I recommend getting started like the author did: simulation first, then FPGA. Honestly FPGA will take you very far. I always get a kick out of being able to design my own SoC. "Hmmm I need 9 separate I2C ports... Ok, copy block, paste paste paste..." Or if you have an operation in software that's taking forever you can write an accelerator for it
What are the best modern tools to get started with in simulation for those who have never dabbled before?
Are there any open or at least standard FPGAs that the open source community flock to? Last time I looked into FPGAs, it was mostly closed architecture and proprietary tools
Do you know if there are any tutorials that use bounded model checking tools from the very get go? For verilog or VHDL.