Spartan-3E FPGA: Starter Board

Summary from Xilinx ug230.pdf

 

The key features of the Spartan-3E Starter Kit board are:

  • Xilinx XC3S500E Spartan-3E FPGA

  • Up to 232 user-I/O pins

  • 320-pin FBGA package

  • Over 10,000 logic cells, 10off x 2 column Block RAM, 360k bits.

  • 20 off 2 column 18 bit Multipliers.

  • Xilinx 4 Mbit Platform Flash configuration PROM

  • Xilinx 64-macrocell XC2C64A CoolRunner™ CPLD

  • 64 MByte (512 Mbit) of DDR SDRAM, x16 data interface, 100+ MHz

  • 16 MByte (128 Mbit) of parallel NOR Flash (Intel StrataFlash)

  • FPGA configuration storage

  • MicroBlaze code storage/shadowing

  • 16 Mbits of SPI serial Flash (STMicro)

  • FPGA configuration storage

  • MicroBlaze code shadowing

  • 2-line, 16-character LCD screen

  • PS/2 mouse or keyboard port

  • VGA display port

  • Eight discrete LEDs

  • 10/100 Ethernet PHY (requires Ethernet MAC in FPGA)

  • Two 9-pin RS-232 ports (DTE- and DCE-style)

  • On-board USB-based FPGA/CPLD download/debug/JTAG interface

  • 50 MHz clock oscillator onboard

  • SMA clock input

  • 8-pin DIP socket for auxiliary clock oscillator

  • SHA-1 1-wire serial EEPROM for bitstream copy protection

  • Hirose FX2 expansion connector

  • Three Digilent 6-pin expansion connectors

  • Four-output, SPI-based Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC)

  • Two-input, SPI-based ADC with programmable gain pre-amplifier

  • ChipScope™ SoftTouch debugging port

  • Rotary-encoder with push-button shaft

  • Four slide switches

  • Four push-button switches

  • Hirose 100pin connector with 43 FPGA I/O pins interface to the FX2 connector. (All but five of these pins are true, bidirectional I/O pins capable of driving or receiving signals. Five pins, FX2_IP<38:35> and FX2_IP<40> are Input-only pins on the FPGA.)

  • Option VDEC1 Video Decoder Board from Digilent, Inc. on FX2 connector http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Prod=VDEC1