Anybody else have problems with MAX 10 internal flash and Nios flash programmer?

[blueduck577]

Hey guys, I've been playing with the MAX 10 FPGA and have a pretty good prototype design.  I'd like to write my design to the internal flash but the Nios flash programmer just isn't having it.

The problem arises with sof2flash.  When I run it, I get error code 3 - Unrecognized device family in SOF.  This happens with the both the Nios flash programmer tool and sof2flash from the command line.  Everything else seems to be working fine.  I can convert just the SOF to a POF and program the flash using Quartus programmer.

A friend of a friend is a local representative for Altera and I've talked with him a bit, but he didn't seem to have a solution for me.  Some questions I've already answered for him that you'll probably ask:

• Quartus Version: 14.0.2 Build 209 (freshly downloaded and installed yesterday)
• Nios II EDS Version: 14.0.0.200 Build id: 201406181529
• SBT4E Core Version: 14.0.0.209
  
• I am using the Nios II Gen2
• JTAG debug works
• I have an instance of the On-Chip Flash IP in my design in Qsys
• I can successfully download the design to RAM
• I can successfully convert the SOF to a POF and program the flash using Quartus programmer

It just seems like the Nios tools aren't ready, and there isn't a way to convert and join my programming files so I can just use the Quartus programmer.  Has anybody else run into this issue?  I'm sure I can't be the first.

Has anybody else even successfully programmed the flash with a complete Nios II system (hardware and software)?

Thanks!

[miguelvp]

I'm waiting for Arrow to carry theirs:

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Altera/EK-10M08E144ES-P/?qs=%2fha2pyFadug5SGINdZNV3MsMlTgI0l7zEuXLhyljE15EaIvj3kP77Q%3d%3d

But maybe you can find something in the full docs.
http://www.altera.com/literature/lit-max-10.jsp

I'm downloading the update 2 but since I don't have the device I won't be able to reproduce it.

[marshallh]

Friend on the inside says 14.0 support for Max10 is very buggy, and to wait for 14.1 which is forthcoming.

[Rigby]

if you could find out when windows 10 will be supported in quartus ii, that'd be excellent.  it crashes for me every time as it's assembling the file to sent to the fpga.  i haven't tried it with a max10 yet, so it's probably gonna happen for any device.

[blueduck577]

Got some more information from a separate contact on the inside. Turns out there is no MAX 10 support in the latest release of sof2flash. Also, the up and coming release doesn't seem to have support either (well, not yet at least). At least we've now got a bug in Altera's ear and hopefully it will make it into the next release.

[miguelvp]

I got my Max10 so I can try it now, I know I can flash it within Quartus II.
I haven't tried yet the NiosII lab, but I will.

Embedded Systems Lab @
http://www.alterawiki.com/wiki/BeMicro_MAX_10#Empty_Baseline_Project_.28starting_point_for_your_own_design.29

Do you think you can still program a Nios II soft core without using sof2flash?
I have not done much with NiosII in the past but I'll follow the lab and report if it works or not.

[blueduck577]

Just took a quick look at the tutorial. It goes as far as running the software application on the target (volatile), but never gets around to actually writing the software to the flash memory.

[miguelvp]

Sorry I never had a chance on the past two days to do it. Kind of have been busy whit the Seek thermal camera

[Rigby]

If you're familiar with using Quartus to save to flash on other devices, I'm sure it's a very similar process.  It would be a matter of looking up the MAX10 datasheet and finding the encoding and that stuff.

I think.  Not sure.  I'm still pretty new at this kind of thing.

[miguelvp]

He is talking about what this part of a tutorial does to use the soft core untethered, program and all:

https://sites.google.com/site/fpgaandco/NiosII-standalone#TOC-Making-it-stick-

Maybe I get some time this coming weekend

[Rigby]

oh, you have to license the niosII core to run it untethered, I believe.  that may be the root issue, I don't know.  I'm jumping in to this conversation late and may not comprehend exactly what the problem is.  take my words with a pinch of salt.

[miguelvp]

You can run the basic NIOS II untethered as far as I know it's license free.

[blueduck577]

Yes, you can run the Nios II/e untethered no problem.  But that isn't the question - the Nios hardware is embedded in the .sof which can be written to flash using the Quartus programmer.

The problem lies in the process of joining the .sof and .elf into one programming file to write to flash.

He is talking about what this part of a tutorial does to use the soft core untethered, program and all:

https://sites.google.com/site/fpgaandco/NiosII-standalone#TOC-Making-it-stick-

Maybe I get some time this coming weekend

This is a similar process to what I've tried.  This is for the DE0 nano board though (Cyclone series), not a MAX 10 device.  I can successfully take Nios hardware and software, follow this procedure and successfully program the flash on a Cyclone IV dev board I have.

Edit: to clarify, the Nios II flash programmer tool is a nice GUI for the command-line tools.  It simply makes a script that calls the command-line tools.  Using either approach results in the same thing: sof2flash complains that the MAX 10 isn't supported.

[miguelvp]

So I did follow the sample (they have some mistakes in the doc that I had to overcome, not to mention that the first sample they posted half a month ago didn't work and the new one was using too many m9k blocks because they trying for 32KB on chip as well as other things, so I had to reduce the memory on-chip to 24K so the fitter would not complain)

Anyways, because they use some opencores IPs and because the NiosII version is not licensed I had to run tethered.

The sample code in eclipse is just a counter upper and down and up by three and the LEDs light up. The NiosII core has other things done including external memory accelerometer support, flash memory etc..

The thing is that because I don't have a license I can't burn it into flash. I might try to do a simple NiosII/E or whichever is the one that doesn't need the license.

Here is the led control program running, didn't try the rest of their labs programs.

Code: [Select]


bemicro_led_control program starting...

CONGRATULATIONS!  You have successfully compiled a Nios II project!

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Press '3' to count by threes

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 -  counting up by 1
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0x10 0x11 0x12 0x13 0x14 0x15 0x16 0x17 0x18 0x19 0x1a 0x1b 0x1c 0x1d 0x1e 0x1f
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0xe0 0xe1 0xe2 0xe3 0xe4 0xe5 0xe6 0xe7 0xe8 0xe9 0xea 0xeb 0xec 0xed 0xee 0xef
0xf0 0xf1 0xf2 0xf3 0xf4 0xf5 0xf6 0xf7 0xf8 0xf9 0xfa 0xfb 0xfc 0xfd 0xfe 0xff


BeMicro LED control program completed its loop ...


Press 'u' to count up
Press 'd' to count down
Press '3' to count by threes
You selected: 'd'
 -  counting down by 1
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0xf 0xe 0xd 0xc 0xb 0xa 0x9 0x8 0x7 0x6 0x5 0x4 0x3 0x2 0x1 0x0


BeMicro LED control program completed its loop ...


Press 'u' to count up
Press 'd' to count down
Press '3' to count by threes

3
You selected: '3'
 -  counting up by 3
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0xf0 0xf3 0xf6 0xf9 0xfc 0xff

BeMicro LED control program completed its loop ...


Press 'u' to count up
Press 'd' to count down
Press '3' to count by threes



[miguelvp]

That said if I try to use the Nios II Flash Programmer I do get your same errors, but then again my sof is a time limited one.

Code: [Select]

Info: Oct 29, 2014 3:19:15 AM - (FINE) sof2flash: Starting
Info: Oct 29, 2014 3:19:15 AM - (SEVERE) sof2flash: Unrecognized device family in SOF.
Info: The sof2flash utility takes an FPGA configuration file in SOF format and
Info: translates it to a FLASH file that can be programmed into the flash
Info: memory connected to an Altera FPGA.
Info:
Info: usage: sof2flash [--programmingmode=programmingmode] [--log=file]
Info:        [--activeparallel] [--epcq] [--options=file] [--epcs] [--pfl] [--debug]
Info:        [--offset=addr] [--timestamp] [--optionbit=optionbitaddress] [--verbose]
Info:        [--output=file] [--epcq128] [--save] [--help] [--input=file] [--quiet]
Info:        [--compress]
Info:
Info: Options may be specified in any order.
Info:
Info:     --activeparallel                      create parallel flash contents
Info:                                           for active parallel programming
Info:     --compress                            compress the SOF
Info:     --debug                               debug mode
Info:     --epcq                                EPCQ flash mode of size
Info:                                           256Mbits
Info:     --epcq128                             EPCQ flash mode of size
Info:                                           128Mbits or less
Info:     --epcs                                EPCS flash mode
Info:     --help                                print this message
Info:     --input=<file>                        input SOF file to process
Info:     --log=<file>                          file for logging progress
Info:     --offset=<addr>                       design location within the
Info:                                           flash
Info:     --optionbit=<optionbitaddress>        Option Bit Address
Info:     --options=<file>                      intermediate Options file (for
Info:                                           EPCS only)
Info:     --output=<file>                       output flash file
Info:     --pfl                                 Pfl mode
Info:     --programmingmode=<programmingmode>   Programming mode
Info:     --quiet                               only print errors
Info:     --save                                save intermediate files
Info:     --timestamp                           produce a s0 record with
Info:                                           timestamp of input file
Info:     --verbose                             lots of interesting
Info:                                           information
Error: Error code: 3 for command: sof2flash --input="D:/projects/FPGA/BeMicro/MAX10/bemicro_m10_embedded_lab_14_0/output_files/bemicro_m10_nios2_top_time_limited.sof" --output="D:/projects/FPGA/BeMicro/MAX10/bemicro_m10_embedded_lab_14_0/flash/bemicro_m10_nios2_top_time_limited_serial_flash_controller.flash" --offset=0x0 --verbose