OK, OK.
Altera offers 3 type of tools. (plus extensions)
Quartus II - Free WEB version (has less parts coverage and limited IP)
- Full Subscription bundled with Kits - dies after 1 year.
- Full Subscription - after 1 year, updates will not be licensed, but tool will work ~forever - full tool comes with something called the Base IP Suite - things like Memory controllers, etc.
After too many years of people installing Quartus II and forgetting to also install the MegaWizard IP (of the same revision) - the current installation of the Quartus II tools (8.0) automatically installs the Altera IP (MegaWizard IP library) at the same time.
This is where it gets confusing. - The hardware that make up the NIOS II processor is considered IP, so it gets loaded along with all the other IP (but it is not fully functional - OpenCorePlus) unless you also have a NIOS II IP feature line in your License file.
When you purchase the NIOS II IDE (Software tools GUI) you get the license feature line that allows the hardware to execute without being OpenCorePlus.
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Having said all that, I lucked out one year at a seminar and asked a question from just the right person as to what was the thinking behind the KITs and the 1 year Full version of the tools. The reply was that the price of the Kits is set to cover the costs of the hardware in the kit and production costs assiciated with putting the kit together - the Software tools are just included in case a customer does not already have their own tools - sort of....
The reference designs that come with a kit currently are designed with a particular release of a kit, syncronized to that kit release time (tools version). Altera is working on a method to release example designs that will stay current with each tool release (and SP) as they are released.
Having said all that, yes, one can certainly figure out ways to purchase kits every year or so and will in fact get their tools at a considerably lower price then if they just buy the tool only as you have determined. And you get some form of download cable as well!
Happy shopping!
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