Jim,
     
    if you can 
    afford them the pukka ('genuine' to non-UK readers) Xilinx and Altera boards 
    are probably good.
    When I was 
    buying I couldn't afford the cheapest Xilinx board (minus the FPGA itself is 
    3x the cost of the 
    boards I use 
    at the moment) and considering Xilinx makes them both you think they could 
    bundle them?
    Also the 
    Xilinx boards are for Virtex and Virtex-E devices not the Spartan II and 
    II-E which I would expect
    are the 
    defacto 'intro to FPGA programming chips'. I wouldn't suggest any 'newbies' 
    spending more than
    $200 (USD) on 
    a development board before they find out whether they actually like hardware 
    programming.
    A FPGA board 
    is for life not just for Christmas. ;-)
     
    I have no 
    experience with the Alteras yet so can't comment on them but funds 
    permitting will be buying 
    Xilinx, 
    Xess 
    and Altera boards next year.
     
    Paul
    
      
      Look at the developer's kit from Altera.
      The Altera Excalibur NIOS Kit has just about everyting 
      you need to get started for under $1000.
      Xilinx is another place to look for developer 
      kits.
       
      P.S. I am inexperienced at this myself. But I am looking 
      around myself. These were the two
      vendors that seem to me to have the best products (for 
      my requiements).
       
      Some of the other old hatters here might have better 
      advice.
      I am an old-timmer looking for a new hat.
       
       
      Jim Dempsey
       
      
        ----- Original Message ----- 
        
        
        Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 
        2:07 PM
        Subject: [oc] FPGA/ASIC Design 
        Kits
        
        Sorry Guys I'm new to this but I want to 
        get on track as fast as possible.
        what kind of Kits would you use for trying 
        and testing your designs for ASIC or FPGA, ofcourse you don't go to the 
        foundry for each new idea ?
        Paul 
  ?