CURRENT FEATURE ARTICLES

NOS FPGA
Vintage Silicon Revisited
COTS Supercomputing
DRC Harnesses FPGAs
FPGAs and Ethernet
Providing Programmability to Pervasive Interconnect Standard, by Navneet Rao, Xilinx, Inc.
Duct Tape, WD-40, FPGAs
The Universal Survival Kit
Space FPGAs Get a Boost
Actel Announces Improvements
Altium’s Alternative
Turning System Design Inside Out
First, Make a Roux
Beyond Basic FPGA Configuration
FPGAs at DAC
Programmable Logic Powers Verification

JOURNAL WEBCASTS

NOS FPGA
Vintage Silicon Revisited

Collectors and restorers of vintage automobiles place a high value on factory-original parts.  Most cherished are parts that are still in perfect condition and still installed on the original auto.  One tick down the desirability hierarchy are identical original parts taken from another vehicle – not as cool as the “matching serial number” perfection of the original unit, but very close.  Restorers scour salvage yards and wrecks behind barns, sometimes even resorting to theft in order to obtain the one missing link that would complete their masterpiece.

If original iron is absolutely not available, restorers often fall back on what are called “New, Original Specification” (NOS) parts.  As the name implies, these parts are generally built in a modern factory with modern equipment and materials, but to the original specifications.  While they often lack the old-world charm of the true vintage article, they are often more functional than the original, built to better tolerances, and factory-fresh.  NOS parts are particularly good for internal components that cannot be seen from the outside.  No concours d’elegance judge is going to break down your engine, find a connecting rod attached to a piston that is NOS instead of original, and dock you points.  [more]