NIOS II

[Altera_Forum]

I am new to using the DE2 board. I don't know about writing the NIOS II assembly language or using NIOS II IDE either. 

 I am using DE2 board for my university project. I need to use the SDRAM to store some images. Can I use this without knowing the NIOS II IDE? In other words can I use read the data on the SDRAM through VHDL entity (as we do in any other simple RAM) or do I have to run a program on the NIOS II in order to access the data?  Any help is appreciated...

[Altera_Forum]

In general, you will use mostly C, but not assembly. 

I don't know if it is helpful or too difficult, but you may follow the wiki to try out something in uClinux. There is precompiled image to run on DE2. You can save files in the sdarm then. http://nioswiki.jot.com/%c2%b5clinux (http://nioswiki.jot.com/%c2%b5clinux)

[Altera_Forum]

While it is possible to access the SDRAM directly from VHDL (the SDRAM component does handle refreshing the memory by itself), it is certainly easier to use C from the Nios IDE. 

Let me explain it, you already know that Nios IDE exists, but you do not know anything about accessing SDRAM from VHDL, which seems closer to a solution. There are precompiled processors for the DE2 board, and the Nios IDE offers simple software demos, read some getting started manuals first.  IzI

[Altera_Forum]

Thanks a lot guys, I will browse the wiki site .... It seems using NIOS II IDE is the better option. 

Thanks a lot!!