[Arm-netbook] parallella

[Ken Phillis Jr]

On Sat, Jul 27, 2013 at 1:39 PM, Dr. David Alan Gilbert
<dave at treblig.org> wrote:
> * luke.leighton (luke.leighton at gmail.com) wrote:
>> On Sat, Jul 27, 2013 at 7:04 PM, Dr. David Alan Gilbert
>> <dave at treblig.org> wrote:
>> > * luke.leighton (luke.leighton at gmail.com) wrote:
>> >> On Sat, Jul 27, 2013 at 6:32 PM, Dr. David Alan Gilbert
>> >> <dave at treblig.org> wrote:
>> >
>> >> > Hmm ok, so yes the 7030 looks nice; claims Gen2x4 PCIe, and 2xGigE (whether
>> >> > you can have those at once I don't know).....but only £252 at Digikey. Oh.
>> >>
>> >>  yeeek!   they're supposed to be reasonably priced!
>> >
>> > They seem to ramp quickly; now those prices are Digikey's 1 off - so yeh scale I guess.
>> > But cheapest XC7Z010 - 54.86
>> >                7Z020 - 108.20
>> >                7Z030 - 201.25
>>
>>  interesting, how come the parallella is $99?
>
> They're probably got a good price on the number they're buying, but I'm guessing
> they're running at a loss on that board, but maybe I'm wrong.
>
> Dave
> --
>  -----Open up your eyes, open up your mind, open up your code -------
> / Dr. David Alan Gilbert    |       Running GNU/Linux       | Happy  \
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>


I think the solution is probably looking into a hybrid setup where you
use a Zynq XC7Z010 or Zynq XC7Z020 soc as a base and then add a
secondary ( cheaper/lower-powered ) FPGA to handle things like Sata
and power.

the Lattice Semiconductor iCE40[1] series of fpga's may work, and they
are extremely cheap. Digikey caries many of the models for under $5.00
each. Although, the Lattice Semiconductor MachXO2[2] FPGA's may also
be worth while since they are also carried by digikey for under $5.00
each.


Although, the Lattice Semiconductor  LatticeECP3 series[3] of FPGA may
work better as the interface FPGA since it offers a lot more features
for under $50 each FPGA... only thing is you need to tie this in with
a second SOC to host linux.

[1] http://www.latticesemi.com/Products/FPGAandCPLD/iCE40.aspx

[2] http://www.latticesemi.com/Products/FPGAandCPLD/MachXO2.aspx

[3] http://www.latticesemi.com/Products/FPGAandCPLD/LatticeECP3.aspx