Signal Tap General Comment / Question

[Altera_Forum]

I've been using Signal Tap pretty much since it first came out, circa 2003. It has bee a very powerful tool for debugging designs particularly with regards to external interfaces where something in the external interface is not defined. To me, it has widely been known that Signal Tap comes with the free web version of Quartus. I recently talked to someone who claimed to be an experienced FPGA designer and said that he didn't use Signal Tap because he didn't have the subscription version of Quartus. I informed him that it does indeed come with the free version. Would you say that it is common knowledge that Signal Tap comes with the free Quartus version? Thanks. James

[Altera_Forum]

I would say its common knowledge. 

 At one point in time, you had to ensure that the "Talk back" option was checked during the installation of the Wed Edition software ... perhaps the engineer you were talking to had always left that unchecked ...  Cheers, Dave

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  I would say its common knowledge.  At one point in time, you had to ensure that the "Talk back" option was checked during the installation of the Wed Edition software ... perhaps the engineer you were talking to had always left that unchecked ...  Cheers, Dave  --- Quote End ---     Dave, Yes. Thanks for the feedback.   It is still required to check the talk back option to use Signal Tap on the free version. However, being that Signal Tap is 10+ years old, it seems like this should be common knowledge. . . .   I would say that Signal Tap has been invaluable . . . and essential.  JB

[Altera_Forum]

It's also worth noting that the closest tool from Xilinx (ChipScope) is not free, so someone coming from an ISE background may assume the same to be true for such a tool in Quartus. Similarly, there is IP Altera charges for that Xilinx gives away for free. It's easy to be out of touch with that stuff, especially if you're not the one paying for it.

[Altera_Forum]

It is equally worth noting that there is a standalone version that you can download together with programmer for free too. It is very useful to be installed on the lab computer. I believe it doesn't require any license. Of course, it is useless if you cannot compile a project with SignalTap enabled;) 

 I actually like to use this standalone version to run acquisition. It enables the lock mode automatically to prevent any accidental change requiring compilation. In addition, the message window shows up at the bottom. Sometimes, there are some important messages worth my attention. In Quartus, those messages show up in the system message tab. With SignalTap window detached nowadays, it is completely hidden. I don't notice any message unless I seek it out. I wish it can be changed one day.