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From: William Donzelli <william_at_ans.net>
Date: Sun Feb 1 22:19:42 1998

> Yes, but I've never met an FPGA (and I've used most Xilinx families,
> Altera, etc parts) where you could reassign power pins. Also, most (all?)
> have a high-speed clock line that you should use for your master clock if
> at all possible. FPGAs are not a 'drop-in' replacement for just any logic
> chip.

I would like to make it clear that I am talking about possibilties ten or
twenty years from now. I realize that today's FPGAs would not stand a
chance replacing anything better than something more complex as a 2901.

> Impossible. There could be hidden registers that were never accessed
> while you're looking at it. You would have to check _every_ possible mode
> and _know_ you'd checked every possible mode. That's impossible if you
> don't even have a specification of the chip.

Maybe not 100 percent, but maybe really close. Once again, think when you
will have something the power of a big T3E on your desk.

> That's not the worry, although fitting that sort of logic into _any_ FPGA
> would be an interesting task.

Gate arrays and FPGAs are not THAT different. Anyway, real gate arrays are
getting like circuit boards - quick turnaround for just about anyone.
Someday they might even be so reasonably priced that any hobbiest could
special order one, just like the small circuit board shops.

> Sure, and standard macros exist, and will continue to exist, for most
> FPGA devices. THe problem is that a chip this complex is going to have
> some undocumented features that may or may not be used. Finding them,
> figuring out how to implement them, etc, is going to be a lot of work.

If you do not get it correct the first time, well, then you get to have
some fun.

William Donzelli
william_at_ans.net
Received on Sun Feb 01 1998 - 22:19:42 GMT