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Thanks for the encouragement
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Sometimes its all we need, right? :)
Glad to hear you are using Quartus 15.0. Typically you want to stick with the latest version if you can. Fortunately the DE2-115 uses a Cyclone IV so you can work with v15.0.
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I wrote the code first using the schematic and then later wrote it in VHDL and both worked
Although the schematic method was easier for that small circuit I can see that in a big circuit it might get out of hand
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When you get to writing a 7-segment decoder, you'll start to appreciate the beauty of an HDL language relative to a schematic.
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I spent most of today printing out crib sheets of how to write an entity and architecture showing where you put in semi colons and where not to so as to keep the syntax correct
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The Quartus editor templates can help you out there too, by giving you a starting point.
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I also printed out a list of pin numbers for the switches, Leds and 7 segments so I dont have to keep hunting through the manual to find them
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You can use Tcl to automatically assign the pin numbers. That way you get it right once, and use the right values for all subsequent projects.
Once you have got your 7-segment decoder working and counting, then I'd say you're ready to learn some Tcl scripting, I'll take your code and automate the creation of a project for you.
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Making a blinking LED as you suggest should be a fun project and also playing with the 7 segments
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It is indeed gratifying :)
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I was just trying to think what the best way to blink a LED would be .
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Create a counter and use the MSB of the counter to drive the LED. The width of the counter is as many bits as is needed to blink at the rate you desire, eg., clock frequency x 0.5s for a half-second blink period.
Then when you get to the 7-segment display, you send the 4 MSBs of that counter (or one that is slightly wider) to a 4-input to 7-segment output decoder.
Take a shot at it, and then I'll show you some examples that use generics and floating-point math to calculate the bit-widths (the pre-processor does the math, rather than synthesizing it into hardware).
Cheers,
Dave
Honored Contributor
