Custom component for stdout

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, 

 I believe the answer to this question must be pretty straight forward. I just don't get it...  I try to use my own Uart component as stdout, stdin and stderr device for my Nios 2 SOPC. Where is the setting in my custom component files that tells the BSP editor to let it be choosable in the stdout, stdin, stderr combo box?  I read many HAL driver development docs and application notes. I found that the HAL does know of different hardware classes for drivers. So I thought there must be a way to declare my driver as character module. Most likely in the *SW.tcl file. But I did not find any hint on how to do it.  My driver files are according to the requirements for a char device driver. However, BSP editor does not offer me my custom component in the the drop down boxes for the STD streams....  Thanks, Maik

[Altera_Forum]

Sounds like a simple request but I can't tell how to do it either! 

https://www.altera.com/content/dam/altera-www/global/en_us/pdfs/literature/hb/nios2/n2sw_nii5v2.pdf  Search for choose_default_stdio and read what it does. The nice way of doing it would be to figure out what you need to say to get "is_char_device" to return true for your module, but I can't figure it out. So in your shoes, I'd probably fake it by putting "stdio" in the module name or something.  Good luck

[Altera_Forum]

Hi ted, 

 thanks for the hint. At least putting stdio into the components name would be a way to go. Not my favorite solution, but at least something...  Thanks again and apologize that I was not able to find that piece of information myself.  Regards, Maik

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, 

 it seems as if I'm not finished, yet....  I renamed my UART from uart_1 to stdio_1 in SOPC builder (I'm using Quartus 9.1 for this project).  Now, while building the BSP on the command line, I get the message  SEVERE: [Error] altera_systemh_generator: <b>hal.stderr</b> out of range SEVERE: [Error] altera_systemh_generator: <b>hal.stdin</b> out of range SEVERE: [Error] altera_systemh_generator: <b>hal.stdout</b> out of range  Hmm, I dig into it, but maybe somebody has an idea how to solve this issue? (or at least, what it means in the first place?)  Regards, Maik

[Altera_Forum]

Just guessing, but did you check the base address that you defined on Qsys, if it is needed to manually setup/change somewhere in any file ?

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, 

 the address defined in SOPC builder was quiet high in the first place. It was just the same as the before used UART.  Since it said "out of range" I rearranged the address to a lower one right after the reset vector. Didn't help......  Currently, I'm using the FIFOed UART from the Altera WIKI. It worked immediately by using the same address and name.  I think, I stuck with this one for now, since it is working (although already found a bug in the FIFO depth definition, but was able to solve it for now).  Really, I don't know, where all those error messages come from and how to determine a solution for them.....  Regards, Maik

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  Hi,  it seems as if I'm not finished, yet....  I renamed my UART from uart_1 to stdio_1 in SOPC builder (I'm using Quartus 9.1 for this project).  Now, while building the BSP on the command line, I get the message  SEVERE: [Error] altera_systemh_generator: <b>hal.stderr</b> out of range SEVERE: [Error] altera_systemh_generator: <b>hal.stdin</b> out of range SEVERE: [Error] altera_systemh_generator: <b>hal.stdout</b> out of range  Hmm, I dig into it, but maybe somebody has an idea how to solve this issue? (or at least, what it means in the first place?)  Regards, Maik  --- Quote End ---    I'm running into a very similar issue. my error message is "[Error] hal: <b>hal.stdin</b> "uart_0" is out of range: "none", "lcd", "jtag_uart_1"" It seems like the range isn't related to address space, but to a list of acceptable interfaces. I'm not sure where that list is defined, since I don't have a module labeled "lcd" in the project.

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  Hi,  it seems as if I'm not finished, yet....  I renamed my UART from uart_1 to stdio_1 in SOPC builder (I'm using Quartus 9.1 for this project).  Now, while building the BSP on the command line, I get the message  SEVERE: [Error] altera_systemh_generator: <b>hal.stderr</b> out of range SEVERE: [Error] altera_systemh_generator: <b>hal.stdin</b> out of range SEVERE: [Error] altera_systemh_generator: <b>hal.stdout</b> out of range  Hmm, I dig into it, but maybe somebody has an idea how to solve this issue? (or at least, what it means in the first place?)  Regards, Maik  --- Quote End ---    Keeping in mind that I'm not that familiar with Altera tools yet, and I'm using a different version than you, I did find the solution to my problem. When running nios2-bsp I passed it the arguments "--set hal.stdout uart_0 --set hal.stdin uart_0 --set hal.stderr uart_0". My description from yesterday was about a project that has multiple .sopcinfo files and I thought I was using one, when in fact I was using a different one that did have and lcd module, but didn't have the uart module.  I believe editing bsp-set-defaults.tcl and lwhal-set-defaults.tcl and changing 'set default_stdio "CHOOSE_DEFAULT"' to 'set default_stdio "uart_0"' would achieve the same results, but it would mean all of your projects would have to have a uart_0 defined or you'll get the out of range errors.