system console, external memory, multiple masters

Hey Dave

So i spent the rest of the day trying to get signal tap to work. i managed to get it to compile a couple times, but most of the time quartus just errored out with this:

Problem Details
Error:
Internal Error: Sub-system: VPR20KMAIN, File: /quartus/fitter/vpr20k/quartus_interface/qi_common/vpr_qi_external_api_interface.cpp, Line: 5961
Internal Error
Stack Trace:
   0x48ff70: VPR_QI_FACADE::unload + 0x110 (fitter_vpr20kmain)
    0xd1c57: BSYN_LABMGR_INTERFACE::operator= + 0xc9e77 (fitter_vpr20kmain)
   0x416e7d: BSYN_LABMGR_INTERFACE::operator= + 0x40f09d (fitter_vpr20kmain)
   0x6479d4: VPR_QI_FACADE::apl_incr_place_and_cluster + 0x1b7384 (fitter_vpr20kmain)
   0x2faabc: BSYN_LABMGR_INTERFACE::operator= + 0x2f2cdc (fitter_vpr20kmain)
   0x2f8aae: BSYN_LABMGR_INTERFACE::operator= + 0x2f0cce (fitter_vpr20kmain)
     0xb43e: BSYN_LABMGR_INTERFACE::operator= + 0x365e (fitter_vpr20kmain)
     0xa961: BSYN_LABMGR_INTERFACE::operator= + 0x2b81 (fitter_vpr20kmain)
    0x2696f: BSYN_LABMGR_INTERFACE::operator= + 0x1eb8f (fitter_vpr20kmain)
    0x5d2ee: BSYN_LABMGR_INTERFACE::operator= + 0x5550e (fitter_vpr20kmain)
    0x5c82c: BSYN_LABMGR_INTERFACE::operator= + 0x54a4c (fitter_vpr20kmain)
   0x229e88: BSYN_LABMGR_INTERFACE::operator= + 0x2220a8 (fitter_vpr20kmain)
   0x22934b: BSYN_LABMGR_INTERFACE::operator= + 0x22156b (fitter_vpr20kmain)
   0x48f96c: VPR_QI_FACADE::vpr_qi_main + 0x3c (fitter_vpr20kmain)
    0x35740: fitapi_run_vpr + 0x70 (fitter_fitapi)
    0x1bc7f: fsv_execute + 0x338f (fitter_fsv)
    0x1b6dd: fsv_execute + 0x2ded (fitter_fsv)
    0x1ab12: fsv_execute + 0x2222 (fitter_fsv)
    0x18912: fsv_execute + 0x22 (fitter_fsv)
     0xe142: fmain_start + 0x8e2 (FITTER_FMAIN)
    0x14410: TclInvokeStringCommand + 0xf0 (tcl86)
    0x161e2: TclNRRunCallbacks + 0x62 (tcl86)
    0x17a65: TclEvalEx + 0xa65 (tcl86)
    0xa6f8b: Tcl_FSEvalFileEx + 0x22b (tcl86)
    0xa5646: Tcl_EvalFile + 0x36 (tcl86)
    0x13962: qexe_evaluate_tcl_command + 0x582 (comp_qexe)
    0x12adc: qexe_apply_ini_vars + 0x29ec (comp_qexe)
    0x17c05: qexe_run_tcl_option + 0x575 (comp_qexe)
    0x34b13: qcu_run_tcl_option + 0xb63 (comp_qcu)
    0x1755a: qexe_process_cmdline_arguments + 0x246a (comp_qexe)
    0x18381: qexe_standard_main + 0xc1 (comp_qexe)
     0xcad8: msg_initialize_out_of_memory_handler + 0x378 (CCL_MSG)
     0xe20c: msg_set_stack_size + 0x7c (CCL_MSG)
     0x5aa0: mem_gen_get_project_output_directory + 0x64 (ccl_mem)
     0xc721: msg_exe_main + 0xa1 (CCL_MSG)
    0x159ec: BaseThreadInitThunk + 0xc (kernel32)
    0x2c540: RtlUserThreadStart + 0x20 (ntdll)
End-trace
Executable: quartus_fit
Comment:
None
System Information
Platform: windows64
OS name: Windows 7
OS version: 6.1
Quartus II Information
Address bits: 64
Version: 14.1.0
Build: 186
Edition: Web Edition

Does any of this mean anything to you?

See attached for the signaltap settings

The few times i did get it to compile, I would enter A or B or C on putty. I would imagine im supposed to see 65,66,67 on the uart_rx line?

So if this is correct, then the correct data gets to the board from putty...take a look at the signal tap captures

You suggest sending hello world out from nios. Can you help me set up the signal tap correctly so that i dont get this error? Any suggestions?

Also, would i just look at uart_tx and try to decode hello world from that?

So if all this is correct, then it seems like it might be the software layer? again, this sorta code worked ok for jtag_uart. usb_uart cant be that much different

thanks Dave!