On 12/6/2016 5:30 AM, Andreas Pettersson wrote:
> thats is a relevant question.. i havent got that far.. but that thing runs 
> machinekit and a drummed down version of debian im guessing with a custom 
> kernel?!
> It's not acting as an addon board no?!

The DE0-Nano (and any of the other FPGA+SoC platforms supported in the
mksocfpga repository) function both as a control computer (with Linux
and machinekit running on the ARM hard core processors) and as a Mesa
open-source VHDL add-on card (ie: like a 5i24 or 5i25) running in the
FPGA fabric (with the full details depending on what you compile into
the FPGA).  With a simple adapter board, it is possible to connect
Mesa 25 or 50 pin daughter cards to the FPGA as well (I have a 25-pin
adapter designed for the DE0-Nano).

Pretty much the only big missing piece for a full machine controller
is a decent graphics display, since none of the SoC+FPGA chips have
bulit-in graphics or GPUs, and those are complex enough it doesn't
really make sense to try and build a GPU with FPGA gates.  You would
probably want to use a remote system or a tablet/touchscreen for the
display, or run a machine that doesn't require much in the way of a UI.

-- 
Charles Steinkuehler
[email protected]

-- 
website: http://www.machinekit.io blog: http://blog.machinekit.io github: 
https://github.com/machinekit
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