Alternatives to NIOS

[Altera_Forum]

I'm getting a bit frustrated with NIOS and I'd like to consider alternative soft-cores. NIOS seems to be very powerful for OS implementations, but not too efficient for small microcontroller-like applications. 

 At this point, I'm looking for a free, ideally open-source soft-core. Anybody tried other soft-cores?  What about Mico32/Mico8, and MicroBlaze/PicoBlaze open-source clones like PacoBlaze? Is it legal to use them in Altera devices?  Thanks,

[Altera_Forum]

maybe it will be harder to find any IP with cores other than NIOS

[Altera_Forum]

http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeosqt4/embeddedcengine 

 The above link can download the source code parser that includes a software model of the hardware. The demo code is to show that C like statements can be executed without being compiled to many cpu instructions.  The attachment is a Quartus 9.1 archive of the hardware design.  The final design is to be a custom component used by SOPC Builder as general purpose(programmable) accelerators to lessen the load of the application processor.