Express PCB isn't that great of a program, nore that great of a service, but atleast they are free. I don't reccomend even considering making a PCB if you have no electronics background. :)
Nomen - Yeah! They are using FPGA's alot more now, they are making some really cost-effective products, they even used them in the Mar's Rovers, Remember when they touched down broken? They reconfigured the FPGA's and fixed them, haha.
Anyway, even Nintendo uses them to prototype their systems. The GBA was first just an FPGA, but once it was finished they had it fabricated as an ASIC. All they really had to do was send their source code to a company, and fabricated the chips.
The difference between an FPGA and actual standard digital logic chips is; FPGA's use a ton of power, they suck up 200+mA easily, because every logic cell is powered by RAM. Standard chips use only transistors to build the gates themselves.
Actually, the XGamestation isn't really a toy, but a learning tool more than anything. I respect Andre for getting it out the door, but he's simply a Marketing Puppet. His Design Your Own Console book isn't bad though. Full of spelling errors, and weird diagrams, but I have the digital version. I might get the paperback version when it comes out. :)
Nomen - Yeah! They are using FPGA's alot more now, they are making some really cost-effective products, they even used them in the Mar's Rovers, Remember when they touched down broken? They reconfigured the FPGA's and fixed them, haha.
Anyway, even Nintendo uses them to prototype their systems. The GBA was first just an FPGA, but once it was finished they had it fabricated as an ASIC. All they really had to do was send their source code to a company, and fabricated the chips.
The difference between an FPGA and actual standard digital logic chips is; FPGA's use a ton of power, they suck up 200+mA easily, because every logic cell is powered by RAM. Standard chips use only transistors to build the gates themselves.
Actually, the XGamestation isn't really a toy, but a learning tool more than anything. I respect Andre for getting it out the door, but he's simply a Marketing Puppet. His Design Your Own Console book isn't bad though. Full of spelling errors, and weird diagrams, but I have the digital version. I might get the paperback version when it comes out. :)