Rant: ARM DesignStart

[AndyC_772]

I don't know about that. I'd quite like to see a line of FPGAs which have an inexpensive ARM core with a nice fast, direct, low overhead link into some of the FPGA registers. It would be an ideal way to build a hybrid system without wasting FPGA logic on implementing logic that's only required in order to communicate with the CPU.

Then again, I'd also like to see a line of FPGAs that offer anything remotely close to the price per unit capability of, say, a Cortex M3 or M4. Considering the amount of logic you get, they're still ridiculously, painfully, unjustifiably expensive. But still really useful.

[technix]

I don't know about that. I'd quite like to see a line of FPGAs which have an inexpensive ARM core with a nice fast, direct, low overhead link into some of the FPGA registers. It would be an ideal way to build a hybrid system without wasting FPGA logic on implementing logic that's only required in order to communicate with the CPU.

Then again, I'd also like to see a line of FPGAs that offer anything remotely close to the price per unit capability of, say, a Cortex M3 or M4. Considering the amount of logic you get, they're still ridiculously, painfully, unjustifiably expensive. But still really useful.

I second that. It would be very sweet to see a FPGA with a built-in ARM Cortex-M4F hanging in there, even though it is up to the FPGA matrix to implement the clock and memory. For open source experiments I can clock it with an onboard PLL, throw in an AHB to Wishbone bridge, a Wishbone DRAM controller (there are way too many FPGA dev kits out there with DRAM hooked to the FPGA) and a Wishbone SPI XIP controller to kickstart the processor. I believe after all this Wishbone circuitry I can still have some room for other peripherals and kits.

[technix]

Simple: register a company!

To register a company in China you need to deposit equivalent of US$100k in a bank and have some office space (another $100k in Shanghai) first. And the housing regulation distinguishes housing and office (that is, you must not start a company in an address registered as housing and you must not live in an address registered as office) and switching is generally impossible.

Move to the NL where registering a business is free and no location restrictions (unless you work with dangerous stuff, smelly stuff or make lots of noise). 

How do I move to NL from China? What kind of legal, financial and social preparation do I need to make?

[ataradov]

Point me to one that don't cost me an arm and a leg to buy a dev kit of.

Here is one for Altera - https://www.altera.com/products/design-software/design-software/embedded-software-developers/soc-eds/overview.html
Here is one for MicroSemi - http://soc.microsemi.com/products/ip/search/detail.aspx?id=652

Neither of the devices is expensive.

[ataradov]

and the "obfuscation" is a bit of a joke too.

It achieves its goal - you can't easily get the readable Verilog code. And it is hard to tell if there is something there to prevent direct theft (like undocumented register, or behavior quirk).

This alone will stop most violators. Lawyers will stop the rest of them.

[technix]

Point me to one that don't cost me an arm and a leg to buy a dev kit of.

Here is one for Altera - https://www.altera.com/products/design-software/design-software/embedded-software-developers/soc-eds/overview.html
Here is one for MicroSemi - http://soc.microsemi.com/products/ip/search/detail.aspx?id=652

Neither of the devices is expensive.

How do I get access to the IP core in the first place?

[ataradov]

How do I get access to the IP core in the first place?

By installing their tools and adding an instance to the project. They don't give you direct code, you will have to work with encrypted IP and their system builders.

They both have plentiful documentation on this, do your research.