Altera FPGA¶
This page provides a collection of general information and links to information related to the FPGA products made by Altera.
- Devices - http://www.altera.com/products/devices/dev-index.jsp
- Quartus II Demo - http://www.altera.com/education/demonstrations/my-first-compile/demo.html
- FPGA Design Flow - http://www.altera.com/products/software/flows/fpga/flo-fpga.html *
NI does NOT support the Altera devices.
Matlab DOES support these via http://www.altera.com/products/ip/altera/t-alt-matlab.html The process is:- SimulinkHDL to develop and debug an algorithm
- Generate an HDL file
- Use Altera's tool to develop I/O and link the HDL file.
- Transfer the code to the target hardware
The Quartus II software includes it's own version control feature and maintains it's own versions. Developers should still place the entire project folder under version control within a subversion repository.
Create a folder for the Quartus designs. Then create a separate sub-folder for each project. This helps keep the files from different projects organized and separated. If multiple projects are placed in the same folder there could be file name collisions.
Tips¶
DISCLAIMER - These are based primarily on Mark Anderson's personal observations in working with the device.
If programming in Verilog, the module name MUST be the same as the file name.
The USB Blaster will only exist if:
- the DE2-115 is plugged into a PC's USB port
- the other end of the USB cable is plugged into the proper port on the DE2-115 - the Blaster port
- the DE2-115 is turned on
After compiling an updated version of an application, re-launch the programmer from the Quartus window. It does not appear that the programmer will take the new version of the download file unless this is done.
If you get a lot of pin assignment errors and/or the SOF file won't download to the DE2-115, check that the correct device was selected. For the DE2-115 this is the EP4CE115F29C7.
If you copy & paste items in the schematic method of data entry, the software will create identical "instance" names and thus not compile your application. You need to edit each copied item (chip, GND, etc.) and change that instance name to be unique.