Forum Discussion

Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
17 years ago

Using Synplify Pro with Quartus

Hi,

I recently recieved a 10 day evaluation license for Synplify Pro 9.6.1. What I was planning to do was run Synplify Pro from within Quartus and look at the output of the timing analyzer to see if the timing problems I have been having have improved. Anyway turns out that when I attempt to synthesize the design in Quartus I get an error saying:

Error: Synthesis tool <None> is not supported by NativeLink

Error: NativeLink flow failed to complete synthesis.

After doing a bit of reading I found that:

"Running the Synplify software through Natvelink integration

requires a floating network license (as opposed to a node-locked

single-PC license), because batch mode compilation is

supported only with floating licenses."

I believe I have a node-locked license, so do i need to call them and ask for a floating license?

I ask because I am not sure why in the Quartus error it says "Synthesis tool <None>", as if I have not set it up properly.

Is there another way to see any potential benifits of synplify other than running it through Quartus? If I run the design through synplify only, then synplify cannot be guided by any constraints that were put in place in the assignment editor, is this correct? Would I need to re constrain the design using synplify if I wanted to synthesize directly through synplify.

I know its a basic question and I´m probably doing something wrong, but I´m new to this particular aspect.

As always your help is much appreciated.

Thanks

13 Replies

Show More
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    16 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    Ardni,

    We have been looking into using Synplify Pro on our projects to feed into Quartus. I'd be very interested to know how you got on and your conclusions to your evaluation.

    I cant find the youtube lectures you refer to, can you provide a little more information that may help me find them.

    Thanks.

    --- Quote End ---

    Hi Witty,

    I'm using SynplifyPro a long time for synthesis. What do you want to achieve by using SynplifyPro?

    Kind regards

    GPK
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    16 years ago

    pletz,

    What we wanted to know is simply, do you get better quality of results by using Synplify Pro over the Quartus integrated synthesis.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    16 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    pletz,

    What we wanted to know is simply, do you get better quality of results by using Synplify Pro over the Quartus integrated synthesis.

    --- Quote End ---

    Hi Witty,

    in the past the answer was a clear yes, but today the synthesis engine of Quartus is quite good. In my experience you can expect in average a fmax improvement of 10%. Sometimes you will get more, especially when you use the retiming feature. The QoR depends on the design, so I would recommend to run some benchmarks with some of your typical designs. If you need more improvement you should try SynplifyPremier, which uses additional Placement information for the synthesis.

    Kind regards

    GPK