quartus Launch simulation library compiler cant find the questa executable

[agemoz]

I am very experienced with quartus and modelsim, however I cannot compile questa libraries for the MAX10 FPGA. I intalled the latest quartus and questa_fse on my linux box, and this successfully synthesizes my design. Questa is also licensed and opens, but I cannot compile the MAX10 libraries, so the simulation will not run.

I get stuck when I run the tools/Launch Simulation Library Compiler, it asks for the executable directory, and nothing I put here works, I always get the "specify the simulation tool executable location" in red. Since the EDA tools option correctly points to the questa executable directory, I don't understand why the library compiler cant find it. I put the same path as the EDA tools option, and tried all kinds of nearby locations, but nothing works.
I can run vsim on the command line, this works but none of the quartus settings are carried over and I dont know where the MAX10 libraries are.

Why is quartus unable to locate the library compiler executable?

[agemoz]

Some more information: 

The reason I thought I needed to compile libraries is because the simulation cant find the libraries for fiftyfivenm_ver (which I assume contains the MAX10 FPGA 55nm part).  According to the quickstart guide, I shouldn't need to compile those, it is done automatically--but that does not appear to be happening. Therefore, I tried to compile the MAX10 libraries using the Launch Simulation Library Compiler, but then I run into the problem where it cant find the executable (I see the vlib executable in the questa bin location).

[KennyTan_Altera]

Sometime, it is because of the mismatch version of the Quartus and Questasim. May I know what version that you were using for both? Can you use the latest version?

If you were to test out this example design https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/docs/programmable/683248/18-0/open-the-example-design.html

Will you see the same problem? The reason for the ask is to narrow down to see if this is due to environment problem or not.

[agemoz]

Hello KennyTan,

   Thank you for your reply. I downloaded the latest quartus and questa shown on the Intel/quartus linux download webpage. 

I show quartus as version 24.1std.0 Build 1077 03/04/2025 SC Lite Edition. When I run questa from within Quartus, I see this:

Siemens Questa Intel Starter FPGA Edition-64 2024.3

Revision 2024.09 Date Sep 10 2024

Some other issues I am running into. If you could help me with these as well, I would appreciate it. Should I file separate tickets for these?

I do have a valid permanent quartus license for the full version of quartus, but I haven't figured out how to get this software to take that license file.

I am also continuing to support an Arria IIGX project, which this version of Quartus doesn't support, so I still run the old Quartus II 13.1 on another machine, since the two versions of Quartus appear to conflict with each other.

I will try your example download shortly. 

Robert Morrison

[agemoz]

Hello KennyTan,

   The example design compiles file, but running the simulator generates the same error, it now cant find the cyclone 5 simulation libraries:

# ** Error (suppressible): (vopt-19) Failed to access library 'cyclonev_pcie_hip_ver' at "cyclonev_pcie_hip_ver".
# No such file or directory. (errno = ENOENT)

Robert Morrison

[KennyTan_Altera]

Btw, if you were using Intel version of Questa, the libraries should be precompiles as well.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/docs/programmable/730191/24-1/the-simulation-library-compiler.html

[KennyTan_Altera]

We’ll likely need a team meeting to better understand this issue. My suspicion is that the problem may be related to your environment, as the user guide has been tested on our side without any issues.

Please check your email for the meeting invitation.

[KennyTan_Altera]

Seems like the invitation was rejected. Can you send me some screenshot of your problem?

also, can you let me know what are the exact OS that you were using?

[KennyTan_Altera]

Attached response from Robert:

I am running several Linux Mint OSs, this one is version 20.3 Una 64 bit. I have another older Linux Mint 18.04 which is required to run Quartus II 13.1 that I use to support and maintain the older Arria IIGX project.

I looked at your link, but it does not help find the missing library link--it just says to compile the eda/sim-lib library components, which is not permitted in quartus/questa lite--therefore, there is no solution to my problem here.

 I do see the fiftyfivenm components in that location, but I do not see fiftyfivenm_ver precompiled libraries anywhere in the quartuslite installation directory. To me, it looks like the linux version of quartus/questa is not properly setting up the sim_lib path to precompiled libraries or that the precompiled libraries were not included in the Linux version of quartuslite. Has this been tested for the MAX10 parts?

[KennyTan_Altera]

We’re sorry to inform you that Quartus has never officially supported the Linux Mint operating system. As outlined in the release notes for Quartus II 13.0 and the latest supported OS list for Quartus Prime 24.1, only specific distributions such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise are validated and supported.

For Quartus II 13.0, Release Notes For ModelSim Altera 10.1d

  Key Information

   * The following lists the supported platforms:

     + win32aloem - Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7

     + sunos5aloem - Solaris 10 (Starting 10.1 release, support for

      solaris has discontinued.)

     + hp700aloem - HP-UX 11

     + linuxaloem - RedHat 9 and higher, RedHat Enterprise Linux 3,

      4, 5 and 6, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9.0, 9.1, 10 and 11.

      (Starting 10.2 release, support for RedHat 3 and 4 and SUSE

      9.0 and 9.1 will be discontinued)

   * The following platform will be discontinued as of the 6.3 release:

     + HPUX Platform - hp700aloem

You can refer to the official OS support list here for Quartus Prime 24.1:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/programmable/support-resources/design-software/os-support.html#tab-blade-1-1

Because Linux Mint is not among the supported platforms, installing Questa or ModelSim on it may lead to unexpected behavior or compatibility issues. To ensure a stable and fully supported development environment, we strongly recommend switching to one of the officially supported Linux distributions.

[agemoz]

Hi Kenny Tan,

   Given that Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu Linux, which is one of the largest Linux distros out there, I find that kind of lame.

Nevertheless, if you can tell me where the precompiled libraries are located relative to the install path, that would be helpful. Perhaps  this failure can be fixed by adding paths to the environment variable set for quartus.

Robert Morrison

[KennyTan_Altera]

Do you have further queries? If no, we shall close this thread.

[KennyTan_Altera]

Here is the location <QUARTUS_INSTALL_DIR>/eda/sim_lib/

Kindly check your email for the sample script.

[KennyTan_Altera]

We apologize for the inconvenience, but since this operating system is not officially supported, we will transition this thread to community support. Our community users will still be able to assist you with any follow-up questions you may have.