We all like compliments, correct? You know the kind that go like, “Glad you didn’t screw that up”. From time to time I get, “You write what you do because you’re affiliated with Xilinx”. Perhaps I will name my next child Xilinx. I have said this before, I do real work (debatable) and trade studies,… Read More
Tag: xilinx
IoT will depend on FPGAs
The IoT (Internet of Things) creates an ambivalence within me. Part of me hates computers and being connected, the other is currently working on a boiler controller that even adaptively predicts and senses when the next wood load is needed and alerts the wife. Yup pray for her. I really use FPGAs and CPLDs around the farm and I am slowly… Read More
Altera vs Xilinx FinFET Update
One of the things I do in my spare time is listen to quarterly conference calls and try to sort fact from fiction. I compare past calls to the current one and attempt to predict what’s coming next. Confucius said, “Study the past if you would define the future” and I’m a big believer in that.
Paul McLellan wrote about the Xilinx call earlier… Read More
Xilinx: Revenue Down, Profit Up, FinFET on Schedule
Xilinx announced their results today and had their conference call this afternoon, which I listened to. For them this is 1Q fiscal 2015 which means you have to be careful since there is a big difference between talking about fiscal quarters and calendar quarters. Xilinx’s conference calls are interesting for a couple of … Read More
Rest in Peace CPUs, Hello FPGAs
FPGAs in many ways are still a bit mysterious to some folk. I was at a high level summit in April, and I realized that many there had no idea what an FPGA was. They knew at least what a CPU was or meant and that their kids talk about GPUs. A good analogy I have for an FPGA when compared to a CPU is something like this. Think of the FPGA and CPU as … Read More
Palladium’s Little Brother Protium
Today, Cadence announced Protium, a new FPGA prototyping platform for software development. During development of an SoC, the most appropriate methodology changes. In the early days, developing RTL, the primary tool is simulation. Then, as the blocks get bigger or as the whole chip starts to come together, typically simulation… Read More
Xilinx has the Power Advantage over Altera
I thought I write about one of the most important subjects in FPGAs, that is power. Power of course is not just based on node size, and it is funny why so many people are concerned about node size. If not just as important is the architectural decisions that drive down power. Do you really care if your part is 16nm or 14nm? Or do you care more… Read More
Xilinx KCU105 Evaluation board is key for your demo
I love God, my wife, kids, and FPGA boards. I know I am not alone, there are other nerds out there, don’t be shy. Friday my “Kintex® UltraScale™ FPGA KCU105 Evaluation Kit” came in. Think about this, this is real 20nm Xilinx FPGA hardware that really works. Below is a nice picture of all the swizzles the board has.
I believe this is the … Read More
Softly Defined Networks
Software defined networks were a technique developed around 6 years ago. The original structure of IP based network scaled by using additional routers that would forward packets based on partial information about the network topology. Inside each router was a dataplane, where the packets themselves flowed through, and a control… Read More
Xilinx’s 16nm vs. Altera 14nm
You will not believe this, but the family was picking me up Friday evening from the airport and on the way home… Get this, for real, the wife asks me to cut her hair tomorrow. Now the three of you that read my stuff, know what happened before. I resisted, and firmly said ‘No’…The wife seeing my macho stance began appealing to my engineer’s… Read More