Is it possible to attach PCIe to a Dev kit?
Hello Altera Community I have the DE25 Nano dev kit from Terasic. The Altera Agilex 5 product breif says the this FPGA has PCIe, but on the Dev kit this have not been installed. The pins for this should be exposed right? Is it possible that I could attach a PCIe component myself and how would that be possible? Thanks in advance.
Why 390.625MHz clock to F-Tile Reference fequency
Hi, This question is regarding the Agilex 7 M-Series FPGA Development Kit. In the evaluation board schematics, the Si5518 provides a 390.625 MHz clock that is connected to two F-Tile reference clock inputs. From the F-Tile Ethernet Hard IP User Guide, I understand that standard Ethernet designs typically use 156.25 MHz as the PMA reference clock, while the 390.625 MHz clock appears internally as the clk_txmac/clk_rxmac clock. My questions are: 1. Which F-Tile configuration or interface is intended to use the external 390.625 MHz reference clock on the development board? 2. Is this reference intended for the Ethernet Hard IP, PMA Direct mode, SyncE, or some other transceiver application? 3. Are there any official reference designs that use this 390.625 MHz reference clock? I would appreciate it if you could clarify the intended use of this clock on the Agilex M Development Kit. Regards,
Brand new USB-BLASTER 3 issues
A day ago I received a brand new and very expensive USB Blaster III from DigiKey with the following Serial Number: UB3000432 I have an issue using this device. The device is visible both in Win11 Device Manager and Quartus Prime Pro 26.1. After the device is properly connected to the PCB (I’ve tested 3 different boards) and powered on, the JTAG link is not established. All connections are correct, pinouts are aligned, and I even checked the conductivity of wires from board to Blaster module. I've managed to get this log from Quartus: !Error: JTAG chain problem detected !Error: No device detected. Detected 1's at TDI pin. The thing is that this same boards (chips) are visible to older USB Blaster in the same configuration. This was a sanity check. Am I missing something that is not documented in the user manual? Best regardsStratix III FPGA development kit
Hello! I am currently facing an unusual issue when trying to use the Stratix III FPGA Development Kit. After installing Quartus II 13.1 Subscription Edition (the last version supporting the Stratix III family) along with the respective device files (.qdz) for Cyclone, Arria, and Stratix III, and properly configuring the license on Windows 11, the Stratix III family does not appear in the device selection wizard. Interestingly, the Quartus Device Installer states that the family is already installed, but it remains hidden inside the software. To isolate the issue, I have tested multiple operating systems and Quartus versions, but the problem persists: 1) Windows 11 & Windows 7 (Quartus II 13.1, 13.0, and 12.1 Subscription): Arria and Cyclone families work perfectly. Stratix III shows as installed in the device manager but is unavailable inside Quartus. 2) Windows 7 (Quartus II 9.0 Web Edition): The Stratix III family appears in the family selection menu in Quartus, but our specific device (EP3SL150F1152) is listed as unsupported. 3) Ubuntu 12.04 (Quartus II 13.1 Subscription): Same behavior as Windows; the installer claims it is there, but Quartus does not show it. Given these cross-platform results, I suspect the root cause might be: 1) A corrupted or flawed Stratix III device installer file (.qdz). 2) A licensing restriction, where our current license might need a specific feature enabled for the Stratix III family, even though the software allows the installation. I have already tried renaming the device installation file, but the Quartus 13.1 device installer does not accept any name other than "stratixiv-13.1.0.162.qdz". When I use this default name, a window appears with the checkboxes ticked for the Stratix III family (indicating it is already installed). I cannot uncheck these boxes to uninstall only this specific family. I was also careful to place the .qdz file inside a folder with a simple name—without spaces or special characters—as I am aware of this classic Quartus 13.1 bug. Even so, nothing seems to solve the problem, and I am truly at a loss as to what might be going wrong. I am happy to make my machine available for you to take a closer look at the issue using TeamViewer, AnyDesk, or any other remote access tool. Could you please guide me on how to get this Stratix III Development Kit operational (which features the EP3SL150F1152 device)?" Thank you for your time and assistance. I look forward to your guidance. Best regards!
ARM DS5 debugger Access/Detection of CM55 on Agilex5 fpga device
Hi Team, We recently purchased license for the ARM DS5 IDE from Altera with License file contains note as NOTICE="For use with Intel or Altera devices only". I am using Arm Development studio IDE with version 2025.1-1. ALtera Agilex 5 FPGA device configured with custom soft macro based design which is only having ARM Cortex M55 processor cores with coresight debug IP . My question is whether ARM DS IDE will detect, access and debug the Cortex M55 cores which is in the fpga through the JTAG USB Blaster ? Please provide the detailed explanation Regards Suresh
Cyclone VGT Dev Kit boards - some new boards failing to boot from NOR Flash
We've been using these boards for years, having certified them for use in one of our products. In the last few months we have now received 5 of these boards and they fail to configure from NOR flash. These are all the new Rev B CVGT Dev Kit edition. Not all of the new RevB fail, but the fail rate is high, getting close to 50%. Yes, we know they changed to a Micron NOR flash for Rev B and rerouted some data lines, we are using the new RevB MAX5 files and have updated the Cyclone V NOR flash pins to match as well. I made some diagnostic changes to the MAX5 boot source (I set the PGM leds to count retries) and discovered that on the bad boards, the boot process goes through multiple configuration retries and eventually the watchdog timer fires, turns on the ERR (D5) red LED and stops. With the factory image they come with, there are also dozens of retries, then sometimes the boards fail, sometimes they boot up. With the slow speed that the NOR flash configuration runs at, there is no reason that it should ever fail and retry, and indeed on good boards they configure the first time every time with no retries. The first four we were able to send back to Altera (Via digikey where we bought them). We just got another bad one yesterday, this one from Mouser. Has anyone else seen this issue, and/or heard from Altera about this? Board link: https://docs.altera.com/r/docs/792833/current/cyclone-v-gt-fpga-development-kit-user-guide/kit-features
Educational DE 10 Hardware Request
My name is William Kleitz. I am a retired educator and the author of several digital electronics and FPGA textbooks published by Pearson Education. My 9th Edition textbook, which focuses heavily on Altera hardware and the Quartus software environment, has long been used in engineering programs and can be found on Amazon at - Kleitz- Digital Electronics Textbook. My YouTube videos can be found by searching Bill Kleitz VHDL I am currently coming out of retirement to develop a brand-new series of high-quality YouTube video tutorials and educational resources. My goal is to introduce the next generation of students and makers to modern digital design using the latest versions of Quartus Prime Lite. However, I have hit a hardware roadblock. The only development platforms I currently own are the original DE0 and DE0 Nano boards. Because these boards rely on the legacy Cyclone II chip, they are no longer supported by modern versions of Quartus, preventing me from recording up-to-date, relevant software workflows. To create this new curriculum, I would like to feature a modern, student-friendly platform. I am writing to ask if your university or academic relations program would be open to donating a newer DE10-Lite development board (featuring the MAX 10 FPGA) to support this educational initiative. In return, your hardware will be the primary platform featured throughout my upcoming video series, exposing thousands of self-taught developers and students directly to your ecosystem. Thank you very much for your time, consideration, and continued support of engineering education. Warm regards, William (Bill) Kleitz Textbook Author & ProfessorEducational Hardware Request
Dear Altera University Program Team, My name is William Kleitz. I am a retired educator and the author of several digital electronics and FPGA textbooks published by Pearson Education. My 9th Edition textbook, which focuses heavily on Altera hardware and the Quartus software environment, has long been used in engineering programs and can be found on Amazon. I am currently coming out of retirement to develop a brand-new series of high-quality YouTube video tutorials and educational resources. My goal is to introduce the next generation of students and makers to modern digital design using the latest versions of Quartus Prime Lite. However, I have hit a hardware roadblock. The only development platforms I currently own are the original DE0 and DE0 Nano boards. Because these boards rely on the legacy Cyclone II chip, they are no longer supported by modern versions of Quartus, preventing me from recording up-to-date, relevant software workflows. To create this new curriculum, I would like to feature a modern, student-friendly platform. I am writing to ask if your university program would be open to donating a newer DE10-Lite development board (featuring the MAX 10 FPGA) to support this educational initiative. In return, your hardware will be the primary platform featured throughout my upcoming video series, exposing thousands of self-taught developers and students directly to your ecosystem. Thank you very much for your time, consideration, and continued support of engineering education. Warm regards, William (Bill) Kleitz
