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$24,075
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on July 8, 2011.
Pledge $5 or more Pledge $5 or more
You will have my sincere personal thanks and gratitude for pledging your support and helping to make this project become a reality.
Pledge $147 or more Pledge $147 or more
Backers who pledge $147 to this project will receive an AlienCortex AV from the initial production run, assembled and tested shipped to any continental US destination.
Pledge $155 or more Pledge $155 or more
Backers who pledge $155 to this project will receive an AlienCortex AV from the initial production run, assembled and tested shipped to any international or non-continental US destination.
Pledge $275 or more Pledge $275 or more
Designing your own personal cyborg? Or maybe you want to turn Alien Song into an Alien symphony? This $275 reward level is for those who secretly yearn for world domination (you know who you are) and require the unbridled power of two Alien Cortex AVs. Backers at this level will receive two boards shipped from the initial manufacturing run.
Pledge $400 or more Pledge $400 or more
Backers who pledge $400 will receive two AlienCortex AVs, a set of Alien Autopsy probes for all 32 logic analyzer channels, and their names will be listed in a "Special Thanks" section of the AlienCortex AV Core-Pack "About" section for the product's lifespan.
Pledge $775 or more Pledge $775 or more
Backers who pledge $775 will receive two AlienCortex AVs, a set of Alien Autopsy probes for all 32 logic analyzer channels, a KS0108 LCD display, display pin header, and MIDI interface for use with the Alien Song core, as well as a two new Atari compatible joystick (These are a newly manufactured clone of the original Atari CX-40 joystick that shipped with the Atari-2600 console). Additionally, backers at this level will also be acknowledged with their name silkscreened on the back of the AlienCortex AV circuit board under the heading "Additional project contributors:" (This reward is for individuals only.)
Project By
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Bryan is a self-taught electronics and computer enthusiast who designed Cyber Cortex AV to perpetuate his lifelong obsession for synthesizers, robots, and classic video games.
His nomadic career path has also found him teaching computers at an inner-city youth center, programming middleware applications for retailers (most often in Delphi), coordinating the beta-test group for Ensoniq Corporation's musical instrument division (before being acquired by Creative Labs), and playing keyboards with a couple of bands at venues on L.A.'s Sunset Strip.
Mine just arrived! Looking forward to having a play :-)
Yay! Got mine today as well! Can't wait to start playing with it!! Too bad I'm going to be busy with other things for a while to come :(
yay!, going to pick mine up tomorrow, was a bit suspicious when i had a package from "fabolous silicon" waiting, but then i connected the dots :) looking forward to this!
@John,
I'm glad that your board arrived safely. I just woke up from a much needed nap and will be working through the night to get the first version of CorePack and the Arduino IDE ready to post. (I'm just fixing a few goofy quirks with CorePack's User interface before unleashing it.) Documentation will be sparse for just a little bit, but some tutorials will be going up on the Fabulous Silicon site to at least get folks going with the basics. You'll find (hopefully :-) ) that it's no harder to work with Cyber Cortex with the Mikro compilers or the Arduino IDE than if you were using a conventional AVR or Arduino board.
@Russell,
I agree... I think it's probably time that we move the party to the Fabulous Silicon site :-) . I think that the forums are working ok now, so it might be good to post anything further over there... http://www.fabuloussilicon.com . If anyone has problems posting, please email me directly at bryan@fabuloussilicon.com and let me know, as I know that there were a few problems with some of the accounts for a while.
@David,
I'm glad that the board is nice to look at :-) ... hopefully you (and everyone else) will actually be able to actually do something constructive with it by tomorrow!
Ok... Back to work on CorePack...
got mine today. is there any software or documentation online?
best,
john
@David Yes it was packaged nicely. Almost looked like a retail package in Radioshack.
@Everyone Now we are starting to receive our boards (and I see from the forum that Bryan has some extras for sale and i'm sorely tempted) are we all going to start using the forum on fabuloussilicon.com? I'm on there but not got anything to say right now but I will be starting my attempt to use the CyberCortex AV to emulate z80 based home micros from the 80s in the next couple of weeks so having access to people who actually know what they are doing when it comes to FPGA's would be handy :)
I got my nicely packaged board today (Saturday). It's Real Purty, and I will await the various application firmwares with Patience. Well, a little bit. 8^) Congrats on shipping a working board! I know how non-trivial this is!
cheers,
Dave B.
San Jose, CA
Checking in to say I got mine as well S/N 00012.
Mine arrived today - S/N 00034. Now I need to track down some getting started documentation.
I got S/N 00013
That could be a good thing or a bad thing. off to sacrifice a few chickens to ward off the evil spirits
Mine just arrived in today's post. /me does the happy dance :)
Not yet but I got an email on sunday saying it was posted tomorrow :) so hopefully soon although the trouble and strife just reminded me that there is no mail delivery today
anybody received theirs yet?
Hi Dan,
Sorry for the delay. I'm happy to say that the boards are finally being shipped. Boards to the U.S. will be going out today and Monday.
International shipments will be going out Monday and Tuesday.
The reason for the delay was that I had to narrow down a problem in which some of the production boards were exhibiting a few problems when others were not. This turned out not to be a hardware issue, but instead was an issue with the way some of the timing constraints of the cores that were too close to certain threshold (with regard to the specs of the SSRAM chip) and needed some adjustment. While I was fairly confident that this was the case, I needed to make sure that there was no chance of this being a hardware problem before shipping the boards.
I know that you all have been waiting for quite a while.... Thanks for having been so patient.
SOoooo... what's going on, Bryan? Perhaps what might make the time go by easier is if you outlined what the delays have been. You've had the boards for about 3 weeks, and you're doing tests on their SSRAM chips, but no delivery date. Were there production problems?
Thanks Bryan
Hi David,
We're close. I ended up expanding my testing regiment a bit to make sure that the SSRAM chip was also getting a full test. I know you've all been patient... it shouldn't be much longer.
Thanks,
Bryan
Having teased us a couple of weeks ago with a picture of completed boards, could you please update us on when they might ship?
Hi Keith... I've just posted the latest and greatest...
Hi Bryan
Do you have any updates on when the boards will be with you and when they will be dispatched? Also any feedback from the Maker Fair?
Update time?
Hi Erik,
I've just added a "limited" update to cover some of what's going on... but the really good stuff is coming soon in another update... :-)
Thanks,
Bryan
Bryan, Please tease us with an update!
Hi Russell,
Thanks for the congrats, and I'm really glad you're excited to get started with the board. I'm working full time to get these out as soon as possible, as well as continuing further development on cores, documentation, and accessories. I'm hoping for the end of August, but that of course is assuming that there are no hold ups with manufacturing/shipping/etc. Keep your fingers crossed.
Bob,
Very good advice. I've spent a little time playing around with MyHDL, and it does look pretty promising for beginners :-)
Thanks,
Bryan
@Bryan: i'm a bit tardy saying congratulations on a successfully funded project but congratulations. i have a smile on my face and a slight girly giggle just thinking of all the cool things it can do already and the ideas i have for other uses. i'm really going to need about 100 of them to implement all the things i have ideas about. when do you reckon you'll be starting to ship? i'm guesstimating around the last week of september/1st week of october give or take a few days.
@bob cunningham: thanks for the link and suggestion. originally i was planning on using mine as sort of a universal 8bit processor (with support chips) for emulating a variety of British 8bit home micros from the 80s (plus a few tandy models) now i think i might give a few of my other ideas a go and MyHDL looks like it'll really help with the learnign curve
For those thinking about using this board to learn about FPGAs, to get started faster you may want to learn MyHDL (http://www.myhdl.org/doku.php/start). It is Python for FPGAs, and it also permits the full power of Python to be used for testbenches and verification.
Eventually, you will want to learn some VHDL (Ada-like) and Verilog (C-like) so you can tweak the VHDL and/or Verilog output generated by MyHDL. And also to combine IP created in those languages with that done in MyHDL. But putting the VHDL and Verilog learning curves later will help you do more with your FPGA sooner.
If you already know Python, using MyHDL is a no-brainer.
If you don't know Python, well, you should! It is one of the easiest languages to learn and use. And if you use PyPy, Python is as fast as many compiled languages.
Hi Bitehack,
Cool XMOS board in your photo :-)
To answer your questions, the cores themselves that are based on open-source code will indeed be rolled back into the open-source community along with several enhancements.
With regard to the Core Pack loader (not the cores themselves, but just the core pack GUI loader), it will not be released as open-source, as it is also being used as a means to provide protection for third party and commercial cores and apps that will be made available for AlienCortex AV users (in some cases at either no cost or at a pretty substantial discount). In addition, it's built upon the Mono/.NET framework for portability, so it wouldn't be easy to port it to GCC anyhow.
And... in an effort to try to get it there by tomorrow by 8:00, I've just attached your board to a carrier pigeon, and sent him in the direction of the Atlantic in the hope of getting it there in time. ;-) (jk)
Thanks indeed for backing the project, and I'm glad you're looking forward to working with the platform!
-Bryan
Hi all,
I have the right to receive the "core pack"? if I have the right,
is possible to get source code and recompile with gcc?
if the "core pack" is an open source project, I can partecipate to the project "core pack"?
last question, I receive my "alienboard", tomorrow at 8:00? :) Kidding!
bitehack snack
Thanks Radha,
By a sound tutorial, do you mean something to help you get started with the Alien Song core?
-Bryan
Congratulations! I'm one of those that need a sound tutorial, thank you in advance.
Glad you like the platform, and thanks for backing the project!
this is awesome, just what i've been looking for, a arduino-easy dsp capable cheap prototyping device, and multi-core!
Basically you want to provide the best of both worlds: the unbridled power for those who are advanced programmers but also compatibility with the arduino for those who arent too advanced..
Coolio..
Hi Loxontrop,
Good question.
I will likely be doing a short tutorial based on one of the cores I've ported over to describe how this handled for those interested in getting a better grasp of some of the FPGA fundamentals, and a UCF file will indeed be released that gives a layout of how the AlienCortex AV ports and the synchronous RAM chip are mapped to the pins on the Spartan.
With that said however, most of the user guide and documentation (and my attention) will initially be focused on documenting how everyone will get the most out of the cores in Core Pack... especially those that are programmable with the AVR8 (i.e. the Xtreme-G and Xtreme-R cores) . This is for two reasons:
1. There are already several resources on the internet for learning about FPGA basics, and VHDL or Verilog programming, so I would only be duplicating those efforts.
2. Second, AlienCortex AV was first and foremost designed to be a platform to enable those with even the most basic programming skills to leverage the capability of a chip like the Spartan 3e. A lot of attention was put into making it easy for anyone to use, and is really what sets the AlienCortex platform apart from other FPGA-based development platforms. Taking that into consideration, most of my attention will primarily be focused in that area, including creating new libraries for the Mikro compilers and Arduino IDE, and documenting their use.
So in a word, yes, I will be providing UCF files and some basic information about core development, but understand that most of my time and resources will initially be focused on creating the best user experience for those who are creating video games, synthesizers, and robots with the cores in Core Pack.
Thanks,
Bryan
if this is to be compatible with the xilinx ise, are you going to release a sort of user guide for programming stuff like the constraints in the ise..
Let's see what I get in an AlienCortex:
1. Arduino compatibility.
2. Integraded multimedia and I/O peripherals equivalent to several Shields.
3. Multicore Arduino. This must be a first!
4. A set of sophisticated ready-to-run configurations in the Core-Pack.
5. Fully capable FPGA development platform, works with the free Xilinx WebISE.
And I get one of these for just $147? That's less than I was getting ready to pay for the highly-regarded Digilent Nexsys2 FPGA development board, which has no Arduino support and no Core-Pack.
This was my first visit to KickStarter, following a link in a Slashdot post about an Open Source Flashlight. The AlienCortex is way better.
I literally have a closet full of obsolete microprocessor development boards. I expect it will take me years to outgrow my AlienCortex!