screen using sprites stored in block RAM within the FPGA and video data stored in external RAM on the NEXYS2 board.  Other examples design a UART to send and receive data through the serial port, design a keyboard and mouse driver using the PS/2 port, store video data in the external RAM and flash memory, and implement the Bresenham algorithm for plotting a line and plotting a circle.  Finally, we design a microprocessor core (Forth engine) that executes Forth instructions in a single clock cycle.

A free student edition of the Aldec Active-HDL simulator is available from Aldec, Inc.   To synthesize your designs to a Spartan3E FPGA you will need to download the free ISE WebPACK from Xilinx, Inc.  The Xilinx synthesis tools are called from within the Aldec Active-HDL integrated GUI.  We will use the ExPort utility to download your synthesized design to the Spartan3E FPGA on the BASYS board.  ExPort is part of the Adept software suite that you can download free from Digilent, Inc.

These examples are in VHDL and can be implemented on any prototyping board containing the appropriate peripherals. Over 40 examples in this book will work on the BASYS board.

Preface

Table of Contents

Example from Text

Only $49.95

Special Introductory offer $39.95

 
 
 

By ordering any of our books, you will receive reminders and discounts on book packets containing updated tutorials for new releases of software, prototyping boards, and other tools.