We have an exciting announcement: SparkFun Electronics is now producing all Alchitry FPGA boards! Two new FPGA options are available, with the Xilinx Artix 7-equipped Au, and the Lattice iCE40 HX-equipped Cu boards. We also have two shield-like boards called "Elements" that support each of the FPGA's inherently strong capabilities and logic cells.
Don't forget that you can get a free SparkFun Qwiic Pro Micro BoogieBoard with any purchase of $75 or more using promo code "BOOGIEBOARD20" (some restrictions apply).
Now onto our new products!
The gold standard of FPGA!
The Alchitry Au Development Board is the "gold" standard for FPGA development boards, and it's one of the strongest boards of its type on the market. The Au FPGA features a Xilinx Artix 7 XC7A35T-1C FPGA with over 33,000 logic cells and 256MB of DDR3 RAM. This board is a fantastic starting point into the world of FPGAs as the heart of your next project. Now that this board is built by SparkFun, we added a Qwiic connector for easy I2C integration!
If you don't need a lot of power to start your FPGA adventure or are looking for a more economical option, the Alchitry Cu FPGA Development Board might be the perfect option for you! The Alchitry Cu is a "lighter" FPGA version than the Alchitry Au but still offers something completely unique. The Alchitry Cu uses the Lattice iCE40 HX FPGA with 7680 logic cells and is supported by the open source tool chain Project IceStorm, as well as the SparkFun Qwiic Connect System. The Cu truly exemplifies the trend of more affordable and increasingly powerful FPGA boards arriving each year.
The Alchitry Io Element Board is the perfect way to get your feet wet with digital design. The Io features four 7-segment LEDs, five momentary push buttons, 24 basic LEDs, and 24 DIP switches. All these features lend themselves to fantastic beginner tutorials that will walk you through the basics of FPGAs.
The Alchitry Br Element Board is a prototyping periphery for the Au or Cu FPGA development boards. The Br breaks out all the signals on the four headers running from your Au or Cu, and has a large prototyping area with a 0.1" pin grid for custom circuits.
There are also female headers (sold separately) available that can be soldered into the prototyping area, turning the Br Element into a breadboard so you can test out new circuits without making them a permanent resident!
These 5mm LEDs have four pins - one for each color and a common cathode (the longest pin). Use this LED for three status indicators, or pulse width modulate all three and get mixed colors!
That's it for this week! As always, we can't wait to see what you make! Shoot us a tweet @sparkfun, or let us know on Instagram or Facebook. We’d love to see what projects you’ve made!
