I find it easier and cheaper to put all the glue logic into a small (up to 72 macrocells) CPLD. They cost about $2.50 when you shop around a bit, (I recently bought a few XC9572's for about $2.40 each with free shipping on eBay, and they're 5-volt capable, and 7.5 ns clock-to-Q) and are fast enough to keep up with most other digital hardware. The sockets cost about $4 for 5 including postage. I've had really good luck with CPLD's on eBay. Keep in mind, I mostly work in very low volume.

I agree it's pretty straightforward using the free PALASM V1.5 or so, though I recommend against trying to use the extended memory features that used to live on one of the floppies from which you had to download the code. Even AMD (the producer) recommended against using it. The rest of the software works very well, though it lacks a timing simulator. The functional simulator has saved me from many a stupid mistake, though.

RE