NB needs updating for new book/Sys Ver ect
Newsgroup
The VHDL newsgroup is at news:comp.lang.vhdl. It is archived at http://groups.google.com. An FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) is published at http://www.eda.org/comp.lang.vhdl/.
General Information
http://www.eda.org has information about various working groups for VHDL and related standards. http://www.accellera.org has information about formal standardization activities.
Standards
The IEEE publishes all the VHDL standards. See http://standards.ieee.org.
Free Models
The Free Model Foundation http://www.eda.org/fmf publishes free models of IP cores, as does Opencores � http://www.opencores.org. Note that both these sites include Verilog as well as VHDL models.
Free Tools
See the comp.lang.vhdl FAQ for a full list. Many of the commercial tools listed below are available in a free, limited form for evaluation or student use. Alliance http://asim.lip6.fr/alliance/ has both a simulator and synthesis tool. The FreeHDL project http://www.freehdl.seul.org/ aims to develop a VHDL simulator for Linux. There is a VHDL mode for the Emacs editor, which includes templates for common constructs � http://www.emacs.org
Commercial Tools
This is not supposed to be an exhaustive list. Inclusion of a tool in this list does not imply endorsement of that tool. Omission of a tool does not imply any criticism of that tool.
Toolsets (Simulator + Synthesis)
Cadence � http://www.cadence.com
Synopsys � http://www.synopsys.com
Simulators
Model Technology � http://www.model.com
Aldec � http://www.aldec.com
Dolphin � http://www.dolphin.fr
FTL � http://www.ftlsystems.com
Several Verilog simulators are also available, e.g.
Simucad � http://www.silos.com
Synapticad � http://www.syncad.com
Synthesis
Synplicity � http://www.synplicity.com
Exemplar � http://www.exemplar.com
FPGAs
The final step in the design process is automatic place and route (APR) for an FPGA or ASIC. FPGA vendors generally supply their own APR tools. FPGA and CPLD vendors include:
Altera � http://www.altera.com
Xilinx � http://www.xilinx.com
Lattice � http://www.latticesemi.com
Actel � http://www.actel.com
Atmel � http://www.atmel.com
Cypress � http://www.cypress.com
Quicklogic � http://www.quicklogic.com