nios II on old dev kit

Altera_Forum · ‎12-06-2004

Hello

I purchased a Nios Development Kit Cyclone Edition about a year ago. The board was delivered with the Nios processor 3.1. Can I use NIOS II on this board? The board specs seem to be identical with the current version that comes with the NIOS II dev kit.

What is the preferred way to upgrade to NIOS II. Do I have to buy a complete new dev kit or just a subscription renewal? The altera website says that with a subscription one will receive upgrades to the latest versions of the Nios CPU and its peripherals. So I should have received an upgrade to NIOS II? I only received 2 cds with NIOS processor 3.2. The documentation for my dev kit only mentions updates instead of upgrades.

Are there any known problems installing different versions of the nios sdk or quartus side-by-side?

Thanks

Altera_Forum · ‎12-06-2004

orsino,

> Can I use NIOS II on this board?

Yes. I am using the the old Cyclone devkit with Nios-II ... no problem.

> Do I have to buy a complete new dev kit or just a subscription renewal?

I just renewed my subscription ... and my old devkit board works just fine.

> So I should have received an upgrade to NIOS II? I only received 2 cds

> with NIOS processor 3.2. The documentation for my dev kit only mentions

> updates instead of upgrades.

I received Nios-II as a devkit upgrade ... but my devkit license was still

valid at the time. I (eventually) had to renew. You can check your current

license info in the Quartus license setup dialog box.

> Are there any known problems installing different versions of the nios

> sdk or quartus side-by-side?

I had some problems here. I don't remember the details, but after I removed

(uninstalled) everything, then installed Quartus 4.1 and Nios-II, I didn't have

any problems at all.

Regards,

--Scott

Altera_Forum · ‎12-06-2004

Thanks for the info

I tried the evaluation version of NIOS II with SP1 together with Quartus 4.1 Sp2 Web Edition. To get NIOS II on the board I followed the description in the reference manual "Restore the Factory Configuration". There seems to be a problem with the LCD. It should display "NIOS II", however it displays nothing, in the upper line all pixels are set and the lower line is blank. I also compiled and run the board diagnosis program and all peripherals except for the lcd work fine.

If I renew my subscription I suppose I won't get the USB blaster which seems to be the only supported communication device for NIOS II. Looking at the cost of the subscription renewal and the usb blaster I think I can buy a complete new NIOS II dev kit.

Altera_Forum · ‎12-06-2004

> There seems to be a problem with the LCD.

I can't comment on this ... I never use the LCD.

> If I renew my subscription I suppose I won't get the USB blaster <...>

When I renewed/upgraded my subscription as a devkit customer, I was able

to upgrade to USB Blaster at no cost (other than shipping). I'm not sure if this

offer is still available ... you might want to check with your sales rep.

> <...> which seems to be the only supported communication device for NIOS II.

I continue to use ByteBlaster for most of my work without any trouble. Although

I normally use a serial uart for the console. I've had trouble using ByteBlaster when

using the JTAG uart. When I _need_ to use the JTAG uart, which is rare in my

particular case, I use USB Blaster -- and everything works fine :-)

Regards,

--Scott

Altera_Forum · ‎12-06-2004

While I hesitate to say "All", its safe to say "Most if not all" Altera programmnig cables with will with Nios II, ByteBlaster, ByteBlaster MV, USB Blaster, etc.

About the LCD: Yes, it does work with Nios II on the cylone board. One known issue (which affected things previously as well) is that the pins the LCD connects to in our example designs are shared with the compact flash connector, so to use the LCD you should unplug your compact flash card if there is one present.

The board diagnostic is a good way to check out the LCD operation -- I am surprised it doesn't work. One other thing is to ensure that its connected properly -- it should be plugged in to J12 on the cyclone board with the ribbon cable coming out of the connector pointing "down" towards the bottom of the board, where the user push-buttons are.

Hope this helps!

Altera_Forum · ‎12-07-2004

Thanks Jesse.

Indeed unplugging the compact flash card solved the lcd problem. The Nios 1 safe config worked with the flash card plugged in.

Altera_Forum · ‎12-08-2004

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

--- Quote Start ---

The board specs seem to be identical with the current version that comes with the NIOS II dev kit.[/b]

--- Quote End ---

To confirm what you suspect, when the device is the same, the Nios II dev. kit uses the same board as the older Nios dev. kit. Just the MAX device and the Flash device are programmed differently.

(Gotta love that programmable logic: same board, two different products.)

Kerry

Altera