Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
Honored Contributorquestion related to DE4
Hi all,
I wanna use DE4 board, but I have no idea which version of Quartus software is appropriate(Quartus 9.0 or Quartus 11.0)? Thanks.Forum Discussion
11 Replies
Altera_ForumYou can use any version of Quartus, as long it supports the FPGA. Which, in the case of the DE4 board, is a Stratix IV GX FPGA.
I usually prefer to start new projects with the latest release of Quartus I have available, unless I have a specific reason not to. So, I'd go with 11.0.- Altera_Forum
Thank you. I was told that Quartus 11.0 had canceled the waveform editor. I am wondering how to simulate in Quartus 11.0?
- Altera_Forum
Indeed, Quartus 10.0 onwards has dropped the integrated simulator and it's waveform editor.
You need to use ModelSim-Altera instead. Take a look at http://www.altera.com/support/examples/ncsim/exm-ncsim-native-link.html - Altera_Forum
Thank you! I follow the instructions step by step on that page.
But I cannot do a RTL simulation. It prompt an error saying that "Can't launch the ModelSim-Altera software -- the path to the location of the executables for the ModelSim-Altera software were not specified or theexecutables were not found at specified path." The problem was I have loaded the project in the executable path:-( Do you know what is going wrong? Thanks. - Altera_Forum
First, if you haven't done so yet, you need to download and install ModelSim-Altera.
Second, you need to set the path to ModelSim-Altera. Menu: Tools -> Options -> General -> EDA Tool Options In the ModelSim-Altera field, enter the path of the directory containing ModelSim-Altera's executables (vsim, etc). - Altera_Forum
Thanks. Is it necessary to place the project under that path?
- Altera_Forum
and what does ModelSim-Altera's executables mean?
- Altera_Forum
and one more question. I have create a new project and do the corresponding compilation and simulation in ModelSim. It seems there is no need to use Quartus, ModelSim is enough!! What is the difference between Quartus and ModelSim? Can ModelSim replace Quartus?Thanks.
- Altera_Forum
No, you should not put the project files under that path.
You just need to tell Quartus where it can find ModelSim. By executables, I mean "vsim.exe" and such files. I don't have ModeSim for Windows at hand, so I can't really tell you which folder it is. ModelSim is a simulator. Quartus performs the actual synthesis. If all you want to do is VHDL/Verilog behavioral simulation, ModelSim is all you'll need. But if you intend to load your design into a FPGA, you need to use Quartus to synthetize the design and produce the configuration files. You should also learn about TimeQuest for timing constraints. Quartus also produces a gate level model of the synthethized design which you can load in ModelSim to perform a gate level simulation. - Altera_Forum
Thank you. I am wondering what is the difference between behavioral simulation and gate level simulation? Does behavioral simulation refer to functional simulation and gate level simulation refer to timing simulation?
