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oh I forgot something. Do you have a license for the Nios CPU? If not then you will have to use the *_time_limited.sof file instead of the regular one, and you'll have a window open just after you programmed the FPGA saying you are in evaluation mode. You mustn't close that window or the CPU will stop running.
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No I do not. But as I said, I've already gotten the /s version (which requires a license) to work, albeit time limited/JTAG bound.
It's the /e version (which does not require a license) that I can't get working.