Mike said:
As Paul suggests, spend a few days reading the FAQ,
and most of your questions will be answered.
I see. Thank you.
Also look through the last 6 months or so of this newsgroup.
Right.
A simulation compile will check syntax and running
a testbench can test your design and display waveforms.
Modelsim has an editor good enough to get started.
Please, where do I obtain it? Is it freeware? (Actually, I will
inventionally buy a proper VHDL software, but need to learn something
before in order to ensure that the choice is really right for me -- I
guess there are many possibilities.)
Once you learn about clocked processes and the
ieee.numeric_std library you won't need
to reference D flops directly:
my_port <= my_value_v; -- dflop
my_reg_v := my_reg_v + 1; -- counter
Sorry to say this, but I don't expect to use the expert's
fuctions/levels of abstraction from the start. I understand the
abilities of the compiler in question are immense, but I also know one
needs to know very few to be able to describe a really complicate
circuitry.
Think about something simpler than a 80x86 cpu
for your first project.
I couldn't agree more, actually. Do you think the counter I mentioned
in my previous post would be a good idea? I mean, this would be the
direct way to building the processor, and yet a simple exercise which
will get me going in VHDL. Please, I just need someone to kindly GET
MY HANDS ON this project, I promise not to bother anyone later.
Keep in mind that FPGAs are mainly used for tasks
that CPUs can't do, and that a CPU by itself
can't do anything.
This is all new to me, I am afraid. The 8088 is on paper now, and I
don't have any experience with FPGAs, so I am unable to benefit from
your kind remarks.
What do you really want to do?
I need to build a processor circuitry with an instruction set
compatible with that of the 8088. Then, I need to simulate a NAND gate
structure for it. But, as you kindly suggest, perhaps I should start
with something simpler.
Please, where do I obtain software capable of simulating the D
counter?
Thank you very much for writing.
Tom