Quartus and licensing a Nios II processor

Altera_Forum · ‎01-05-2011

Quartus II 10.1 Web Edition on a Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium PC.

Run as administrator.

1. A Nios II processor was built following the method in nios ii hardware development tutorial (ver 3.3, dec 2009). The following SOPC Builder messages occurred:

# 2011.01.04 12:58:47 (*) Checking for plaintext license.

# 2011.01.04 12:58:48 (*) Couldn't query license setup in Quartus directory c:/altera/10.1/quartus

# 2011.01.04 12:58:48 (*) Defaulting to contents of LM_LICENSE_FILE environment variable

# 2011.01.04 12:58:48 (*) LM_LICENSE_FILE environment variable is empty

# 2011.01.04 12:58:48 (*) Plaintext license not found.

# 2011.01.04 12:58:48 (*) Checking for encrypted license (non-evaluation).

# 2011.01.04 12:58:48 (*) Couldn't query license setup in Quartus directory c:/altera/10.1/quartus

# 2011.01.04 12:58:48 (*) Defaulting to contents of LM_LICENSE_FILE environment variable

# 2011.01.04 12:58:48 (*) LM_LICENSE_FILE environment variable is empty

# 2011.01.04 12:58:48 (*) Encrypted license not found. Defaulting to OCP evaluation license (produces a time-limited SOF)

2. The processor was instantiated into a separate project schematic. The Quartus compile resulted in these warnings:

Warning: Can't generate programming files for your current project because you do not have a valid license for the following IP core or cores.

Warning: Unlicensed IP: "Nios II Processor(6AF7 00A2)"

Warning: Unlicensed encrypted design file: "C:/altera_hw/Research_Errors/Error_Test_6/cpu.v"

3. How can I resolve the license? The Web Edition is license free, but I'm not sure how far that extends.

There is evidence that a license may be required. A Tools --> License Setup in Quartus confirms my Web Edition, shows a Subscription Expiration of 2010.11, and has a Web License Update button. Clicking the button yields a failure to connect to the Altera website and advice to contact Customer Service. The "contact" procedure was unclear, appearing to be an e-mail to authorization@altera. No response yet.

A final note: this system has successfully run certain workshop projects associated with a BeMicro board and a Nios processor. However, these were canned demos. The warnings outlined above are my attempts to build a system starting at a more basic level. The BeMicro FPGA is successful for projects without a Nios processor.

So any thoughts on both the license and contacting Customer Service will be appreciated.

Thanks.

Altera_Forum · ‎01-06-2011

Only the Nios II/e core is free. To use Nios II/s or II/f in non evaluation mode, you need to purchase a license.

Altera_Forum · ‎01-06-2011

Thanks. The change to the /e was all that was needed.