Lattice Semiconductor MachXO2 Tutorial

I have chosen the Lattice Semiconductor MachXO2 device for our PLD tutorial.

Specific reasons why this device was chosen. Refer to my table of all low-cost PLDs available: Programmable Logic Devices

This is why I settled on the MachXO2:

1. I chose against showing PLDs of the simplest type (PAL, GAL, SPLD) because almost noone currently makes them.
2. I chose against CPLDs to settle for the more sophisticated FPGAs, especially for their embedded microcontrollers (more on this later)

I settled on the MachXO2 because:

1. It is low-cost and small-size
2. The Diamond IDE is free for this device
3. There is an 8-bit microcontroller available for this tiny device
4. The basic development board (Pico) is low cost. However, I recommend purchasing the Control board instead and to not to try saving money
5. There are examples in the C language available. Not only is this the only standard language, but only languages based on C syntax are relevant for electronics
6. The company is innovative, and have caught my eye with their various novel concepts