Speaking of FPGA’s I have found a really cheap development board using a Altera Cyclone II FPGA
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LEMKR92/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The board is $22 delivered, and you need a $12 programmer (can program multiple boards)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IRODADK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Altera offers a free version of their software which will allow you to program these devices in VHDL, Verilog, or by creating schematics of logic gates…
The latest version to support these boards is Version 13, service pack 1
It is available for Windows and Linux
https://dl.altera.com/13.0sp1/?edition=web&platform=linux&download_manager=direct
Good cheap way to get started.
Device Handbook, https://www.altera.com/en_US/pdfs/literature/hb/cyc2/cyc2_cii5v1.pdf
Family Datasheet, http://hamblen.ece.gatech.edu/DE2/Datasheets/Cyclone_II/cyc2_cii5v1_01.pdf
