Forum Discussion

Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
21 years ago

Can’t find Nios2config.

I just downloaded eCos 2.0 for Nios II. After running the install, I am unable to find the nios2configtool utility. The configtool and configtool20 utilities are in the C:\altera\kits\nios2\components\ecos\ecos-2.0\tools\bin directory. Is the nios2configtool just a symbolic link to configtool? It does not seem so because I cant parse the Getting Started command line parameters to it.

If I open configtool20 from the command line (very important otherwise the $PATH variable is not correct) and set the Nios2 architecture values manually and then build the library the build completes fine.

How do I choose another .sof file? Do I need to or is the standard.sof file fine? I’m using the time limited Nios II core.

Will eCos 2.0 work with quartus 4.0 SP1 or is 4.1 SP2 required ?

Thanks,

I know I have a lot of questions , but I&#39;d like to start playing with eCos as soon as possible http://forum.niosforum.com/work2/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif

P.S. The referencing in section 6.2 and 6.3 of the eCos 2.0 for Nios II web page is incorrect. These sections reference section 5.1 and 5.2 when it should reference 6.1 and 6.2. No biggie but I thought I’d say so that you guys could fix it.

8 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor

    Hello janhendrik,

    the „nios2configtool” is a script which can only be executed out of the Nios II SDK Shell (command line). Take a look at “eCos for Nios II.htm” to get some “getting started” information. Chapter 5 says that Quartus 4.1 or greater and Nios II 1.0.1 (SP 1) are needed.

    Bye,

    niosIIuser
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor

    Hi niosIIuser,

    That is my whole problem. The nios2configtool script does not seem to be installed. It&#39;s not a big problem since I was able to get a library to compile by starting the config tool manually, and udjusting the ptf file manually. I was merely wondering why i could not find the nios2configtool from the command prompt. The PATH variable seems to include all the eCos directories.

    Do I need to upload a eCos kernel, like I have to do with uClinux or do I simply upload the hello ELF file? [for the first example]

    Will eCos 2.0 work with a time limited Nios II processor.? I.E. will it load the right _time_limited.sof file?
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor

    Hello janhendrik,

    mmh, ok now I understand what does not work correctly. I don’t have any experiences with eCos or uCLinux, so I’m not the right person for these problems.

    I installed eCos and executing “nios2configtool” was no problem. Also making the examples was fine. But now it is not possible to execute “program_flash”. Perhaps your and my problem is similar.

    BTW: How can I check the path variable in the shell?

    Bye,

    niosIIuser
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor

    Hi niosIIuser,

    Yip, seems like we&#39;re stuck on the same page.

    To check the SOPC builder PATH variable, type : $PATH in the SDK shell.

    Mine gives :

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

    --- Quote Start ---

    bash: /usr/local/bin:/cygdrive/c/altera/kits/nios2/components/ecos/ecos-2.0/tool

    s/bin:/cygdrive/c/altera/kits/nios2/components/ecos/ecos-2.0/packages/hal/nios2/

    tools/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/cygdrive/c/altera/kits/nios2/bin:/cygdrive/c/altera/kit

    s/nios2/bin/fs2/bin:/cygdrive/c/altera/quartus41sp2/bin:/cygdrive/c/altera/quart

    us41sp2/bin/perl561/bin:/cygdrive/c/altera/quartus41sp2/bin/gnu:/cygdrive/c/alte

    ra/quartus41sp2/sopc_builder/bin:/bin:/usr/bin: No such file or directory[/b]

    --- Quote End ---

    Not sure why it says No such file or directory, as that shouldn&#39;t be so.

    BTW, Did you run "program_flash" from the diecroty into which you copied the example file?

    There should be a hello file that is about 1MB in size.

    my eCos Lib file directory is c:\altera\kits\ecos\test_install test_build and test_mlt.

    my eCos examples directory is c:\altera\lits\ecos\examples.

    so to upload the hello elf file i run the following command from the examples directry:

    /cygdrive/c/altera/kits/ecos/test_install/program_flash hello

    ../test_install/program_flash hello would also work.

    You basically run the program_flash script from the _install directory, while still in the examples directory.

    program_flash then uploaded the hello file, but my nios2-terminal never responded

    Does it work for you?
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor

    Hello janhendrik,

    Thanks for the tip with the path. My mistake was to write "$PATCH" in lower cases! Now is working fine.

    $ $PATH
    bash: /cygdrive/d/quartus41/niosII10/components/ecos/ecos-2.0/tools/bin:/cygdriv
    e/d/quartus41/niosII10/components/ecos/ecos-2.0/packages/hal/nios2/tools/bin:/bi
    n:/usr/bin:/cygdrive/d/quartus41/niosII10/bin:/cygdrive/d/quartus41/niosII10/bin
    /nios2-gnutools/H-i686-pc-cygwin/bin:/cygdrive/d/quartus41/niosII10/bin/fs2/bin:
    /cygdrive/d/quartus41/nios32/bin:/cygdrive/d/quartus41/nios32/bin/nios-gnupro/bi
    n:/cygdrive/d/quartus41/nios32/bin/fs2/bin:/cygdrive/d/quartus41/bin:/cygdrive/d
    /quartus41/bin/perl561/bin:/cygdrive/d/quartus41/bin/gnu:/cygdrive/d/quartus41/s
    opc_builder/bin:/bin:/usr/bin: No such file or directory

    I did also a failure when trying to upload the flash file. Now it would work but I had to give the development board back to Altera. Tomorrow I will try to get it work with my own hardware. There are some differences to the DK. http://forum.niosforum.com/work2/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif

    Bye,

    niosIIuser
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor

    A couple of pointers that might help.

    1. The nios2configtool application is in the directory:

    $ECOS_REPOSITORY/hal/nios2/tools/bin

    This should be automatically added to your path if you are using an SDK shell. However this may not happen if you are using an old version of Quartus, in which case you can just add the directory to your path manually.

    2. The Altera flash programmer programs the device with it&#39;s own SOF file. Therefore after running the "program_flash" script, you will need to remember to reprogram the device with your original SOF before you can do anything.

    Hope that helps.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

    --- Quote Start ---

    Not sure why it says No such file or directory, as that shouldn&#39;t be so.[/b]

    --- Quote End ---

    Typing just $PATH directly into the shell will try and EXECUTE the $PATH variable as a command! Hence your error message. If your path variable had contained &#39;rm *&#39;, you&#39;d have said goodbye to all your files.

    To view $PATH, try &#39;echo $PATH&#39;, or &#39;printenv&#39;.

    Both are much safer!

    - Roddy
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor

    Hello,

    The first steps are done. The custom board is sending “Hello, eCos world!” over the JTAG UART! That’s really nice.

    Might it be possible to integrate eCos into the Nios II IDE?

    Bye,

    a lucky niosIIuser

    PS: Thanks to roddy for the $PATCH tip.