Best low cost uP for full Linux

> How large is your FPGA?
>
> With the AT91CAP9 you can have a dedicated
> bidirectional interface to an FPGA which then
> can be integrated into the built in 500k gate metal
> programmable logic block.
> Only limitation I can see is that you support 256 MB SDRAM/Mobile DDR.

This design is using one of the larger Virtex 5 chips (also
considering Stratix).

I'll have a look at the AT91CAP9 and see what I can determine.

I calculated that a Microblaze with the desired features would consume
about 10% of the FPGA, 15% at most. That's not too bad. I would
imagine that Nios would be about the same.

The only downside with Microblaze/Xilinx is that there is no USB
core. You have to license it from a third party for about US$ 15K. A
deal breaker unless the application is for very high volume (which
isn't our case). Still, you can use external USB solutions from
Cypress or FTDI and make it work.

-Martin

Hi,

You can only get full linux on MicroBlaze today. (If you define "full" as
2.6 kernel with MMU)
NIOS only support uclinux today.

Göran

"m" <> wrote in message
news:64e4c2fb-65da-4d70-bf6c-...
>> How large is your FPGA?
>>
>> With the AT91CAP9 you can have a dedicated
>> bidirectional interface to an FPGA which then
>> can be integrated into the built in 500k gate metal
>> programmable logic block.
>> Only limitation I can see is that you support 256 MB SDRAM/Mobile DDR.
>
> This design is using one of the larger Virtex 5 chips (also
> considering Stratix).
>
> I'll have a look at the AT91CAP9 and see what I can determine.
>
> I calculated that a Microblaze with the desired features would consume
> about 10% of the FPGA, 15% at most. That's not too bad. I would
> imagine that Nios would be about the same.
>
> The only downside with Microblaze/Xilinx is that there is no USB
> core. You have to license it from a third party for about US$ 15K. A
> deal breaker unless the application is for very high volume (which
> isn't our case). Still, you can use external USB solutions from
> Cypress or FTDI and make it work.
>
> -Martin
>
>
>
>
>