Development board for image processing

[Altera_Forum]

Hello, 

  At the moment, I am looking for a suitable board for a hobby project.     I have a candidate board from Altera: Altera DE2-70 Digital Camera Development Platform, include Altera DE2-70 Board, 5 Mega Pixel camera Module and a 4.3" LCD Touch panel. However, I am still doubt that this is a suitable solution. So I need some help.   Goal: read images from a digital camera, SD card and/or PC (MacBook Pro). Processing the algorithm on the FPGA and than display the image on LCD and/or (PC) screen.    note: I am using Mathematica and octave to explore first the algorithm on my mac.     Other points:     I have a MacBook Pro, OSX 10.6.8 so it would be nice if I can run the software, to program the board, on a mac. It would be an advanced if I can use my MacBook in combination with the board, upload the picture (raw picture, tiff, ...), perform image processing tasks and than download the processed image back to the MacBook. It would also be nice if I can directly connect my digital camera, a Canon 50D, do the processing on the FPGA board and than display it on MacBook screen. If there is a possibility to connect an iPad (to display the picture) this is also an advanced.     Concerning the software I assume that the board is delivered with software, the question what are the restrictions and are there low cost solutions or free open source alternatives. I need a clear view what I can do and can explore with the software and the board. You understand do an investment in a board and only explore 25% of the functionality because the software restriction is no option. Because this is hobby project the budget is limited, so buy a full license is difficult. To run the software, an option is install Parallels on my mac in run Ubuntu inside the parallels desktop. Does the software run and can I program the board with this combination.     I hope you can help.    Regards,  Joeri Verbiest

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, 

the required software to program the FPGAs is only availabe for Windows and Linux. A free version is available for download. The DE-70 board comes with the same (maybe older) free version.  The DE-70 board includes a composite video input and a VGA output. You might be able to skip buying the LCD and camera modules. It also includes an SD card reader, USB interface, etc.  However, besides the software and hardware, you'll find yourself needing all kinds of cores and libraries. Some stuff is provided for free by Altera; you'll also find the board's examples helpfull. Other stuff you can get from Altera but only on a paid or evaluation basis. opencores.org also has lot's of usefull stuff.  Make sure you can get all the basic pieces you'll need. Ie, if you want to interface the PC you'll need a USB function controller core (which I think you can get for free). If you want to talk to your camera via USB, you'll need an USB host controller core (which I don't think you can get for free, but maybe you can get it for evaluation mode).  Since both the software and the board's examples are free for download, I suggest you start by playing a bit with that before commiting to a buy.

[Altera_Forum]

Thanks. 

 Some questions:  Concerning the software. If I install Parallels on my mac in run Ubuntu inside the parallels desktop. Does the software run and can I program the board with this combination.   With the USB function controller core I can communicate with the mac, so I can download the images to the FPGA to the processing and upload it back to the mac. Correct?   Regards, J.

[Altera_Forum]

Hi,  

A1: As long as Parallels allows USB forwarding to the VM, you should be able to.  A2: Yes. Of course, the USB function controller only implements the USB protocol. You might have to implement a USB driver in Mac OS X to talk to the board.