fpga4fun.com

Ive got the text LCD thing working, I am considering interfacing one of those GPS chips from sparkfun. The docs make it look simple, am I missing something or do you think it is relatively easy.

Depending on the rest of you system, it should be pretty easy, espacially if you are using a softmcu...

Let me share my evil plans with you, I was reading the manual
http://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/GPS/ ... Manual.pdf

And If I am reading this right, once a second it sends out the standard NMEA 0813 message

$GPGGA,hhmmss.ss,llll.lll,a,nnnnn.nnn,b,t,uu,
v.v,w.w,M,x.x,M,y.y,zzzz*hh <CR><LF>

llll.llll being Longitude, nnnnn.nnn being Latitude

Through the serial Pin TXD_A. And If interpret this right, it does this automatically with no settings changed.
I therefore plan to connect the TXD_A pin on the copernicus breakout board to an input pin on my DE1 kit, and the 3.3 volts,GND from the DE1 to the copernicus board. I ordered a matching antenna.
more info here
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/produc ... ts_id=8146

My goal is to measure distance from where you started, to where you are.

When my parts arrived and I put it together, I can at least see if it reads the coordinates where I am, when I finish my eagle PCB design I can do more with it, its my first PCB, so I am just figuring out what to do with VCCP/VCCR/VCCT and the other pins.
I am sure you already know Sparkfun has some cool toys.

My box is here with the parts, so I will know if the next few days how this is going, I have already conquered the text LCD, so I will try to put the coordinates up on there.

I rigged up the breakout board with power and ground from my FPGA board, then standby and reset to my fpga outs so I can try different combinations of them. I get a flat 3.3v from all the output pins, both serial and the pulse per second pin. Can anyone with more experience then me give an opinion what I might have missed?, these things are made to start spitting out something from the TXA pin when its powered up, Ive got a proven program that counts rising edged from any source, and it comes up with nothing.

Try measuring the voltage on the FPGA pins to make sure you have VCC on both of them (remember the reset is active low). Maybe you have assigned the pins wrong in your design tool and the reset/run inputs of the GPS module are floating or driven low?

I looks though the manual on this thing, (link above in this thread) and found 2 more pins that need vcc and cant float, BOOT and R2. I am now getting the PPS and the TXA streams, intepretting the TXA shouldn't be too much of a challenge, since the $GPGGA string tells me when to start listening, and I know my bitrate is PPS/4800. Maybe I can get a patent for this thing and quit my tech support job (just kidding).