'Nios2' 'Nios II' isa compatible to newer buildroot toolchain

[beyondTime]

Hello @all,

is NiosII cpu isa (instruction set architecture, summary?) compatible within all NiosII implementations over years NiosII has been available (>2004?), yet?

Is buildroot toolchain's compiler (nios2-linux-gcc or nios2-buildroot-linux-gcc) suitable for compiling kernel and how to download a u-boot (or other bootloader) to a preset (.sof, .sopc) fpga environment through Usb blaster programmer/jtag-debugger.

Thanks @all for Your time and efforts. 

Sincerely, beyondTime

( nios2eds 13.0sp1, Xenial 16.04 )

background information beside technical context https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/programmable/us/en/pdfs/literature/pr/nios2_backgrounder.pdf

[EricMunYew_C_Intel]

Yes, the Nios II ISA are compatible among all variants.

You can refer to below for Nios II builroot toolchain:

https://rocketboards.org/foswiki/Documentation/NiosIILinuxUserManualForCycloneIII

[beyondTime]

Thank you for replying.

Maybe it is easier directly loading a Linux Kernel to start entry point instead of adjusting u-boot to preconfigured Nios II setup.

Just learned that this start entry point can vary for every new hardware configuration, if enabled hardware changes memory, interrupt and peripherals maps.

Best regards,

beyondTime

( nios2eds 13.0sp1, Xenial 16.04 )

[beyondTime]

Thank you for replying.

Maybe it is easier directly loading a Linux Kernel to start entry point instead of adjusting u-boot to preconfigured Nios II setup.

Just learned that this start entry point can vary for every new hardware configuration, if enabled hardware changes memory, interrupt and peripherals maps.

Best regards,

beyondTime

( nios2eds 13.0sp1, Xenial 16.04 )