Bootloading with flash-config devices

Hi everyone,

Sorry if this topic has come up before - I have read numerous threads on this newsgroups regarding this topic, however, I cannot seem to piece together a straight answer. Basically, I would like to boot up my NIOS processor from an EPCS device upon powerup. Since my current board doesn't have any parallel flash, I thought adding an SPI flash onto extra pins could be done instead, provided I wrote some custom code to bootload from that. Then I learnt that their EPCS devices are the same thing as the ST micro Flash devices :) So now, my question is, I have a

64Mbit flash device from STMicro. Can I use this too bootload my FPGA and NIOS processor?? I have read some application notes, particularly:

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And this seems great and all, however, I can only select EPCS1 and 4 from SOPC builder in the ASMI interface. Any easy way to do this?

With Nios II, all EPCS devices are supported, in the manner you mention. With Nios, I'm not sure.

With respect to the ST micro device you mention, I'm not sure, though I would suspect that something in the toolchain would fail when accessing the Silicon ID...

Here's the basic flow, if using Nios II:

Create a target board using the mk_target_board script. - This is where the ASMI component is used (1,4,8,16,64 are pretty much meaningless...)
Create an SOPC Builder design referencing this "target board" design. - Be sure to include an epcs_controller component and point the Reset Address to that component.
Generate your design.
Program in Quartus II.
Generate your code in the IDE.
Program your code to flash. - Your "EPCS" device should be the only choice. - If you have a Silicon ID problem, this would be where you'd see it.
If successful, then just power cycle your board and it should come up running your code from step 5.

Cheers,

- Brendan