Not very hapy with theCyclone III FPGA Starter Kit

[Altera_Forum]

I just got the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit dev today,... 

 very excited i opend the box, first empression, nice board. until i put the cdrom in my computer, the quartus desing files include are very pore.  - there is no nios reference desing - some of the core desing files are encripted  hopefully this is not like this with other boards.  any one shares the same feeling?

[Altera_Forum]

Yeah, it is pretty crappy documentation. What good is a reference design that is 1) encrypted and 2) has no documentation? 

 After a long time of head scratching I have figured out that you can use sopc builder to make a jtag_uart to communicate with the byte blaster stuff so you can do a non-toy design and see something pop up.  I've got my own problems trying to get around sopc builder not being able to find my nios:  one or more components could not be located (altera_nios2) yadda yadda.  So, yeah, you're not alone in being pretty disappointed (annoyed).

[Altera_Forum]

Well, I figured out my nios problem...apparently i have to use version 7.1. 

 After I get my stuff working, I'll try to help you out with whatever I find since I'm a noobie to these Altera development boards as well. Good luck.

[Altera_Forum]

I am looking at the CIII starter kit to be used in a Nios based controller prototype. I plan to plug my custom board onto the HSMC. Since the literature for this kit mentions the Nios, I assume I can use a Nios in my prototype without restriction (no time limit, full pof generation, no attached cable requirements). Is this true? Are you saying that Altera does not provide any Nios reference designs for a board that is specifically designed to be a Nios platform?

[Altera_Forum]

Altera does not provide any nios support for this kit, no license. 

There is no nios reference design included.

[Altera_Forum]

Altera must have created Nios designs for this board - how else are you going to test all those interfaces? If Altera is not releasing those designs it makes me think there might be something wrong with the board. 

 Has anyone gotten their own Nios design to run on this board with all the various memories, and if so how fast?

[Altera_Forum]

I have done a small NIOS on the board. 

 Remember, it is a starter kit for the Cyclone devise.  It is not intended to be a NIOS II develop[ment board.  I heard that TerASIC will be making an attachment board that will add all sorts of interesting I/O to the board for expansion purposes.  VGA, keyboard, ColorLCDdisplay.  Keep checking their web site.

[Altera_Forum]

http://altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-cyc3-starter.html 

 there you can read someting about Nios, ...  "" Cyclone III and Nios II 32-bit soft IP processor  Cyclone III FPGAs are perfectly suited as embedded processors or microcontrollers when combined with Altera's 32-bit Nios® II embedded processor intellectual property (IP) cores. You can add many other functions to the Cyclone III FPGA with additional IP cores available from Altera and Altera's partners. ""  before i bought the board i tought there will be some nios reference desings included,...

[Altera_Forum]

If you have managed to create a Nios design on this board, what core, what speed, and what memories do you have working? 

 As I recall, the lack of a Nios license does not prevent you from working on a Nios design but restricts what you can do with it such as time limited operation, or requiring a byte blaster connect, or modifying an pre-existing design. What restrictions have you found?

[Altera_Forum]

It looks like there are two EP3C25 kits offered from Altera. One is the 'Starter' board, the other is the 'Embedded Evaluation'. The main boards look exactly the same. If so, the reference designs that come with the 'embedded' kit could be useful on the 'Starter' kit once you stripped out the pieces that depend on the LCD daughter card. Are these designs available for download?

[Altera_Forum]

http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-cyc3-embedded.html 

 This is the site for the kit that:  A. Includes the Cyclone III starter board B. Includes all the nifty features, software and hardware to support Nios II design work  It's the Nios II Embedded Evaluation Kit for Cyclone III (just rolls off the tongue..)  There are a bunch of reference designs listed at the bottom of the product web page that run on that board. Have at it...

[Altera_Forum]

Does anyone have an SOPC file that will work with the Cyclone III starter kit? All I want to do is build a nios project on it, but there isn't anything in the kit directory that appears to work. 

 Is anyone using the Cyclone III starter kit with Nios?  All help very much appreciated.