Linux Framebuffer on NEEK

Altera_Forum · ‎08-05-2010

Hello,

This is probably another newbie question :rolleyes:. I'm quite new to linux and learned a lot here on the forum and on the nios-wiki site. I tried the standard prebuild linux images and they all worked very fine.

So I tried to move on to the next stage and build a new kernel with a framebuffer inside (as explained on the nios wiki site). The kernel builds fine, all the uploading goes fine, but I see nothing happening on the screen of the NEEK. Also nothing happens when I use the nios2-terminal command. I used the cycloneIII-standard sof file with a SGDMA inside as recommended here on the forum.

Here's the code I get in my terminal:

$ nios2-configure-sof /home/hacor/Desktop/standard/cycloneIII_embedded_evaluation_kit_standard.sof 
Info: *******************************************************************
Info: Running Quartus II Programmer
Info: Command: quartus_pgm --no_banner --mode=jtag -o p;/home/hacor/Desktop/standard/cycloneIII_embedded_evaluation_kit_standard.sof
Info: Using programming cable "USB-Blaster "
Info: Started Programmer operation at Thu Aug  5 20:44:29 2010
Info: Configuring device index 1
Info: Device 1 contains JTAG ID code 0x020F30DD
Info: Configuration succeeded -- 1 device(s) configured
Info: Successfully performed operation(s)
Info: Ended Programmer operation at Thu Aug  5 20:44:30 2010
Info: Quartus II Programmer was successful. 0 errors, 0 warnings
    Info: Peak virtual memory: 60 megabytes
    Info: Processing ended: Thu Aug  5 20:44:30 2010
    Info: Elapsed time: 00:00:02
    Info: Total CPU time (on all processors): 00:00:00
~/nios2-linux/uClinux-dist/images
$ nios2-download -g linux.initramfs.gz 
Using cable "USB-Blaster ", device 1, instance 0x00
Pausing target processor: OK
Initializing CPU cache (if present)
OK
Downloaded 5266KB in 45.5s (115.7KB/s)
Verified OK                         
Starting processor at address 0xD0000000
~/nios2-linux/uClinux-dist/images
$ nios2-terminal
nios2-terminal: connected to hardware target using JTAG UART on cable
nios2-terminal: "USB-Blaster ", device 1, instance 0
nios2-terminal: (Use the IDE stop button or Ctrl-C to terminate)
nios2-terminal: exiting due to ^C on host
~/nios2-linux/uClinux-dist/images
$

I guess the problem lies somewhere in the old vendor_hwselect routine, I read it was eliminated from the new distribution, but it's not really clear for me how to link the sof file with the kernel image, this used to happen through the ptf file with the vendor_hwselect..

Does the kernel automatically uses this ptf file when the user selects the NEEK board in the make menuconfig

I hope this was a clear explenation.

Thanks!

Best,

Hans