My only experience with FPGA is as a player of video games on a very beautiful device that uses different cores to play old Gameboy and other systems' cartridges.

https://www.analogue.co/developer I barely know how to download new cores onto my Analogue Pocket and can bring it to some Tuesday soon to show you, if you're interestsed.

Therefore I am excited to learn more and get hands-on, not just as a consumer of a commercial device, but as a creator, or hacker, or maker, or tinkerer, or curious student, or whatever we are. Please count me in!

Maybe if we really get into it, Sudo Room could apply for a "Analogue Developer Kit" lol

Ivan: you wanna also teach a different workshop using Micro:bits? =)))

~judy

On Wed, Dec 31, 2025 at 11:30 Ivan Silva via sudo-discuss <sudo-discuss@sudoroom.org> wrote:

Hi Larry,

Thank you for the chance to learn more about FPGAs. It is an entirely new area for me.

I came across this article comparing them to microcontrollers: https://www.pcbasic.com/blog/fpga_vs_microcontroller.html.
My "librarian instincts" kicked in regarding the source, so I can't fully vouch for the author's expertise, but I found the comparison helpful for a high-level overview.

For context on my background, I usually work with simpler tools to get students started, so I’m much more proficient with Micro:bits than Arduinos.
Looking forward to bridging that gap, mostly by osmosis, as I hang out at sudo.

~Ivan

From: Larry Doolittle via sudo-discuss <sudo-discuss@sudoroom.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2025 19:33
To: sudo-discuss@sudoroom.org <sudo-discuss@sudoroom.org>
Subject: [External Email] [sudo-discuss] learning about FPGAs

sudo friends -

In my recent visits to sudoroom, I've talked about and demonstrated FPGAs
(among other things). I personally consider FPGAs to be an enabling
technology, like microcontrollers but with some key advantages.
They also have a reputation of being hard to learn.

There seems to be at least some interest in turning these chaotic discussions
into activities thoughtfully set up for teaching/learning. Maybe the
word "class" won't apply.

I'll keep this first message short, although I certainly have ideas,
at least about how to get started. I'm a huge believer in learning by doing.

I plan to be at sudoroom tonight (Dec 30), and we can have in-person discussions.
Maybe this thread can capture ideas in a less ephemeral form.

- Larry
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