I always try to have a few spare I/O pins, selecting a larger footprint part if necessary - requirements always change in the middle of the design and someone wants a simple unplanned addition. I always connect unused I/O pins to at least small pads I can solder to, if no room to bring them out to a header. These spare pins can be observed on a scope or used to drive LED's. The FPGA will be programmed to bring internal nodes out to these test points for monitoring.. John At 07:52 AM 12/14/2005, you wrote:
Sorry, I'm not laying out the PCB, Leon Heller in GB is laying out a board using the Cyclone II chip. I was just throwing some ideas at him on what we have to have and what would be nice to have on the board. Your right a couple of Led's would be nice, to let you know what is going on.