OpenCL SDK on Ubuntu

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Thanks for adding that info andradx. Other than temporarily setting that LD_LIBRARY_PATH, everything seems to run and behave as expected for me on my CentOS 6.4 x86_64 machine.

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There is just one thing last thing I'd add. For a production workstation you really need the minimum 24 GB of RAM. At least I tried several full compilations on 12GB RAM+ 12GB Swap and sometimes the compilation flow crashed unexpectedly. However, we took care of that when we moved to a 32GB RAM + 32GB Swap.

For running the application itself it doesn't really matter, does it?

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The memory requirements for a production machine depends on your application. Buffers get mirrored on the host so for every buffer you allocate in the FPGA there is a copy on the host as well.

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Sure, but we decided to move our FPGA board to a Sandy Bridge host w/ 8GB. It wasn't worth spending much more RAM on it and definitely not worth keeping the FPGA on the same machine were synthesis were happening.

What do you mean "buffers get mirrored"? Are you talking about the OpenCL host and device memory systems, were the mentioned causality is the other way around?

8GB should probably be fine unless your application requires a lot of memory.

When you create a buffer using clCreateBuffer, memory is allocated in the FPGA and the host memory systems. This extra copy on the host is transparent to the user and is used any time the FPGA hardware gets swapped out because buffers in the FPGA have to be pulled up to the host then sent back down to the FPGA after the hardware has been replaced. So for example if I had 500MB worth of data to send down to the FPGA, my total system memory requirements would be 1.5GB: 500MB in the FPGA, 500MB mirrored on the host, 500MB user allocated memory containing the actual data.

Hi,

I only have access to a machine running ubuntu (and windows). Not other versions of linux available. And i prefer using ubuntu over windows. But I am having problems with the aocl driver in ubuntu. The boards works perfectly fine in windows. In ubuntu the aocl diagnose command runs successfully but the aocl flash command fails. The error says that the hardware cable is not connected. The usb blaster cable is connected and the board is listed in the output of the 'lsusb' command. So can you please tell me how to solve this driver issues?

output of aocl diagnose :

aocl diagnose: Running diagnostic from /home/johnspaul92/altera/14.1/hld/board/terasic/de5net/linux64/libexec

Verified that the kernel mode driver is installed on the host machine.

Using platform: Altera SDK for OpenCL

Using Device with name: de5net_a7 : Altera's Preferred Board

Using Device from vendor: Altera Corporation

clGetDeviceInfo CL_DEVICE_GLOBAL_MEM_SIZE = 4294967296

clGetDeviceInfo CL_DEVICE_MAX_MEM_ALLOC_SIZE = 4293918720

Memory consumed for internal use = 1048576

Actual maximum buffer size = 4293918720 bytes

Writing 4095 MB to global memory ...

Write speed: 1975.88 MB/s [1959.28 -> 1990.31]

Reading and verifying 4095 MB from global memory ...

Read speed: 2813.43 MB/s [2798.11 -> 2827.39]

Successfully wrote and readback 4095 MB buffer

Transferring 8192 KBs in 16 512 KB blocks ... 2009.26 MB/s

Transferring 8192 KBs in 8 1024 KB blocks ... 2546.06 MB/s

Transferring 8192 KBs in 4 2048 KB blocks ... 2742.12 MB/s

Transferring 8192 KBs in 2 4096 KB blocks ... 2580.77 MB/s

Transferring 8192 KBs in 1 8192 KB blocks ... 2701.07 MB/s

PCIe Gen2.0 peak speed: 500MB/s/lane

Writing 8192 KBs with block size (in bytes) below:

Block_Size Avg Max Min End-End (MB/s)

524288 1276.34 1396.63 1201.31 1236.97

1048576 1459.67 1780.07 1378.81 1441.02

2097152 1941.49 2053.72 1825.71 1936.21

4194304 1821.83 1883.68 1763.92 1819.59

8388608 1941.08 1941.08 1941.08 1941.08

Reading 8192 KBs with block size (in bytes) below:

Block_Size Avg Max Min End-End (MB/s)

524288 1744.30 2009.26 1588.37 1687.13

1048576 2424.19 2546.06 2344.27 2403.30

2097152 2693.70 2742.12 2656.59 2679.92

4194304 2506.41 2580.77 2436.22 2496.38

8388608 2701.07 2701.07 2701.07 2701.07

Write top speed = 2053.72 MB/s

Read top speed = 2742.12 MB/s

Throughput = 2397.92 MB/s

DIAGNOSTIC_PASSED

output of aocl flash :

aocl flash: Running flash from /home/johnspaul92/altera/14.1/hld/board/terasic/de5net/linux64/libexec

========================= Page Selection =========================

Please select the flash page where to store your FPGA configure data:

[0] Factory Image Location(Address 0x00040000), SW5.2 = "1" (Right Position)

[1] User Image Location(Address 0x020C0000), SW5.2 = "0" (Left Position)

Enter a digital number 0 or 1 (Or other values to exit the program) followed by pressing the "Enter" key:

1

Flash Programming...

Info: *******************************************************************

Info: Running Quartus II 64-Bit Convert_programming_file

Info: Version 14.1.0 Build 186 12/03/2014 Patches 0.19 SJ Full Version

Info: Copyright (C) 1991-2014 Altera Corporation. All rights reserved.

Info: Your use of Altera Corporation's design tools, logic functions

Info: and other software and tools, and its AMPP partner logic

Info: functions, and any output files from any of the foregoing

Info: (including device programming or simulation files), and any

Info: associated documentation or information are expressly subject

Info: to the terms and conditions of the Altera Program License

Info: Subscription Agreement, the Altera Quartus II License Agreement,

Info: the Altera MegaCore Function License Agreement, or other

Info: applicable license agreement, including, without limitation,

Info: that your use is for the sole purpose of programming logic

Info: devices manufactured by Altera and sold by Altera or its

Info: authorized distributors. Please refer to the applicable

Info: agreement for further details.

Info: Processing started: Tue Aug 25 11:07:47 2015

Info: Command: quartus_cpf --convert flash.cof

Inconsistency detected by ld.so: dl-close.c: 762: _dl_close: Assertion `map->l_init_called' failed!

Info (210033): Memory Map File flash.map contains memory usage information for file flash.pof

Info: Quartus II 64-Bit Convert_programming_file was successful. 0 errors, 0 warnings

Info: Peak virtual memory: 884 megabytes

Info: Processing ended: Tue Aug 25 11:08:24 2015

Info: Elapsed time: 00:00:37

Info: Total CPU time (on all processors): 00:00:34

Error (213013): Programming hardware cable not detected

Error: quartus_pgm failed at /home/johnspaul92/altera/14.1/hld/board/terasic/de5net/linux64/libexec/flash.pl line 74, <STDIN> line 1.

aocl flash: Program failed.

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[...] In ubuntu the aocl diagnose command runs successfully but the aocl flash command fails. The error says that the hardware cable is not connected. The usb blaster cable is connected and the board is listed in the output of the 'lsusb' command.

[...]

Error (213013): Programming hardware cable not detected

Error: quartus_pgm failed at /home/johnspaul92/altera/14.1/hld/board/terasic/de5net/linux64/libexec/flash.pl line 74, <STDIN> line 1.

aocl flash: Program failed.

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I'm experiencing the same here.

My configuration is:

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3.19.0-25-generic

DE5-Net BSP/Driver: Modified v14.0

AOCL Version: 15.0.2

Quartus II: 15.0.2

I saw that patch 0.19 for quartus ii 14.1 (https://www.altera.com/support/support-resources/knowledge-base/solutions/rd01272015_37.html) addressed this issue but in the web page of the patch it's also written that the problem is solved in Quartus 15.0 :confused:

I tried to check the files inside the patch and some of them are actually the same files in my Quartus 15.0.2. I also tried to patch my Quartus 15.0.2 (even if the patch is not made for this version) but nothing changed; the problem is still there.

The good news is that aocl program tool and API calls let me program the device anyway.

If somebody could help here to solve the situation it would be nice anyway,

Nicola.

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