DE2-115 complete beginners question

[Altera_Forum]

Hi 

I am completely new to FPGAs but I am lucky enough to have been given a DE2-115 I know its a big learning curve but being retired I have plenty of time , but I cant even get started to try it out because unfortunately the box is missing the system disk so I went online to see what I can download for the board.  I downloaded the user manual but was then stuck  I can download the  Control panel System Builder System CD but which one , on line I can find lots of versions especially of the system CD  Eventualy on the Altera products, DE2-115 product page I clicked the resources tab and that gave me a narrower field to choose from  just one Control Panel One Systembuilder but still to System CDs  one is  DE2-115 CD-ROM (Cypress USB) of which there are then 4 versions  the other DE2-115 CD-ROM (NXP USB)  Which one do I need ? or do I need both ?  Regards Don

[Altera_Forum]

This is the official Terasic resource web page: 

 http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?language=english&categoryno=165&no=502&partno=4  You need the appropriate CD-ROM according to which USB device your board has. The manual should help you find this.

[Altera_Forum]

I think you have to download from the Altera website: 

1) Quartus (web editon) free 2) Modelsim Altera Starter edition (free) 3) In the installation directory of Quartus youll' find the 'USB blaster' drivers.   This is all you need to design a circuit and download it on the FPGA board.  P.S. You also need the knoledge of a language such as VHDL or Verilog. This is not a must since you can also design using the schematic design (similar to Spice) but it becomes immediately very cumbersome as the design complexity increases.

[Altera_Forum]

Hi Thank you for your reply , however its a bit of a vicious circle  

 you said to choose the CD rom according to which usb device my board has , and to determine this device from the user manual  Unfortunately the manual is on the CD rom . so depending on which CD I decide to download I guess will give me a different answer as to which USB I have   I have now written to Terasic support quoting the serial number of my board hoping they can give me an answer from that  but thanks for the help  Don     --- Quote Start ---  This is the official Terasic resource web page:  http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?language=english&categoryno=165&no=502&partno=4  You need the appropriate CD-ROM according to which USB device your board has. The manual should help you find this.  --- Quote End ---  

[Altera_Forum]

Thanks nplttr 

 I will start downloading and installing them now   Don

[Altera_Forum]

I wrote to Terasic in the end  

 They tell me that my board ( from the serial number ) uses the NXP USB but that this will not work with windows 7 only XP They also said that the Cypress USB only works on windows 7 in 32 bit not 64 bit   Don

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---   They tell me that my board ( from the serial number ) uses the NXP USB but that this will not work with windows 7 only XP They also said that the Cypress USB only works on windows 7 in 32 bit not 64 bit    --- Quote End ---   I think you can ignore the advice about functionality under Windows for the moment. The board has a USB device attached to the FPGA that you can use for communication with your design. I've never bothered to use it.  The board also has an on-board USB-Blaster, and that does work under Windows just fine.  If Terasic has changed the USB controller, then they've likely changed the pin assignments on the board, but probably only in a few places. You'll want to make sure you download the schematic for the board revision you own, and determine the pin assignments from that. Do *not* simply use an example design you find on the web! (Including any from Terasic, without first reviewing it!)  Cheers. Dave

[Altera_Forum]

Thanks Dave  

 Yes I found that the USB Blaster works fine and I doubt I will need any other usb connectivity for some time , as I  have only been playing with FPGA's for about 8 hours ( got my DE2-115 yesterday)