Forum Discussion

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

How to download elf file to the Nios without recompiling

Hello,

I have a system with a Nios II processor. Currently, to download the system to the FPGA, I first download the .sof file using the Quartus II programmer, then on Quartus II I click on "Tools" and then "Nios II Software Build Tools for Eclipse", which opens the Nios II software. Then I click on the Run button to launch the program to the FPGA, but the program is recompiled before being downloaded.

Is it possible to download directly the elf, without recompiling the project ?

For info, I am using the version 13.0.1.232 of Quartus II and Nios II EDS.

Thanks in advance,

Jérôme

4 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    11 years ago

    I just use a plain makefile based flow in Linux. After building the elf file I can do: 

    nios2-download -c "USB-Blaster on host " -r -g path/to/file.elf

    and then 

    nios2-terminal -c "USB-Blaster on host "

    to access the jtag uart (if you're using one).
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    11 years ago

    Is this to be run in the Nios Command Shell? Also, is the [x-y] supposed to be left like that or be replaced with something? When I tried to run it, it told me "There are no JTAG cables available on your system which match the --cable option you provided (USB-Blaster on host [x-y])."

    I'm using Quartus 14.0 on a Win7 machine and a DE0-Nano board.

    Thanks
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    11 years ago

    If you just want to download the .elf file, right click on the project and click Run As -> Nios II Hardware. If you get the Run Configurations window, go to Target Connections and scroll to the top right to hit the Refresh connections button and check "Ignore mismatch system id" and "ignore Mismatch timestamp". Finally Hit Run. This wont recompile the project. Good luck!

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    11 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    Is this to be run in the Nios Command Shell? Also, is the [x-y] supposed to be left like that or be replaced with something? When I tried to run it, it told me "There are no JTAG cables available on your system which match the --cable option you provided (USB-Blaster on host [x-y])."

    I'm using Quartus 14.0 on a Win7 machine and a DE0-Nano board.

    Thanks

    --- Quote End ---

    Yes I belive you run it under the NIOS command shell in Windows (I use Linux and have my environment set up to run all the NIOS commands).

    If you type "jtagconfig" you should see your cable name to be used for the -c argument. My example was just for illustration.