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GHart10's avatar
GHart10
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4 years ago

ModelSim required for Intro to Digital lab course?

For an intro to digital logic course does one need Modelsim for the lab? We use Altera FPGA and introduce Verilog programing of simple circuits (Registers, counters, ALU etc..) Its seems all the ...
YEan's avatar
YEan
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4 years ago

Hi Glen,

University Program VWF' is not using Modelsim, it was Intel’s Quartus Prime CAD system.

Yes, Modelsim is embedded in Quartus as it can be used independently or in conjunction with Quartus, Xilinx, and more.

Thanks,

Ean

GHart10's avatar
GHart10
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4 years ago

Hi Ean,

that makes sense now. When I took over the lab class we used VWF which honestly is kindof clunky. I think it makes more sense to introduce students to both Quartus and Modelsim early as thats what industry uses.

Are there any Intel seminars/tutorials that show how to use Modelsim with Quartus/Verilog? A good introductory class. I haven't found any so far...

thanks for your feedback,

Glen

  • YEan's avatar
    YEan
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    4 years ago

    Hi Glen,

    There are demo videos for Modelsim such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eviC0jP90ZA or you may find related video from Intel FPGA's Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0wEPiFb0J6AZZ3oPXRoRpw . Please do note that starting with Intel® Quartus® Prime version 21.3, the ModelSim*-Intel® FPGA edition software has been discontinued and replaced by the Questa*-Intel® FPGA Edition software. You may refer to this https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/software/programmable/quartus-prime/model-sim.html?wapkw=modelsim .

    Thanks,

    Ean

    • GHart10's avatar
      GHart10
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      4 years ago

      Hi Ean,

      Thanks for the information. Its very helpful. I did notice that ModelSim is not supported starting with rev 21.3.

      Also, if I read , if correctly there is no unlicensed version of Questa and it requires a license fee. Is this true? Is there no 'free' university version of Questa for education purposes?

      Most Universities I've seen are still on ver 18.0 as it takes time and considerable effort to revise all the documentation and update all the lab computers with newer version so Quartus. And as you know once one gets the sofrware stable, one if very reluctant to move to the next software rev. I recently took a Intel FPGA training course and they are using rev 18 version of Quartus. It seems academia lags the industry software revisions by several generations...

      I appreciate your support,

      -Glen

      • YEan's avatar
        YEan
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        4 years ago

        Hi Glen,

        Yes it is true that QuestaSim required a license but it's free. The users able to request the license in Intel® FPGA Self-Service Licensing Center for lite edition.

        As for the lab exercises, it was still in plan to update currently.

        Thanks,

        Ean