Code Uploader

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originally posted by badomen@Aug 9 2004, 09:43 AM

i think you have bigger problems if a 30kb/s download isn't fast enough. if you're code is that big then you might want a single board computer.

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Why, what a strange comment, I don't understand?!

If I've got lots of look up tables which are embedded into the executable (Which I had under Nios I), then I could well have (say) more than 4 mb of program code which needs to be uploaded everytime, becomes quite tedious if your trying to test something and it takes a minute or so to upload.

Adrian

yes, our excalibers on Nios I also came with the web server demo which also allowed you to upload code, what I've suggested is nothing more (and infact simpler) than what they already did before, it'd just be nice for it to hook into the IDE nicely.

Adrian

If you have a lot of look up tables why not store them into a secondary memory location (like flash for example) and make sure that it does not get reset everytime you dump new software out onto the board (i.e. allocate the memory yourself).

Also what kind of times are we talking here, anything under a minute I would say is acceptible (anything more means you just need to be checking your work more and reducing the number of compiles like hardware developers do (I think you can guess what I do)).

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originally posted by badomen@Aug 9 2004, 12:10 PM

if you have a lot of look up tables why not store them into a secondary memory location (like flash for example) and make sure that it does not get reset everytime you dump new software out onto the board (i.e. allocate the memory yourself).

also what kind of times are we talking here, anything under a minute i would say is acceptible (anything more means you just need to be checking your work more and reducing the number of compiles like hardware developers do (i think you can guess what i do)).

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Look up tables was an example, not saying that's what I've used it for. The problem is that using either the serial or parallel port from my point of view is far too slow, I'm used to fast speeds, i.e download in a couple of seconds max, a minute would absolutely kill me! Very rarely do you get routines right first time, compile, debug, fix, compile, debug, fix etc - if it takes a minute to download only to find an error 10 seconds later then it's incredibly frustrating. Hardware guys I'm guessing generally don't have thing problem because they're able to simulate, but I'm stuck with using real hardware.

The first test app I did on Nios I "included" a whole load of data into the code, because that was most convenient, I was working with a number of different pieces of data and had rather large executables, consequently if I used the "nios-run" command I could go off, have a nap, wake back up, read a magazine and still find that it hadn't finished downloading!

Upon realising that the "default configuration" of the board ran a web server that let you upload code revolutionised my life, it took less than a second to upload and start executing my code.

I'd personally love to see a feature like this because from my point of view it makes massive sense, it's not as if the stub would be hard to implement, the only complexity would be integration into eclipse, which i'm sure would be doddle.

Each to their own though!

Adrian

Have you tried the instruction set simulator? Not sure that would help in you're case but if it did then you could stay hardware independent until integration time. Then if things don't work after the hardware and software teams can have the usual battle-royal hehe.

If you take Daniel's advice that might be best if you already have the lan interface available and you can convince the person in charge of the hardware design to include it with the lan core supplied with NIOS II. So you'd have a little loader that you keep in the CPU and then you blast the program across the lan connection, and when that's complete you're program jumps to it instead (or have it on a button if it's available to you).

Atleast that solution does not modify you're code in any way, and the extra hardware can be removed after.

The USB blaster is super fast. You might want to give it a try.

If that doesn't meet your needs, tell me (post reply) and I'll enter an enhancement request. But I think you'll be surprosed how fast the USB blaster is.

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originally posted by kerri@Aug 9 2004, 01:52 PM

the usb blaster is super fast. you might want to give it a try.

if that doesn't meet your needs, tell me (post reply) and i'll enter an enhancement request. but i think you'll be surprosed how fast the usb blaster is.

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I'd forgotton about that.

I got 2 Nios II update boxes the other day, inside was a coupon to upgrade to the USB blaster at no cost except P & P. Do you know how much shipping is to the UK, I'm guessing it's courier so it'll be a silly amount!

Adrian