Olimexino STM32 CPLD shield?

[brucemellen]

Has anyone tried the EPT-570-AP-U2 CPLD (complex programmable logic...) development shield made by earthpeopletechnology.com?

[olimex]

why one would need obsolete CPLD for $50 when there are FPGA boards for less https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/Video/MOD-VGA/ ?

[brucemellen]

Because I want to learn w/the CPLD feature set/constraints I need to use on both a real project and in a hands-on classroom that teaches digital logic/circuitry and building/simulating embedded devices (like a microwave or camera) and robotics?  The logic I need is not terribly complicated, I want to reduce chip count, and CPLD is cheaper and takes less (non-BGA) PCB real estate - I can hand solder TQFP.  Lattice and Altera seem to make more different choices that work with 3.3 & 5V surrounding analog comparators, ADC, and inexpensive MCU/DSPs.

Feel free to convince/learn me otherwise as I'm new to the need for logic circuitry.  Mfrs still seem to be making new CPLD chips; I assume they are selling a lot of them due to price - similar to my need.  Also of consideration is the learning and working with the manufacturer's IDE and either Verilog or VHDL (still learning pros/cons of each before deciding which to learn first).  For the CPLD series' I'm considering, Altera has free Quartus II IDE, and Lattice has free Diamond IDE.

Why do you say CPLD is obsolete?  Is learning CPLD not easily extensible to learning FPGA?  Can you learn FPGA and not get frustrated/hog-tied with missing features when you go to use CPLD?  Pointing to URLs to help me understand your FPGA bias ;-) would be appreciated.  Of course I understand your Olimex bias.  I like my olimexino better than a Maple or Arduino, although a lot of people are talking about RPi.

[robarago]

I'll talk for my own experience to advice you.

Current industry trends are towards FPGA and not CPLD's. You can take a look at xilinx.com and convince yourself by noticing the majority of products are FPGA based and not CPLD.

Also, your time and effort investment in FPGA programming is worthy since the technology around FPGA will give you more power and closest links to current technology (SDRAM, buses, advanced microprocessors, etc.).

I purchased MOD-VGA because it's the cheapest entry level piece of hardware to enter in touch with FPGA programming, but if you are really interested in FPGA programming, check papilio.cc and go for the Papilio Pro (i.e. if you have $99 spare ). This is the closest alternative to closed hardware you'll see.

Hope it helps.