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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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20 years ago

NIOSII - Write output to Dev kit LCD

I am trying to switch over to eCos from MicroC/OS-II. I have succesfully installed eCos for NIOS 5.0. I have built and run the eCos hello example.

I am now trying to modify the hello example to write to the LCD of my dev kit. Altera Cyclone II standard 2C35.

The code will build with my reference to the /dev/lcd_display put I get no output to the LCD.

I have tried running in debug but this seems to misbehave when I get to my lCD code.

Anyone run across this ?

Thanks.

11 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    20 years ago

    Hi jkealty,

    Make sure the Compact Flash card is not plugged into it's socket. Due to a hardware constraint on the Nios evaluation boards, you cannot have the LCD and Compact Flash plugged in simultaneously.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    20 years ago

    Hi,

    Thanks for the suggestion, but I do not have the compact flash inserted. I did some debuging of this and I am finding that the /dev/lcd_display

    is not being recognised by the system. I am checking the return value from cyg_io_lookup and it indicates that the lcd_display does not exist. I am wondering if any devices are being defined since I get the same results for the LED's.

    The stange thing is, in the <cyg/hal> directory I found a devices.h file that was created from the std_2C35.ptf file when I generated the eCos library.

    I also know that my dev kit is fully functional because I can use all devices when I run code under MicroC/OS-II.

    I am missing something, but do not know what it is.

    Thanks,
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    20 years ago

    To use the LCD you need to have the "hardware serial device drivers" option enabled. This is located under the "Serial device drivers" folder in configtool.

    This is a little unintuitive - but unfortuanely it&#39;s the eCos way of dealing with these devices...
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    20 years ago

    Hi,

    Thanks for your prompt response.

    I enabled the Hardware Serial Devices in ConfigTool.

    I have also added the extra compiler CFLAGS options to my makefile:

    -I&#39;$(SOPC_KIT_NIOS2)&#39;/components/altera_avalon_lcd_16207/inc -I$(PREFIX)/include/cyg/hal

    I rebuilt the library and the LCD is now working for me.

    Thanks!

    P.S.

    I added -I&#39;$(SOPC_KIT_NIOS2)&#39;/components/altera_avalon_pio/inc -I$(PREFIX)/include/cyg/hal

    so I could use any of the PIO devices in my hardware. However, I get an undefined reference to IOWR_ALTERA_AVALON_PIO_DATA

    when I tried to use it like shown below:

    IOWR_ALTERA_AVALON_PIO_DATA(LED_PIO_BASE, 1); // turn on LED# 1

    I am curious if the PIO devices have an enable/disable feature in the configtool too?
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    20 years ago

    There&#39;s no eCos component for the PIO. You need to make direct register accesses (as you described).

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    20 years ago

    monkeyboy,

    Thanks for your assistance. I can now access all of my PIO interfaced devices.

    FYI for anyone coming from MicroC/OS:

    You need to include the following header file.

    # include <cyg/hal/io.h> /* Additional HAL device IO support.*/

    You will also need to replace all ALTERA AVALON PIO reads and writes

    Such as:

    IOWR_ALTERA_AVALON_PIO_DATA and IORD_ALTERA_AVALON_PIO_DATA

    With:

    IOWR_16DIRECT(BASE, OFFSET, DATA) and IORD_16DIRECT(BASE, OFFSET)

    You will need to use the appropriate size function i.e. 8,16,32 bits too.

    http://forum.niosforum.com/work2/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    20 years ago

    An easier way to do this is to just include altera_avalon_pio.h, and add the compiler flags:

    -I&#39;$(SOPC_KIT_NIOS2)&#39;/components/altera_avalon_pio/inc -I$(PREFIX)/include/cyg/hal.

    That way you can continue to use the same macros you would have used in the Altera HAL or MicroC/OS-II. I thought that&#39;s what you had previously said you were doing.

    Also, I just noticed that you were adding:

    -I&#39;$(SOPC_KIT_NIOS2)&#39;/components/altera_avalon_lcd_16207/inc -I$(PREFIX)/include/cyg/hal

    to get the LCD working. This should not be necessary.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    20 years ago

    Dear monkeyboy.

    I&#39;m tring to include "altera_avalon_pio.h", as you wrote.

    (1) Adding this line to my c-file.# include "altera_avalon_pio.h"

    (2) Modifying CFLAG in makefile.

    CFLAGS = -I$(INSTALL_DIR)/include -I&#39;$(SOPC_KIT_NIOS2)&#39;/components/altera_avalon_pio/inc -I$(PREFIX)/include/cyg/hal

    But when I built the project, this error message appeared. 

    make INSTALL_DIR=/cygdrive/c/temp/ecos_install all 
nios2-elf-gcc -c -o hello.o -I/cygdrive/c/temp/ecos_install/include -I&#39;c:/altera/kits/nios2&#39;/components/altera_avalon_pio/inc -I/include/cyg/hal -g -O3 -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions -fvtable-gc -DSYSTEM_BUS_WIDTH=32 -mhw-mul -mhw-mulx -mno-hw-div hello.c
cc1: warning: command line option "-fno-rtti" is valid for C++/ObjC++ but not for C
cc1: warning: command line option "-fvtable-gc" is valid for C++/ObjC++ but not for C
hello.c:3:31: altera_avalon_pio.h: No such file or directory
make: ***  Error 1

    What is wrong?

    Please tell me why.

    Thank you.

    Best regards.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    20 years ago

    My mistake. The file you wanted was altera_avalon_pio_regs.h, not altera_avalon_pio.h.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    20 years ago

    Thank you, monkeyboy.

    But I got this error message. 

    c:/altera/kits/nios2/components/altera_avalon_pio/inc/altera_avalon_pio_regs.h:34:16: io.h: No such file or directory

    How can I solve it?

    There are so many "io.h".

    Which "io.h" must I include?

    Thank you.