FPGA and VHDL Fast-Track: Hands-On for Absolute Beginners

You have access to the course for as long as it exists. I'm planning on letting it exist for a really long time 🙂.

• Lattice iCEstick FPGA Evaluation Kit *
• Digilent Pmod SSD: Seven-segment Display
• Digilent 2x6-pin to Dual 6-pin Pmod Splitter Cable
• Generic USB Type A Male to Female Extension Cable

The parts cost around $65, depending on where you buy them. They are available from a variety of online shops.

Download the BOM.pdf (Bill of Materials) to view the exact part names and purchasing options. I will talk more about these parts and how to buy them in lecture number 3: This is what you need to get started.

* You may use the Go Board from Nandland as an alternative, but only the iCEstick works for the Fast-Track as well as my advanced VHDL course (Dot Matrix).

The Fast-Track is for absolute FPGA beginners. You don't have to know anything about VHDL or FPGAs. However, it helps a lot if you have any kind of programming exerience.

I will assume that you already know about basic programming constructs like variables, loops, and if-statements.

• Lattice iCEcube2 including *ModelSim
• Lattice Diamond Programmer
  
• Microsoft Visual Studio Code

* The ModelSim PE Student Edition and ModelSim-Intel FPGA Edition are other free alternatives.

All the software listed above can be downloaded and installed free of cost.

⚠ Warning: additional cost!

Lattice Semiconductor now charges over $350/year for the iCEcube2 software used in this course. It was free until April 2024.

I am using Windows 10 in the course, but it also works on Linux.

The Lattice software and ModelSim work on Red Hat and CentOS out of the box. See my tutorials for how to get it working for free on Ubuntu Linux:

• How to make ModelSim from Quartus Prime Lite work on Ubuntu 20.04
• Make Lattice iCEcube2 work on Ubuntu 20.04 and program the iCEstick FPGA board

While the VHDL files will work in any capable VHDL simulator, the run script that I provide only works in ModelSim.

For your convenience, I have created this script so that you can spend time coding VHDL instead of fiddling with the simulator GUI. If you use a different simulator, you will also not be able to follow my examples by replicating my actions on your computer.

For those reasons and because this is a beginner's course, I don't recommend using another simulator than ModelSim.

The only alternative to the Lattice iCEstick FPGA development board that I can support is Nandland's  Go Board.

While the Go Board works for the Fast-Track course, it isn't suitable for my advanced VHDL course. If you plan on purchasing the advanced Dot Matrix course later, you should get the iCEstick.

Because this is a beginner's course, I provide project files for the Lattice iCEcube2 software. It allows you to start coding VHDL and seeing it work on the FPGA in the first coding lecture.

The VHDL code works on any FPGA, but porting the project to a different platform is a daunting task for a newbie. I don't recommend starting your FPGA career with this.