> > BTW - Read http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9906/15/supercomp.idg/ > > I am reminded of hype over the "thinking machines" parallel computer. > > How difficult is it to write for an FPGA array? Do tools exist to > compile a C program into an FPGA configuration? Has BEos been ported > to it? Well...with today's newest FPGA's in the range of 2 million gates, you can certainly do WONDERFUL things with them. I had been discussing this off the list and came up with the idea that it's not entirely strange to think that perhaps I could design a custom FPGA to do high-speed FFT work. I ordered an eval softare package from Viewlogic, and now if I could just find my old Xilinx test bed...crud. Anyway, one big problem with using FPGA's "on the fly" is that you'd really need to have a "precompiled" library of routes for what you want, and you'd really have to be REALLY good at designing logic flow. It's basically (quite literally) like designing your own CPU. I had the distinct pleasure of designing my own CPU (albeit, a 4 bit doodad) some years ago, and one major hurdle to any real-time use is that it can take hours to route your design to a device. Even on the latest fast computers, you might still only get 100,000 gates per hour during the routing phase of the design. Then you have to "burn" (program) the routes to the device, and usually there's a lot of testing using JEDEC and what not before you're sure the thing will actually work right. Designing your own chips is GREAT if you have the upfront time, but there is so much work involved (even with my 4 bit CPU) that you'd really need to have an EE degree to do any of that (good thing I do! :-P ) Anyway, I'll have to get my eval of Viewlogic and see what it would take to do an FFT hardware device. Or, if it'd be easier, use my bro's idea of NTT to do the same thing, since designing an FPU unit would be intense. After my experience with logic design on a small scale, I have MUCH more respect for the folks at Intel/AMD/etc. who design the CPU's. Far out stuff. Aaron ________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm
