Beginner Q: CPLD or HCT594 for controlling 8x8 LED blocks

[Bingo600]

hct594

Hi

I am a total newbie in HDL

But now i might have a thing where a CPLD could come in handy

I have gotten some 8x8 LED blocks Red/Green (See attached DS)

And i would like to build a display with 8 of those blocks , and control them with an Atmel Mega16 or Mega32.

Each 8x8 block have 24 pins so its 8 x 24 pins in all.

I was thinking about driving each block by a ULN2803 , but need 2 x 8 pins for each block for multiplexing thr Red/Green leds.

I was thinking about using HCT594 for multiplexing the red/green rows.
I was thinking i could just use 2 of those , one for all red .. and one for all green.

Then i would control each collum of the 8x8 blocks via a ULN2083 gate , but i'd need 64 lines :-(


But then i thought this might be my "Intro to CPLD's".

Would it be smarter to use a CPLD ??

Is this too big a VHDL task for a newbie ??

I guess i could make it as "Schematic" in Xilinx Webpack.
I have a Xilinx 95108@84-PLCC , and an @ltera MAX108@84-PLCC at home , can i use that or is there not enough pins ??


I really dont know if this belongs in "Elementary Electronic Questions" forum.
If it does maybe one of the mods would move it there.

But the thing i really ask here is :

For any hints in doing this with a CPLD

And for that you guyzz are probably the best to ansver.

/Bingo

 

[Bus Master]

Re: Beginner Q: CPLD or HCT594 for controlling 8x8 LED bloc

Hi all,

I'm completely interrested in this application.
I think a Xilinx CPLD chip is more than enough for this type of applications. Hope that ane VHDL guru can help us (Even with some hints and keypoints).

Waiting for support.

Yours,