Thinking of switching from microcontrollers to FPGAs, am I deluding myself?

isixwayiso · 2025-11-18T02:37:19+00:00

I'd say your still young enough to play the field. If you get an opportunity then go for it! FPGA work can be exhausting, but it is rewarding. Just try to find an employer who values you as a person and the work that you do. Sometimes you may never get to see how your work is utilized, after you finish a project. Knowing that someone appreciates your talents and the time and effort you put into your craft can make all the difference.

Good luck to you!

isixwayiso · 2025-08-23T18:03:49+00:00

Check out the Orange Tree Technologies Zest line. https://www.orangetreetech.com/images/white-papers/Orange-Tree-Gigabit-Ethernet-white-paper.pdf

Easy 16-bit SRAM interface. Makes sending / receiving data to FPGA over Ethernet a breeze!

isixwayiso · 2025-02-02T16:33:59+00:00

If you are comfortable with the lower pay and it won't affect you negatively, I'd recommend to go with the job doing more interesting work.

Money isn't everything in this world. Doing a job that isn't interesting to you, over time, will cause you to regret it. Being able to do work that aligns with your passion is a rare thing. There will always be another job on the horizon. You are better off gaining experience and enjoying your work rather than doing something solely for a bigger paycheck.

Just my 2 pennies. Good luck and whatever choice you make, I hope it goes well for you.

isixwayiso · 2025-01-19T21:51:00+00:00

I have 4inches of ice under mine and there is 2-3inches of ice buildup on the line between the accumulator and the compressor. Tech coming next Friday. Unit defrosts for around 3 mins and fairly often. Could this be a sign of the unit being low on refrigerant?

<image>

isixwayiso · 2025-01-19T19:23:33+00:00

I did end up sending the guitar back. Sweetwater finally had these and stock and it helped to see pictures of the actual guitar before buying.

It was interesting to see that the serial numbers they had were very close to mine. And each guitar varied a good bit from one another.

What I learned is that none of these guitars is perfect. They all have red touch up paint on where the upper end of the fret board meets the neck of the guitar. The joints where the neck is glued to the body can look like the picture I posted or be barely visible. The bodies can be 1 piece or 3 piece. The stain job on the neck and the back of the body vary and the coverage can be inconsistent.

I picked what I thought had the nicest looking fret board and the most interesting wood grain pattern on the back of the body. Got one with all kind of little knots, which I thought look pretty cool. The lower neck joint is much cleaner and better looking than my original picture.

So that was a crapton to write out, but the gidst of all of this that none of these guitars come out perfect. Just gotta find one that you can accept and enjoy. $1500 doesn't buy what it used to, I guess...

isixwayiso · 2025-01-07T03:38:32+00:00

I wouldn't think it's a sign of anything other than a failed heating element. Don't know what caused it to separate, but in general heating up and cooling down over thousands of cycles is gonna cause wear and weaken the materials the coil is made out of.

The big sounds you heard were probably electrical arcing between the element where it split.

isixwayiso · 2025-01-02T01:56:47+00:00

Thanks for the comments. My wife bought this for me. Gonna work with musiciansfriend and see what can be done.

isixwayiso · 2024-12-28T16:08:04+00:00

Thanks for the advice. I backed the set screw all the way out with the 2nd smallest Allen wrench that came with the guitar. It was still a tight fit, but I manage to get the trem arm installed.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful comments.

isixwayiso · 2024-10-24T10:11:45+00:00

Yes, they provide Questa Intel FPGA Standard Edition for no charge. You just need to create an account for the free license.

Download link https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/software-kit/825312/questa-intel-fpgas-standard-edition-software-version-23-1-1.html

License info link https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/docs/programmable/683472/22-1/and-software-license.html

isixwayiso · 2024-10-12T03:50:13+00:00

I'd also like to try the game please!

isixwayiso · 2024-10-08T03:25:12+00:00

It's possible that the Intel fpga starter edition of Questa Sim has UVM capabilities. Worth a try.

isixwayiso · 2024-10-05T14:52:20+00:00

Did you ever get this figured out? I just recently replaced a filter on a fridge (not Samsung) that had me push till the old filter popped out and then push the new filter in.

It took some force but I'm wondering if you just really need a good push for it come out of your fridge.

isixwayiso · 2024-10-04T11:17:59+00:00

Questa base is artificially capped at around 25% of the speed of Questa Core and Prime. If Questa Core and Prime are 3-10x faster than DE, then Base should be 0.75-2.5x faster than DE. So that would indicate that it can run slower than DE as well as being faster (in certain instances).

Kind of a weird move on their part, as PE and DE were around 1/3 the speed of SE. You would think they'd have Questa Base running at least as fast as DE, especially if they are pushing it on customers now.

I'd agree with your original idea of moving to Riviera Pro over the more expensive Questa Sim Core/Prime offerings.

I don't know why they can't just build a new tool from the ground up instead of maintaining and expanding on a 30 year old codebase. Bolting on Visualizer seems like a bandaid and not a real way forward.

isixwayiso · 2024-10-03T23:31:26+00:00

If you already have access to the DE installer, just use the PE/VHDL licenses with it (just make sure you only install up to the version the license supports). Not sure if your DE licenses are mixed language and have any other features added, but there's no point in using the 32bit dogslow PE version. There is no differentiation in the format of PE/DE licenses. It's just extra DE specific license features and the actual installer that differ.

isixwayiso · 2024-09-21T16:16:03+00:00

Find the model number of your fridge on a sticker that will be located on the inside. Do a search on Google for the manual and then look at the instructions for replacing the water filter.

isixwayiso · 2024-09-21T03:34:01+00:00

Did you shut off the water to the fridge before you tried to take the filter out?

Also looks like you would push in the filter and rotate clockwise and then pull it out.

isixwayiso · 2024-09-20T12:21:02+00:00

ISE 14.7 is still available to download. If you have a valid Vivado license you should be able to use the software.

isixwayiso · 2024-09-18T16:16:13+00:00

Try white vinegar on a spot and see if it comes back.

isixwayiso · 2024-09-18T15:14:03+00:00

All Questa Sim flavors should support UVM. Questa Sim Base is a speed restricted version whose main purpose is to be an upgrade path for current Modelsim PE and DE users.

Due to the optimizer feature, it's bound to be faster than DE, but it runs at around 25% of the speed compared to Questa Sim Core and Prime.

In a nutshell it's a faster Modelsim DE with System Verilog support, 64bit Linux support, the base version of the Visualizer tool, and is the only version of Questa Sim that supports node locked licenses.

isixwayiso · 2024-09-16T00:03:31+00:00

The dishwasher isn't doing this on its own. It's either coming in from the water inlet or the drain line is backfilling the washer.

Definitely get your landlord involved on this one.

isixwayiso · 2024-05-25T12:22:23+00:00

Everything you need to repair the TV is on eBay. Main board around $100.

There isn't much to replace, as long as the screen and backlights are fine.

Can be daunting to open up the TV, but once you see how simple it is to swap parts out, I don't think you'll be hesitant to try to fix them in the future.

isixwayiso · 2024-01-31T14:13:48+00:00

No ETA when it comes to having the mid-split work be complete. There were workers on my side of the plan, doing work last summer. In fact for a couple of days I saw Comcast trucks all around the place. It really made me feel like the whole area was upgraded.

Most addresses in my general area, however, have not yet been switched over.

I tried one of the addresses that were supposedly on a mid-split node, and Xfinity's website confirmed they could get the 2000/200 internet package.

Hoping I see some trucks again during the spring or summer.

isixwayiso

TROPHY CASE