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Altera_Forum
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11 years ago

Altera Ethernet Example for BeMicro A9

https://www.altera.com/support/support-resources/design-examples/intellectual-property/embedded/nios-ii/exm-net-std-de.html

Above is the closest example that I can find for a good Ethernet example.

But we are using the Bemicro CV A9 board (https://parts.arrow.com/item/detail/arrow-development-tools/bemicrocva9#cnzg), and we would like to adapt the Ethernet example to this board. However there are some differences that I have encountered during adaptation process.

One difference is that the ethernet example uses a CFI Flash Memory interface, but the A9 does not have a flash, what should I use instead?

Thanks,

Jack

5 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    Are you sure that CFI Flash is not for storing firmware for boot? You could use Flash that is onboard (256 Mb QSPI) maybe?

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    I've seen an app note that details how to use a boot loader in on-chip ram to copy data from serial flash like your board uses to sdram and then run the NIOS software from there. You should be able to adapt that example to your needs. If all else fails, you could write some code to issue a read command from the serial flash to sdram and then branch to it manually.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    CFI flash in the ethernet example is used for storing the MAC address.

    On BeMicro A9, just use the EEPROM or the EPCQ or the SD card, whichever you find easiest and most appropriate for your application.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    Just a note: Ethernet works only if board is powered from POWER JACK.