Hi,
Simple question.
Can I put a NiosII on an FPGA alone, no ROM no DRAM no SRAM no nothing, Just the FPGA ?
(examples and kits put me on the opposite extreme)
I understand that I would have little ram space etc... so programs will be small... etc etc... I just wonder if it is feasible and how to load all from the config device.
-- OR is there anything else more appropriate to place inside an FPGA easy to put working alone. (micro controller I mean). Luis C.
LC pisze:
Hi,
Yes, you can work with internal ram only. Yes you can store program in configuration memory used for FPGA.
I tested.
Adam
Excellent,
Would it be possible to have a bit more details on how to, just to ease my learning curve. Thanks.
Luis C.
Górski Adam wrote:
Or you can store the program in internal RAM (functioning as ROM) too for a fully self-contained system. To make this easier, there is a mechanism to update the RAM initialization contents without needing to do a full re-synthesis and PAR each time.
If you use SOPC Builder it is trivial to set this up.
- Just run SOPC Builder
- make a system with nios ii , internall ram and for example port i/o.
- generate system
- put generated system into top schematic
- build fpga image
- load to fpga
- run Nios ide
- and have some fun
That's all
Adam
Tks Adam. I started to play with it... looks indeed not too difficult.
lc.
Górski Adam wrote:
Tks. David. What is the trick to get the program uploaded to RAM and run it without re-synthesis ? Is that within the NIOS ide ? Or should I go back to quartus for some operation ? That is certainly the way to go while testing and debugging the code.
Thanks. Luis c.
David Spencer wrote:
Hi Luis,
1 ) You can run " Processing -> Update memory initialization file " and then "Processing -> Start Assembler" to update fpga image file with lastest NIOS code.2) You can use also EPCS controller module (SOPC Builder ) This is a little bit more complex. Just set start vector of your nios procesor to EPCS controller and build all again.
And finally use from Nios IDE "tools->Flash Programmer .." to program both *.sof and *.elf file
Adam
Many thanks for the very helpful guidelines.
Luis C.
Górski Adam wrote:
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