Export Avalon Bus for Custom PHY

Hi Peter,

I agree on your rant :)

Which version of Quartus are you using, and which Custom PHY part are you trying to use?

If you open an existing transceiver example ...

http://www.altera.com/support/examples/on-chip-debugging/on-chip-debugging.html

and then select the PHY in Qsys, you can right-click and find where the _hw.tcl source for the component is located.

If you find your PHY in an example, your first question will be "Hang on, how is this PHY in Qsys, but I cannot see it in the IP Catalog!!!???".

The answer is that for some reason Altera has set an attribute in _hw.tcl so that the component is hidden. You have to edit the _hw.tcl file and change

set_module_property INTERNAL true

to

set_module_property INTERNAL false

and then start the NIOS II IDE shell (Cygwin), change directory to Altera's .ipx file location and re-run ip-make-ipx to rebuild the IP Catalog.

Yes, this is a complete PITA ... but at this point you will see the PHY listed in the IP Catalog.

The main reason that the PHYs are not listed is probably that they are still buggy, so as they say "Your mileage may vary" :)

Cheers,

Dave

That was quick :)

I am using Quartus 13.1 update 4 and I am designing for the Cyclone V...

Thank you for the reply, I am going to try this out right now... and tell you how it went. But for the record: I am still kind of puzzled why my original solution does not work...

Cheers, Peter

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Where do I find those files.

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I already told you :)

Download the Transceiver Toolkit examples from the link I referred to above (they were designed with 13.0sp1, but should open ok in 13.1). Open one of the existing Cyclone V projects and look at the path to the PHY. That will show you where in the Quartus installation the components are located.

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Is the idea, that I have to do this for every project, or once for my Quartus installation?

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Just for your Quartus installation. Basically you are making the components visible to all projects.

As for what is wrong with what you did above? My answer would be that you did not simulate using the Verification IP - that would answer any questions you have about the interface working correctly :)

Cheers,

Dave

Hi Dave,

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I already told you

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Sorry, for not thinking for myself! It was only after I had posted, that I just saw you said I should right-click on the component in QSYS. The IP root folder was located in

altera_install_dir/ip/altera

on my machine. Many thanks, Dave!!!! Now the beast shows up in QSYS!

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As for what is wrong with what you did above? My answer would be that you did not simulate using the Verification IP - that would answer any questions you have about the interface working correctly

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That is indeed true ;)

Cheers, Peter

Hi Peter,

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Now the beast shows up in QSYS!

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Excellent :)

Cheers,

Dave

Dear Dave,

You don't happen to also know how to make the

tx_clkout0
rx_clkout0

pins real clock pins instead of conduits?:rolleyes:

[edit:] happens automatically if you select the avalon streaming interface!

Cheers, Peter

I'm guessing that is both a question and the answer :)

You can read the _hw.tcl file to determine the logic behind the signals. If the clocks were showing up as conduits vs clocks, then the interface definitions in the Tcl likely change depending on another option. Some components are constructed using Tcl callbacks ... the code is not that easy to follow "for fun", but if you're tracking down a specific signal, it shouldn't be too hard to follow.

Cheers,

Dave

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The answer is that for some reason Altera has set an attribute in _hw.tcl so that the component is hidden. You have to edit the _hw.tcl file and change

set_module_property INTERNAL true

to

set_module_property INTERNAL false

and then start the NIOS II IDE shell (Cygwin), change directory to Altera's .ipx file location and re-run ip-make-ipx to rebuild the IP Catalog.

Yes, this is a complete PITA ... but at this point you will see the PHY listed in the IP Catalog.

The main reason that the PHYs are not listed is probably that they are still buggy, so as they say "Your mileage may vary" :)

Cheers,

Dave

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I'm having a really similar problem with an slave interface exported altera_avalon_mm_bridge component not showing up in the system.h file for our software guys.

When I check out the altera_avalon_mm_bridge_hw.tcl file I can only find

set_module_property HIDE_FROM_SOPC true 

Will this do the same thing (currently trying it anyway) or am I looking for something else?

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I'm having a really similar problem with an slave interface exported altera_avalon_mm_bridge component not showing up in the system.h file for our software guys.

When I check out the altera_avalon_mm_bridge_hw.tcl file I can only find

set_module_property HIDE_FROM_SOPC true 

Will this do the same thing (currently trying it anyway) or am I looking for something else?

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So this change doesn't work. I'm not sure there is anyway to get the Bridge components to show up in the system.h