Distributor Silica releases a $39 Xilinx Spartan-3A Evaluation Kit. Populated with a Xilinx Spartan-3A 400A Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), the kit is a solution for designers evaluating or testing their design. Designers can use the Spartan-3A kit for general FPGA prototyping, investigating the Xilinx MicroBlaze soft processor, experimenting with multiple FPGA configuration techniques, and proving out design methods. An Avnet-developed Windows-based application programs the FPGA and configuration memories through the supplied USB interface.

The Kit includes a Spartan-3A Evaluation Board, Xilinx ISE Design Suite 10.1 WebPACK and evaluation DVD, Avnet programming utility, USB cable and several design tutorials. In addition to the Spartan-3A FPGA, the board features the PSoC Mixed Signal Array from Cypress, a silicon oscillator from Maxim Integrated Technologies, SPI and parallel NOR Flash memory from Spansion and a power supply and several power management devices from Texas Instruments.