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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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18 years ago

Is Nios II free?

Is the Nios II processor free? I have checked the Altera website but I do not quite understand what a time limited license is? Is the IDE time limited or is the processor that runs in your FPGA time ...
Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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18 years ago

To add to what Avatar said...

The license Avatar talks about is pretty cheap: $495 a seat.

If that's too much, Altera does offer a free (as in $0) time limited license too, which you mentioned in your question. They call this "OpenCore Plus". Great for evaluating with having to pony up the 500 bucks.

The way the OC+ license works is that the Nios core will run forever as long as a Blaster programming cable is connected to the board. Once the programming cable is disconnected the Nios core will time out after a certain amount of time (not sure exactly how long, I think it depends on clock speed.)