Altera DE2 Development & Education Board Frequently Asked Questions
General
Using the DE2 Board
Nios II & SOPC Builder
General
Are there VHDL versions of the source code for the demonstration projects?
No.
What other support resources are available?
There are many additional support resources available. Two of the most relevant resources for the DE2 board are:
Also, visit the University Program Support section of the Altera® website.
Where can I find the Verilog source code for the Control Panel?
The Verilog source code for the Control Panel was erroneously not
included on earlier versions of the DE2 CD. Starting with version 1.3,
the source code is included. You can download the latest version of the
DE2 CD from the DE2 information page.
The source code folder is located at DE2_demonstrations\DE2_USB_API\HW.
Using the Board
If the 27-MHz clock is not appearing on its pin, what needs to be configured?
The 27-MHz clock is fed to the FPGA from the TV decoder chip. The
chip has an active-low reset signal that inhibits the clock when it is
asserted to a low logic level. To get the 27-MHz clock to appear on the
input pin, the TV decoder chip's reset signal (TD_RESET, PIN_C4 on the
FPGA) must be asserted to a high logic level.
Should I implement support for a mouse with the PS/2 protocol or the USB protocol?
Both the PS/2 and USB protocols can be used to interact with a mouse
device. The choice of implementation is up to the designer, and there
are advantages and disadvantages to both. The PS/2 protocol is by far
the simpler of the two protocols; it can be implemented in much less
time and with less hardware resources. The USB protocol is more complex
and requires a hardware component and a software driver.
The DE2_NIOS_HOST_MOUSE_VGA demonstration project implements a USB
host controller that interfaces to a mouse device. The
DE2_NIOS_DEVICE_LED demonstration project implements a USB device
controller that connects the DE2 board to a computer via USB. These
demonstration projects can serve as a reference or starting point for
your own designs.
Nios II & SOPC Builder
Where can I find the board description file for the DE2 board to use with SOPC Builder?
Currently, there is not a board description file available for the DE2 board. Please refer to the question below to find out how you can still easily build a Nios II system that will work on the DE2 board.
How do I create a Nios II system that runs on the DE2 board?
A Nios II system that can be used with the DE2 board can be built out of individual SOPC Builder components.
The most rudimentary system consists of:
- Nios II CPU
- SDRAM Controller
Change the default data width to match the DE2 SDRAM's data width (16-bits). All other values can be left at defaults.
- JTAG UART
This is not strictly necessary, but it can serve as an interactive peripheral (in this case, as a console terminal).
- System ID Peripheral
This is also not strictly necessary, but it is a good practice to
insert this component into every system to make sure that the software
is running on the correct version of the hardware.
Add those components to your system in SOPC Builder and then generate the system. In your Quartus®
II project, create a top-level module that instantiates the SOPC
Builder system and make the appropriate pin assignments. Compiling the
project in Quartus II will generate the hardware for the Nios II system
and you can use the Nios II IDE to write and test the software.
I want to use a peripheral in my system - where can I get a SOPC Builder component for it?
Some of the peripherals on the DE2 board will work with standard components:
| Table 1. Peripherals and Their SOPC Components |
| Peripheral |
SOPC Component
|
| Buttons |
Parallel I/O (PIO)
|
| Switches |
Parallel I/O (PIO)
|
| LEDs |
Parallel I/O (PIO)
|
| SDRAM |
SDRAM controller
|
| Expansion Headers |
Parallel I/O (PIO)
|
| Serial Port |
UART
|
For the other peripherals, there are no standard components.
However, all the peripherals have been used in Nios II projects as a
part of at least one of the demonstration projects by using custom SOPC
components. Also, you can code your own SOPC component; datasheets for
all but the simplest peripherals are provided on the CD-ROM.
|
Literature
> 
