OpenCL SDK on Ubuntu

There is a nice set of instructions given in http://www.fpga-dev.com/altera-usb-blaster-with-ubuntu/ to solve the usb cable issue in ubuntu 14.04. These instructions along with an aocl install every time you boot the system can solve the issue. The steps involved are :

1. verify usb connection and check product id

At first, connect the cable and make sure the USB device is recognized. These are the commands I used and the output I got:

$ dmesg|tail

[...]

[16059.962298] usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=09fb, idProduct=6010

[16059.962301] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3

[16059.962303] usb 2-2: Product: CV SoCKit

[16059.962305] usb 2-2: Manufacturer: Altera

[16059.962307] usb 2-2: SerialNumber: ARCVSC-123-457

$

$ lsusb|grep Altera

Bus 002 Device 007: ID 09fb:6010 Altera

Take note of the Product ID listed - 6010 in the above example.

2. fix usb driver permissions

The Quartus software will use the Linux built-in usb_device drivers. By default, only root has access to these so we must make sure the user is allowed to access them as well.

jtagd, part of the Quartus tools, is a deamon that provides the interface between the Altera tool accessing the JTAG chain and the USB driver. If not already running, jtagd will be startetd automatically when the Quartus software or jtagconfig is run. You'll usually run these as a user, which means jtagd will also run as a user. That is why edited permission for the usb_device is necessary.

Create a file /etc/udev/rules.d/51-usbblaster.rules, make sure it has read permissions for root, and fill it with this content:

# For Altera USB-Blaster permissions.

SUBSYSTEM=="usb",

ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device",

ATTR{idVendor}=="09fb",

ATTR{idProduct}=="6010",

MODE="0666",

NAME="bus/usb/$env{BUSNUM}/$env{DEVNUM}",

RUN+="/bin/chmod 0666 %c"

Edit the value for ATTR{idProduct} to match the Product ID determined before.

If you have more than one Product ID you want this to work for, simply repeat the above lines in the same file and use the other Product IDs for ATTR{idProduct}.

For the changes to take effect, reboot the machine or run:

$ sudo udevadm control --reload

3. copy devices data for jtagd

Make sure jtagd has access to the list of devices:

$ sudo cp /opt/altera/13.1/quartus/linux64/pgm_parts.txt /etc/jtagd/jtagd.pgm_parts

Also make sure this file has read access for the user.

This file allows Altera tools to translate Device IDs (left column of terminal listing below) to device names (right column) for found devices.

Test that it's all working

4. to test that the connection works, execute jtagconfig and hope for an output giving the board and the devices:

$ jtagconfig

1) CV SoCKit [2-2]

02D020DD 5CSEBA6(.|ES)/5CSEMA6/..

4BA00477 SOCVHPS

The cable should now be recognized as a valid hardware by the Quartus tools.

5. this step needs to be repeated every time you reboot the device

cd /home/<user_name>/altera/14.1/quartus/bin

sudo killall -9 jtagd

sudo killall -9 jtagd

sudo ./jtagconfig

aocl install

the driver needs to be installed every time you reboot the system or the usb interface wont work properly

I hope the above steps help

Johns Paul