Nios II on Ubuntu 10.04

From Crashcourse Wiki

Contents 1 What's this all about, then? 2 Links 2.1 [Nios community wiki] 2.2 [Nios Community FTP repository] 2.3 [Altera FTP repository] 3 Help/documentation/manuals 4 What to download (about to be removed) 5 Required Ubuntu 10.04 software packages 6 Trying out uClinux on your NEEK

[edit] What's this all about, then?

This is about documenting what it takes to get all the software set up on Ubuntu 10.04 to build and install Linux (both MMU and no-MMU versions) on my [Nios II Embedded Evaluation Kit (NEEK), Cyclone III Edition]. It's a work in progress so feel free to send feedback to rpjday@crashcourse.ca.

I'm not trying to duplicate the work already available at the [Nios wiki] -- I'm just trying to strip it down to its essentials so that it just plain works on Ubuntu 10.04, so I freely admit that I'm stealing content from various places.

[edit] Links

A vast collection of links to web sites, web pages and individual downloads, hopefully in some semblance of order. Obviously, an early work in progress so let me know what needs to be added or corrected.

[edit] [Nios community wiki]

• Non-MMU-based links.
  • [Try out uClinux with pre-built images].
  • The [pre-built binary toolchain].
  • [Setting up for a uClinux build].
  • [Build a uClinux distribution].
• MMU-based links.
  • [Main MMU page].

[edit] [Nios Community FTP repository]

• [GNU tools directory], including [pre-built toolchain].
• [Boards directory] and, specifically, [NEEK directory].
• [MMU-based Linux directory], including [latest tarball].
• [uClinux-based directory], including [latest tarball].

[edit] [Altera FTP repository]

Newest, Linux-related links only here.

• [91_altera_installer.tar].
• [91sp2_dsp_builder_linux.tar].
• [91sp2_modelsim_ae_linux.tar].
• [91sp2_modelsim_ase_linux.tar].
• [91sp2_nios2eds_linux.tar].
• [91sp2_quartus_free_linux.tar].
• [91sp2_quartus_linux.tar].

Other Altera-related links:

• [emb-eval-appsel.zip], which includes the eek.sh script.

[edit] Help/documentation/manuals

All kinds of links here. First, the official Altera docs:

• [Nios II literature page].
• [One-click download zip file].

And some miscellaneous links:

• [Manfred Schmid's NIOS2 uClinux tutorial page].
• [Linux NIOS II User Guide].

[edit] What to download (about to be removed)

Before we're even sure what we're going to need shortly, here's what I've listed for potential downloads:

• The most recent Nios II Linux tarball [here]. I am unaware of any newer one.
• Several Altera Quartus packages for Linux [here].
• A pre-built toolchain [here], although it's not clear we'll need it if we start from scratch.
• Pre-built uClinux zip file [here].

[edit] Required Ubuntu 10.04 software packages

... coming shortly ...

[edit] Trying out uClinux on your NEEK

Following the guidance [here], you can download Michael Schnell's most recent uClinux build [as a zip file], and unload the files:

• default_hw.flash
• zImage_sw.flash
• info.txt

onto your SD card in an appropriate subdirectory, then boot and select "uClinux."

To connect with the NEEK running uClinux, use your favourite serial communication program -- say, minicom -- set precisely to 115K, 8N1, no flow control, and a straight USB/serial converter cable (no need for null modem) if you have no serial ports. Given that that version of uClinux automatically runs dhcpcd for net connectivity, you'll get regular network diagnostics unless you kill the dhcpcd process.

Also mentioned on that page is the [SLS Console application selector], but I haven't tried that yet.