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Can higher level applications (like LabView) talk to the Altera application on the host?
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Not without a little extra work.
There are effectively two separate methods to create JTAG interfaces; low-level access via the Virtual JTAG IP core, and access via SOPC Builder components such as the JTAG to Avalon-MM master bridge. Both of these IP components come with a corresponding set of Tcl procedures.
The Tcl procedures access the JTAG interface via DLLs with unpublished APIs. There are posts explaining how to use some of these directly, but I have not tried this.
I've used both the Virtual JTAG and Avalon-MM IP cores. I'd recommend playing with the Avalon-MM IP first. Using Qsys or SOPC Builder, create a system with a JTAG to Avalon-MM master, a RAM block, and a GPIO block, and use SystemConsole Tcl commands to access this system.
I recall a fairly decent webinar on the topic ... perhaps it was one of these
http://www.altera.com/support/examples/on-chip-debugging/on-chip-debugging.html Have a look at that stuff, and if it becomes too confusing, I'll create a design and some scripts for you to play with.
Back, to your original question; Labview cannot talk to any of these IP cores directly, since the access is via a console in an Altera application. However, you can write a Tcl server, start that using the appropriate quartus command-line tool and then use sockets from Labview. Not ideal, but not too ugly either.
Cheers,
Dave
Honored Contributor
