[VLM]

The problem with eval boards is the tendency to explode price upward by sticking peripherals on the board. Sure, a 10/100 ethernet intf sounds cool and it'll only add $5... times 50 other devices and next thing you know you have one of those cool, but expensive Digilent boards that has more I/O options than you could ever use, but costs $200.

If you just want a nearly bare FPGA google for "micronova fpga mercury" and for $60 you get a DIP-64 circuit board with quite a few I/O and that's about it. No on board graphic LCD. No on board VGA output jack and D/A interface. Think, the basic stamp from 20 years ago, now a FPGA dev tool. I have one sitting on my desk waiting to fool around with it (I have a lot on my desk...)

Also all the software is free now. Maybe limited such that you need a license to synthesize for a $2000 chip, which doesn't matter. Pretty much if your average garage hacker can afford the dev board, the limits on the software don't matter. Closed source, but available for linux and windows and free.