Sources for 8b TTL keyboards (Keytronics)

[Tony Duell]

> 
> >> > than $20.  Compared to the price of admission fee for, say, FPGA,
> >> > it's a real bargain.
> >>     You can program xilinx and altera FPGAs for less than $20 if you have 
> >> a
> >> parallel port. Do a search on "byteblaster" and be happy :)
> > Yes, but what about the software to compile your design (as a scheamtic
> > or VHDL) into the data to program into the chip? How much does that cost
> > _including the machine to run it on_
> 
>     Software is free (for Altera or Xilinx). The machine costs the same the 
> machine 99% of people uses to type e-mail and read web pages.
> 

That is _exactly_ my point. 99% != 100% 

>From the discussion fo the AVR and PIC microcontorllers, it appears that 
should I wish to program them using an HP9816, or a PERQ, or a PDP11, 
or... then the information is available to do so. I can write a 
cross-assembler, debugger, downloader, etc. You may feel that's not a 
sensible use of my time, byt darn it this is a hobby, and it is very 
difficult to justify time spent on hobbies _other than 'you enjoy doing 
it'. 

But AFAIK the same information is not avaiable for any FPGA or CPLD. You 
_have_ to use the mnudactuere's tools running on whatever machine they 
tell you you should be using.

-tony