Kicad is a pro tool.
I agree not using free tools is a problem. But FPGAs in general are a
problem with free and libre designs. Free FPGA tools need a lot of
improvement to become as powerful as the proprietary tools. I'm
confident that we will get there at some point in the future.
BTW, M17 managed to build a cool freedv design using free tools only.
The problem with the need for power is that imho codec2 has become too
heavy to run on simple platforms. this should be improved, instead of
throwing ever more powerful cpus and ASICs to an algorithm.
Sebastien
Le 23/07/2020 à 00:54, Glen English a écrit :
Hi Tomas
discussion moved to the new forum. Hope to see you there.
however :
yes, pro tools- if you want to compete with the pros, then you got to
use the pro tools.
if codec2, freeDV etc wants to compete for head space with the
japanese radios and the speech codec chip owners, that's the only way.
it's not going to compete by putting a radio in a showbox when pro
tools put it in a matchbox !
frankly, as a pro, I dont have time to F*** around with Kicads
defficiencies , compared to the $10,000 altium tools.
and I dont have time to F**k around with child grade FPGA simulators
compared with my $10,000 Modelsim. *
Now having said that :
1) Altium ha a free Viewer, and can export to several PCB programs.
2) The reduced feature MODELSIM version supplied with the Xilinx
tools is EXCELLENT - and pretty good speed on a modern PC.
3) The Xilinx tools are FREE . Like VIVADO.
:-) glen
On 22/07/2020 22:26, Tomas Härdin wrote:
sön 2020-07-19 klockan 09:25 +1000 skrev glen english:
I am designing an SM3000, and now is the time for input from users.
(input request below)
[...]
I have chosen the Xilinx Zynq XC7007S hybrid CortexA9 / FPGA . The
single core will give us 7x the computational power of the STM32F4 , and
that is before we use the NEON instruction unit. The FPGA has 1.8Mb of
variable aspect dual port block RAMs and 66 DSP units that will run at
350 MHz if pipelined. The use of LPDDR2 will enable high power saving
options.
So anyone wanting to develop or modify the SM3000 would need to install
two pieces of proprietary software with considerable strings attached?
Those being Vivado and Altium. This is unfortunate for an otherwise
libre project. Especially since KiCAD, yosys and nextpnr exist.
What I want to achieve is a instant on, plug and play solution with
digital radio /front panel upgrade path.
In the spirit of the SM1000. Turn on and it is ready 1 second later
.
Just load the image and no more to do.
This is the way to drive uptake and broad usage.
and no issues like Pi SD card corruptions when it gets power pulled.
Both boot time and SD card issues should be possible to mitigate by
picking a more appropriate distro than NOOBS, and appropriate boot
flags (-o ro). The real problems with the Pi is the blobs and the NDAs.
That's all the feedback I had for now.
/Tomas
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Glen English
RF Communications and Electronics Engineer
CORTEX RF
&
Pacific Media Technologies Pty Ltd
ABN 40 075 532 008
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au mobile : +61 (0)418 975077
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