NIOSII - Write output to Dev kit LCD

[Altera_Forum]

I am trying to switch over to eCos from MicroC/OS-II. I have succesfully installed eCos for NIOS 5.0. I have built and run the eCos hello example. 

 I am now trying to modify the hello example to write to the LCD of my dev kit. Altera Cyclone II standard 2C35.  The code will build with my reference to the /dev/lcd_display put I get no output to the LCD.  I have tried running in debug but this seems to misbehave when I get to my lCD code.   Anyone run across this ?   Thanks.

[Altera_Forum]

Hi jkealty, 

 Make sure the Compact Flash card is not plugged into it's socket. Due to a hardware constraint on the Nios evaluation boards, you cannot have the LCD and Compact Flash plugged in simultaneously.

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, 

 Thanks for the suggestion, but I do not have the compact flash inserted. I did some debuging of this and I am finding that the /dev/lcd_display is not being recognised by the system. I am checking the return value from cyg_io_lookup and it indicates that the lcd_display does not exist. I am wondering if any devices are being defined since I get the same results for the LED&#39;s.   The stange thing is, in the <cyg/hal> directory I found a devices.h file that was created from the std_2C35.ptf file when I generated the eCos library.  I also know that my dev kit is fully functional because I can use all devices when I run code under MicroC/OS-II.  I am missing something, but do not know what it is.  Thanks,

[Altera_Forum]

To use the LCD you need to have the "hardware serial device drivers" option enabled. This is located under the "Serial device drivers" folder in configtool. 

 This is a little unintuitive - but unfortuanely it&#39;s the eCos way of dealing with these devices...

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, 

 Thanks for your prompt response.  I enabled the Hardware Serial Devices in ConfigTool.   I have also added the extra compiler CFLAGS options to my makefile:  -I&#39;$(SOPC_KIT_NIOS2)&#39;/components/altera_avalon_lcd_16207/inc -I$(PREFIX)/include/cyg/hal  I rebuilt the library and the LCD is now working for me.  Thanks!  P.S.  I added -I&#39;$(SOPC_KIT_NIOS2)&#39;/components/altera_avalon_pio/inc -I$(PREFIX)/include/cyg/hal so I could use any of the PIO devices in my hardware. However, I get an undefined reference to IOWR_ALTERA_AVALON_PIO_DATA when I tried to use it like shown below:   IOWR_ALTERA_AVALON_PIO_DATA(LED_PIO_BASE, 1); // turn on LED# 1  I am curious if the PIO devices have an enable/disable feature in the configtool too?

[Altera_Forum]

There&#39;s no eCos component for the PIO. You need to make direct register accesses (as you described).

[Altera_Forum]

monkeyboy, 

 Thanks for your assistance. I can now access all of my PIO interfaced devices.  FYI for anyone coming from MicroC/OS:  You need to include the following header file. # include <cyg/hal/io.h> /* Additional HAL device IO support.*/  You will also need to replace all ALTERA AVALON PIO reads and writes Such as: IOWR_ALTERA_AVALON_PIO_DATA and IORD_ALTERA_AVALON_PIO_DATA  With: IOWR_16DIRECT(BASE, OFFSET, DATA) and IORD_16DIRECT(BASE, OFFSET)  You will need to use the appropriate size function i.e. 8,16,32 bits too.   http://forum.niosforum.com/work2/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif

[Altera_Forum]

An easier way to do this is to just include altera_avalon_pio.h, and add the compiler flags:  

 -I&#39;$(SOPC_KIT_NIOS2)&#39;/components/altera_avalon_pio/inc -I$(PREFIX)/include/cyg/hal.   That way you can continue to use the same macros you would have used in the Altera HAL or MicroC/OS-II. I thought that&#39;s what you had previously said you were doing.  Also, I just noticed that you were adding:   -I&#39;$(SOPC_KIT_NIOS2)&#39;/components/altera_avalon_lcd_16207/inc -I$(PREFIX)/include/cyg/hal  to get the LCD working. This should not be necessary.

[Altera_Forum]

Dear monkeyboy. 

 I&#39;m tring to include "altera_avalon_pio.h", as you wrote.  (1) Adding this line to my c-file.# include "altera_avalon_pio.h" (2) Modifying CFLAG in makefile. CFLAGS = -I$(INSTALL_DIR)/include -I&#39;$(SOPC_KIT_NIOS2)&#39;/components/altera_avalon_pio/inc -I$(PREFIX)/include/cyg/hal  But when I built the project, this error message appeared.  make INSTALL_DIR=/cygdrive/c/temp/ecos_install all nios2-elf-gcc -c -o hello.o -I/cygdrive/c/temp/ecos_install/include -I'c:/altera/kits/nios2'/components/altera_avalon_pio/inc -I/include/cyg/hal -g -O3 -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions -fvtable-gc -DSYSTEM_BUS_WIDTH=32 -mhw-mul -mhw-mulx -mno-hw-div hello.c cc1: warning: command line option "-fno-rtti" is valid for C++/ObjC++ but not for C cc1: warning: command line option "-fvtable-gc" is valid for C++/ObjC++ but not for C hello.c:3:31: altera_avalon_pio.h: No such file or directory make: *** Error 1  What is wrong? Please tell me why.  Thank you. Best regards.

[Altera_Forum]

My mistake. The file you wanted was altera_avalon_pio_regs.h, not altera_avalon_pio.h.

[Altera_Forum]

Thank you, monkeyboy. 

 But I got this error message. c:/altera/kits/nios2/components/altera_avalon_pio/inc/altera_avalon_pio_regs.h:34:16: io.h: No such file or directory  How can I solve it? There are so many "io.h". Which "io.h" must I include?  Thank you.

[Altera_Forum]

Dear monkeyboy. 

 It&#39; OK now.  CFLAGS = -I$(INSTALL_DIR)/include -I&#39;$(SOPC_KIT_NIOS2)&#39;/components/altera_avalon_pio/inc -I$(PREFIX)/include/cyg/hal  In my PC, $(PREFIX) was not defined. So, I changed "PREFIX" to "INSTALL_DIR", then, it works OK.  Thank you.