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I think I'm skipping too many steps and hence not making heads or tails of this problem. So I think I'm going to take it one step at a time.
Where could I find simple design examples for the Stratix III board? There is only one example on the Dev Kit CD, but more would be helpful, espically some that could help me interface with the other components on the board
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Here's what I do.
1) Print the schematic (11 inch x 17 inch format)
2) Open any of the projects that ship with the part, and use Create Tcl File for project. Extract all the pin information from that file. Compare the pin list to the schematic and add any missing pins.
Reformat the pin list into something prettier, eg. a Tcl array with a loop that generates Quartus Tcl assignments - check out the de2_basic design at this thread;
http://www.alteraforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33462 3) Create a 'basic' top-level design containing the absolute minimal logic, eg., a blinky LED, or just push buttons connected to LEDs (see the de2_basic example).
4) P&R and download, and check things work.
This is your reference design. Check it into a code version system (CVS, Subversion, git, etc.).
5) Create a new design and start to test individual parts on the board.
For example, I make a lot of use of the JTAG interface, either the debug component SLD Virtual JTAG, or more recently the JTAG-to-Avalon-MM master component. This latter component allows you to build an SOPC system with PIO component. You can use that to toggle ports on the FPGA, and then work up from that.
Cheers,
Dave
Honored Contributor
