NIOSII - Write output to Dev kit LCD

Altera_Forum · ‎08-22-2005

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 · ‎08-23-2005

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 · ‎08-23-2005

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'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 · ‎08-23-2005

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's the eCos way of dealing with these devices...

Altera_Forum · ‎08-23-2005

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'$(SOPC_KIT_NIOS2)'/components/altera_avalon_lcd_16207/inc -I$(PREFIX)/include/cyg/hal

I rebuilt the library and the LCD is now working for me.

Thanks!

P.S.

I added -I'$(SOPC_KIT_NIOS2)'/components/altera_avalon_pio/inc -I$(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 · ‎08-23-2005

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

Altera_Forum · ‎08-24-2005

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 · ‎08-24-2005

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

-I'$(SOPC_KIT_NIOS2)'/components/altera_avalon_pio/inc -I$(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's what you had previously said you were doing.

Also, I just noticed that you were adding:

-I'$(SOPC_KIT_NIOS2)'/components/altera_avalon_lcd_16207/inc -I$(PREFIX)/include/cyg/hal

to get the LCD working. This should not be necessary.

Altera_Forum · ‎11-25-2005

Dear monkeyboy.

I'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$(INSTALL_DIR)/include -I'$(SOPC_KIT_NIOS2)'/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&#39;c:/altera/kits/nios2&#39;/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 · ‎11-28-2005

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

Altera_Forum · ‎11-30-2005

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 · ‎12-01-2005

Dear monkeyboy.

It' OK now.

CFLAGS = -I$(INSTALL_DIR)/include -I'$(SOPC_KIT_NIOS2)'/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.