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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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16 years ago

DE2-70 to Communicate With Host Application

Hello,

I've bought the DE2-70 board and I am beginner to FPGAs. Would someone please tell me how do I write a host application that do open, send/receive messages to/from board? I guess TERASIC_JTAG.dll covers these functions but how do I use it? I am lost and I can't figure out. Also, is it possible to debug NIOS/C application while running host application?

DE2_70_video utility is what I am trying to make it work. At least capture a video frame.

Thank you,

Luisa

3 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    16 years ago

    Luisa,

    you can communicate and debug via the JTAG interface on the DE2-70 board. This can be done by making a Nios-II architecture and adding the JTAG-UART to your Nios architecture in SOPC.

    The protocol to communicate from the DE2-70 to the outside world (your PC) is of course something that you decide on by your own protocol.

    The board has an example application, but as far as I know no source code for the PC part. The TERASIC_JTAG.dll is provided as an example.

    In case you would build on the exisiting application, you would have to reverse engineer the TerasIC protocol from the Nios-II C-code and write your own PC application. Also the way how the hardware is made and linked to the Nios processor will only allow you to get this video communication at a very low transmission speed.

    Hope this helps...
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    16 years ago

    Hello Sanmao,

    Can you advice me a fast link other than JTAG for video transmission? Maybe ethernet interface? Might be also easier to communicate via eth for host and board communication.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    16 years ago

    Luisa,

    the DE2-70 has a 10/100M Ethernet port that you could use for your purpose. You can use a Nios-II processor and the Ethernet port to implement your communication.