DE1

DE1 is a development and education board produced by Terasic Technologies for use with Altera (Intel) FPGAs. It is part of Terasic's DE series and was widely used in universities and training labs to teach digital design and embedded systems.

Hardware features include a central Altera Cyclone II family FPGA and a mix of memory resources such as SDRAM and flash, along with a range of peripherals and expansion options. On the I/O side, the board typically offers a VGA output, PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports, audio, serial ports, USB connectors, and Ethernet, along with GPIO headers and expansion connectors for add-on modules. The DE1 also includes a clock source and power regulation circuitry suitable for classroom use.

Programming and software: The board is programmed through a USB-based programming interface (USB-Blaster) and is supported by the Altera Quartus II design software, enabling development of logic designs, microprocessor cores, and system-on-a-programmable-logic projects.

Applications and use: Common uses include digital logic design, CPU or microcontroller education, signal processing demos, and prototyping of embedded systems. It is commonly deployed in coursework and labs as a low-cost, ready-to-use FPGA platform.

Legacy: The DE1 board family was complemented by related boards such as DE0 and DE2, and later variants like DE1-SoC that integrate an ARM processor with FPGA fabric.

See also: Terasic development boards; Altera/Intel FPGA development; DE series.