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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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13 years ago

Confused about licensing: what is free? Where are prices?

Hello,

I'm a student and developing an FPGA project part for my bachelor thesis. It has to be runnable beyond evaluation anyway.

Using Quartus II 11.1 Web Edition.

I can't figure out where definetily I see, e.g. in MegaWizard Plugin Manager, which functions there are free and whiich have to be licensed / free only for evaluation. (ALTPLL, FIFO, CRC Compiler, ...?) And also where I can get an at least approximate pricelist for the licensed ones (for Europe - Germany in case that matters).

I'm sorry for the stupid question, but I've spent >hours trying to find it out and still nothing but confused. There must be a central place to at least see what's free or not, shouldn't it?!

Thank you in advance

4 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    13 years ago

    Altera do their licencing through dealers - Try contacting Arrow or EBV Electronic. Licencing cost depends on volume - but is a few thousand $ per licence (it covers Quartus and all of the megawizard).

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    13 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    I'm a student and developing an FPGA project part for my bachelor thesis.

    --- Quote End ---

    Have your supervisor contact the Altera University Program. They may give you a subscription license and the licenses for any IP cores (that need licensing). You can also request donations of hardware, such as the Terasic DE boards.

    I'm sure each request is dealt with on a case by case basis, so there is no guarantee that you'll get what you need. However, it does not hurt to ask :)

    Cheers,

    Dave
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    13 years ago

    Thank you for your replies!

    I would try to work around those cores for the moment. Where do I see if a Megafunction I use requires a license or is free? (like ALTPLL - it's free as far as I see, isn't it?).
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    13 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    I would try to work around those cores for the moment. Where do I see if a Megafunction I use requires a license or is free? (like ALTPLL - it's free as far as I see, isn't it?).

    --- Quote End ---

    Quartus will tell you that it is generating a time-limited .sof/.pof if you use a core that requires license.

    Cheers,

    Dave