MAX10 10M50 Development kit

[MAX10_nios2_terminal]

Hi to the community,

I'm seeking your assistance with an issue I've encountered while working with an ex-Altera FPGA board, specifically the MAX10M050 family. My goal is to connect this board to my PC, but I've run into some challenges.

Here's the setup and the issues I'm facing:

1. Environment Setup: I've installed Quartus 22.1 on my Windows 11 machine, and it's located at "C:\intelFPGA_lite\22.1std". I've also downloaded Nios II and placed it inside the Quartus installation directory at "C:\intelFPGA_lite\22.1std\nios2eds".

2. Board Configuration: I've created a "kits" folder and placed my device-specific files within it. This includes folders like "factory_recovery" and "examples". I simply extracted the contents of a downloaded .zip file into this directory.

3. Issues Encountered:

   a. When I open Nios II Command Shell and enter the command "nios2-terminal," I receive a "command not found" error.

   b. When I attempt to run "Board Test System.exe" from the device files at "examples/board_test_system", I get an error message stating that JTAG was not found or selected.

   c. In Quartus, through the programmer option, I can see the USB-Blaster connection, and I can successfully program the FPGA board.

4. Attempted Solution: I've tried a tip I found in another post, which involves modifying the "nios_bash" file. I changed the PATH variable to the following: PATH="/bin:/usr/bin:/cygdrive/c/intelFPGA_lite/22.1std/nios2eds/bin:/cygdrive/c/intelFPGA_lite/22.1std/nios2eds/sdk2/bin:/cygdrive/c/intelFPGA_lite/22.1std/nios2eds/bin/gnu/H-x86_64-mingw32/bin$PATH".However, I'm still encountering the "command not found" issue.

Have any of you experienced similar problems or do you have any ideas that might help? Your assistance would be greatly appreciated, as I'm currently stuck and unable to find a solution.

Thank you very much for your support.

Best regards, Kostis A.

[wwanalim_intel]

Hi,

Thank you for reaching us. Would it be possible for you to share a screenshot with us?

[MAX10_nios2_terminal]

Hi,

Thanks for responding. I upload the follow screenshots of how install directory has been done. the small picture of No JTAG cable is happening when i try to run BTS from the downloaded files from : https://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&CategoryNo=218&No=998&PartNo=3#contents . Also we have a picture from quatrus where we see that trough programmer options we can see our FPGA and program it. Also nios2-shell and nios_bash script. Lastly, I want to add that all these paths have been inserted also to the system path. Thanks!!

 

[wwanalim_intel]

Hi,

Thank you for the information provided. It seems the path already set up. I would like to ask you to try on these.

1. Give administrator privileges to Quartus

- Make Quartus run with Administrator privileges, or else you will get issues like Design Templates failing to install or being unable to save Platform Designer (i.e. Qsys) projects.

- From the Windows Start Menu, right-click on "Quartus (Quartus Prime 22.1)" and select More > Open file location.

- Right-click on the "Quartus (Quartus Prime 22.1" shortcut and select Properties.

- Click on the "Advanced..." button and check the "Run as administrator" checkbox. Click all of the OK buttons to save everything.

2. Setting up Windows Subsystem Linux (WSL)

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/docs/programmable/683525/21-3/windows-subsystem-for-linux-wsl-on-windows.html

https://www.terasic.com.tw/wiki/Getting_Start_Install_WSL

For board test system, I downloaded it and from my findings:

- It seems from the readme.txt file included in the folder showed that the requirement for the demo are supported on Quartus II version and the operating systems are either Windows 7 and XP.

-This is most of time might be the important factor in running the board test system. 

[MAX10_nios2_terminal]

Hi, 

Thank you very much for your response. I had two versions of ubuntu and i set default 18.04 which as i saw is the one i need and also changed the version to 1 from 2. I also changed the nios2-download file just in case based on the instructions that you send me. Now,

1) Okay BTS cannot work with compatibility options. I do not mind that. But..

2)  I want to find the reason why at nios2-shell i cannot run the command nios2-terminal in order to see the IP of my FPGA kit as the user instructions say. My question is the follow: Does a file nios2-terminal has to be exist inside nios2eds folds? cause i cannot find any file in my computer with such a name. Also i have the switches on my FPGA to load default options. Do we need any specific .soc file to be implemented? cause the only one i have based on the terasic site and the basic files is the dual_boot_image.sof.

Thank you again for your time you take to help!!

[wwanalim_intel]

Hi,

1) I am sorry for the bts as it really strict with the requirement.

2) The file not need to exist in nios2eds.

Can you check for the nios 2 command shell to have this PATH in it

[MAX10_nios2_terminal]

Hi,

Did you uload any picture? cause it does not show at your previous response. 

Also, at my system variables i have imported all paths meaning the follow: 

1) C:\IntelFPGA_lite\22.1std\nios2eds

2) C:\IntelFPGA_lite\22.1std\nios2eds\bin

3) C:\IntelFPGA_lite\22.1std\nios2eds\bin\gnu\H-x86_64-mingw32\bin

4) C:\IntelFPGA_lite\22.1std\quatrus

5) C:\IntelFPGA_lite\22.1std\quatrus\bin64\cygwin

I am not sure if we need all of them but it was a desperate thing in order to make the command to work but nothing. 

Is there anything else i could type as a command at nios2-shell which may help you understand better or anything as for the installation logic?

Again, thank you very much for your time you take to help me.

[wwanalim_intel]

Hi,

I am sorry did not noticed for the picture earlier.

Below I reattached the picture.

Kindly check in your machine path to have that too.

[MAX10_nios2_terminal]

Hi again,

I add both the file and the directory . Also I add all the paths to the user environment variables just in case, but for some reason i cannot make it work. i do not know what else i could try. Do you have anything to propose or another way i could take the IP in order to communicate?

Thanks again ,

Kostis A.

[wwanalim_intel]

Hi,

You can try command "nios2-terminal.exe", we want to see the difference between "nios2-terminal".

[MAX10_nios2_terminal]

Hi,

If i run the nios2-terminal.exe we have the follow result:

Now if i try to type anything after nios2-terminal.exe we have the follow atermonous thing: 

and you have to press CTRL+C to stop it. 

Thanks,

Kostis A.

[wwanalim_intel]

Hi,

It seems the nios2-terminal.exe is working but there is a bug on the system. Unfortunately, version 22.1 is not tested on Windows 11. We would suggest migrating to version 22.3 as it is first Quartus to support Windows 11 and before version 22.4 which has a few known issue.

Below link refer to the Operating System support related to the Quartus Version.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/programmable/support-resources/design-software/os-support.html

Thank you.

Regards,

Fathulnaim

[MAX10_nios2_terminal]

Hi,

Something to note is that I've discovered that I can program the FPGA using Quartus 22.1 for free, using a .sof file. Will I encounter any issues as I proceed with implementing basic programs and programming it in this manner? 

Thanks again.

Regards,

Kostis A.

[MAX10_nios2_terminal]

Hi,

Thank you very much for your support. Unfortunately Intel has released quatrus until 22.1 for free. So i have to purchase the pro version and it is too expesive for me.

Thank you very much!

Regards,

Kostis A.

[wwanalim_intel]

Hi,

Glad to hear that. I think there should be no issue for Quartus Lite version to program .sof file into FPGA. Anyway I will be sending file regarding the difference features between the quartus version into your email.

Thank you.

Regards,

Fathulnaim

[wwanalim_intel]

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