101 Innovation Drive
San Jose, CA 95134
www.altera.com
P25-36228-03
Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit
User Guide
Document Version: 1.2
Document Date: July 2010
© 2010 Altera Corporation. All rights reserved. ALTERA, ARRIA, CYCLONE, HARDCOPY, MAX, MEGACORE, NIOS, QUARTUS and STRATIX are
Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. and/or trademarks of Altera Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks and service marks are the
property of their respective holders as described at www.altera.com/common/legal.html. Altera warrants performance of its semiconductor produc ts
to current specifications in accordance with Altera's standard warranty, but reserves the right to make changes to any products and services at any
time without notice. Altera assumes no responsibility or liability arising out of the application or use of any information, product, or service described
herein except as expressly agreed to in writing by Altera. Altera customers are advised to obtain the latest version of device
specifications before relying on any published information and before placing orders for products or services.
Part Number UG-01018-1.2
ii 0 Altera Corporation
Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010
Contents
Chapter 1. Getting Started
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1–1
Before You Begin ................................................................................................................................... 1–2
Further Information .............................................................................................................................. 1–2
Software Installation ............................................................................................................................. 1–2
Installing the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit .................................................................................. 1–2
Installing the Quartus II Web Edition Software .......................................................................... 1–4
Chapter 2. Development Board and Control Panel Setup
Development Board Setup ................................................................................................................... 2–1
Requirements .................................................................................................................................... 2–2
Powering Up the Development Board .......................................................................................... 2–2
Installing the USB-Blaster Driver ........................................................................................................ 2–2
Control Panel Setup ............................................................................................................................... 2–3
Configuring the FPGA Using the Quartus II Programmer ............................................................. 2–3
Chapter 3. Using the Control Panel
Overview ................................................................................................................................................. 3–1
Control Panel Start ................................................................................................................................ 3–1
LEDs and Buttons .................................................................................................................................. 3–2
Illuminating LEDs ............................................................................................................................ 3–2
Buttons Indicators ............................................................................................................................ 3–3
DDR SDRAM/
SSRAM/On-Chip Controller ............................................................................................................... 3–3
Read/Write Data .............................................................................................................................. 3–4
Read from a File ................................................................................................................................ 3–5
Write to a File ................................................................................................................................... 3–5
Flash Memory Programmer ................................................................................................................. 3–5
Flash Memory Tab ........................................................................................................................... 3–6
CFI Query .......................................................................................................................................... 3–6
Read/Write Data .............................................................................................................................. 3–7
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Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide
Contents
Chapter 4. Measuring Power on the Cyclone III Starter Board
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 4–1
Measuring Power ................................................................................................................................... 4–2
Changing the Example Design ....................................................................................................... 4–3
Appendix A. Programming the Configuration Flash Device
Overview ................................................................................................................................................ A–1
Creating a Flash-Programmable POF File ........................................................................................ A–1
Programming the Flash Device .......................................................................................................... A–5
Additional Information
Revision History ............................................................................................................................... Info–i
How to Contact Altera .................................................................................................................... Info–ii
Typographic Conventions .............................................................................................................. Info–ii
iv Altera Corporation
Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide
1. Getting Started
Introduction
Welcome to the Altera® Cyclone®III FPGA Starter Kit, which includes a
full-featured field-programmable gate array (FPGA) development board,
hardware and software development tools, documentation, and
accessories needed to begin FPGA development.
The development board includes an Altera Cyclone III FPGA and comes
preconfigured with a hardware reference design stored in flash memory.
You can use the development board as a platform to prototype a variety
of FPGA designs.
The starter kit provides an integrated control environment that includes
a software controller in a control panel application, a USB command
controller, a multi-port SRAM/DDR SDRAM/flash memory controller,
and example designs specified in Verilog code. You can use this design as
a starting point for test designs.
This user guide addresses the following topics:
■ How to set up, power up, and verify correct operation of the
development board.
■ How to install the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit.
■ How to install the Altera
■ How to set up and use the control panel, a graphical user interface
(GUI), to manipulate components on the board, implement
applications.
■ How to configure the Cyclone III FPGA.
■ How to set up and run example designs.
®
Quartus II Web Edition software.
f For complete details on the development board, refer to the
Cyclone III FPGA Starter Board Reference Manual.
Altera Corporation Core Version a.b.c variable 1–1
July 2010 Preliminary
Before You Begin
Before You
Begin
Further Information
Before proceeding, check the contents of the kit:
■ Cyclone III FPGA Starter Development Board
■ 12-V DC power supply
■ USB cable
f For the most up-to-date information on this product, visit the Altera
website at www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-cyc3-
starter.html.
For other related information, refer to the following websites:
For More Information About Refer To
Additional daughter cards
available for purchase
Cyclone III handbook www.altera.com/literature/lit-cyc3.jsp
Cyclone III reference designs http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-
eStore if you want to
purchase devices
Cyclone III Orcad symbols www.altera.com/support/software/download/pcb/
®
Nios
II 32-bit embedded
processor solutions
www.altera.com/products/devkits/
kit-daughter_boards.jsp
cyc3-starter.html
www.altera.com/buy/devices/buy-devices.html
pcbpcb_index.html
www.altera.com/technology/embedded/
emb-index.html
Software Installation
This section describes the following procedures:
■ “Installing the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit”
■ “Installing the Quartus II Web Edition Software” on page 1–4
Installing the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit
The license-free Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit installer includes all the
documentation and design examples for the kit.
To install the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit, follow these steps:
1. Download the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit installer from the
Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit page of the Altera website.
Alternatively, you can request a development kit DVD from the
Development Kits, Daughter Cards & Programming Hardware page
of the Altera website.
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Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010
Getting Started
<install dir>
documents
board_design_files
The default Windows installation directory is C:\altera\
<version>
\.
examples
factory_recovery
demos
kits
cycloneIII_3c25_start
2. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation
process.
The installation program creates the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit
directory structure shown in Figure 1–1.
Figure 1–1. Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit Default Installed Directory Structure
Table 1–1 lists the file directory names and a description of their contents.
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July 2010 Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide
Table 1–1. Installed Directory Contents
Directory Name Description of Contents
board_design_files Contains schematic, layout, assembly, and bill of material
board design files. Use these files as a starting point for a
new prototype board design.
demos Contains demonstration projects that may or may not
contain up-to-date source code.
documents Contains the development kit documentation.
examples Contains the example design files for the Cyclone III FPGA
Starter Kit
factory_recovery Contains programming files for returning board to factory
default condition.
Software Installation
Installing the Quartus II Web Edition Software
The Quartus II Web Edition software provides the necessary tools for
developing hardware and software for Altera FPGAs. Included in the
Quartus II Web Edition software are the Quartus II software, the Nios II
EDS, and the MegaCore
SOPC Builder) and the Nios II EDS are the primary FPGA development
tools for creating the reference designs in this kit.
To install the Quartus II Web Edition software, follow these steps:
1. Download the Quartus II Web Edition software from the Quartus II
Web Edition Software page of the Altera website. Alternatively, you
can request a DVD from the Altera IP and Software DVD Request
Form page of the Altera website.
2. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation
process.
f If you have difficulty installing the Quartus II software,
refer to Quartus II Installation & Licensing for Windows and
Linux Workstations.
The Quartus II Web Edition software includes the following items:
®
IP Library. The Quartus II software (including
■ Quartus II software—The Quartus II software, including the SOPC
Builder system development tool, provides a comprehensive
environment for system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) design.
The Quartus II software integrates into nearly any design
environment and provides interfaces to industry-standard EDA
tools.
f To compare the Quartus II subscription and web editions,
refer to Altera Quartus II Software
Web Edition. The kit also works with the subscription
edition.
■ MegaCore IP Library—A library that contains Altera IP MegaCore
functions. You can evaluate MegaCore functions with the OpenCore
Plus feature to perform the following tasks:
● Simulate behavior of a MegaCore function in your system
● Verify functionality of your design, and quickly and easily
evaluate its size and speed
● Generate time-limited device programming files for designs that
include MegaCore functions
● Program a device and verify your design in hardware
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Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010
—Subscription Edition vs.
Getting Started
1 The OpenCore Plus hardware evaluation feature is an
evaluation tool for prototyping only. You must purchase a
license to use a MegaCore function in production.
f For more information about OpenCore Plus, refer to
AN 320: OpenCore Plus Evaluation of Megafunctions.
■ Nios
®
II Embedded Design Suite (EDS)—A full-featured tool set that
allows you to develop embedded software for the Nios II processor
which you can include in your Altera FPGA designs.
Licensing Considerations
The Quartus II Web Edition software is license-free and supports
Cyclone III devices without any additional licensing requirement. This
kit also works with the Quartus II Subscription Edition software, after
you obtain the proper license file. To purchase a subscription, contact
your Altera sales representative.
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Software Installation
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2. Development Board and
1-Mbyte SSRAM (U5)
DC Power
Input (J2)
Power Switch (SW1)
16-Mbyte
Parallel
Flash (U6)
USB
Connector
(J3)
Flash LED
USB
UART (U8)
JTAG Header (J4)
32-Mbyte
DDR SDRAM (U4)
Reconfigure
and Reset
Push Buttons
50-MHz
System Clock
User LEDs
User Push Button Switches
HSMC
Connector (J1)
Cyclone III Device (U1)
Configuration Done LED
Sense Resistor for FPGA
Core Power Measurement (JP6)
Sense Resistor
for Shared I/O
Power (JP3)
Control Panel Setup
Development
The development board is preloaded with an example design to
demonstrate the Cyclone®III device and board features. At power-up,
Board Setup
the preloaded design also enables you to quickly confirm that the board
is operating correctly.
Figure 2–1 shows the Cyclone III development board layout and
components.
Figure 2–1. Cyclone III Development Board Layout and Components
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July 2010 Preliminary
Installing the USB-Blaster Driver
Requirements
Before you proceed, ensure that the follwing items are installed:
■ Altera
■ Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit
■ USB-Blaster™ driver software on the host computer. The
®
Quartus®II software on the host computer
Cyclone III FPGA starter development board includes an integrated
USB-Blaster circuitry for FPGA programming.
Powering Up the Development Board
To power-up the development board, follow these steps:
1. Ensure that the ON/OFF switch (SW1) is in the OFF position (up).
2. Connect the USB-Blaster cable from the host computer to the
USB-Blaster port on the development board.
3. Connect the 12-V DC adapter to the development board and to a
power source.
w Only use the supplied 12-V power supply. Power regulation
circuitry on the board could be damaged by supplies greater
than 12 V.
4. Press the power switch (SW1).
5. Confirm that all four user LEDs are ON.
Installing the
USB-Blaster
Driver
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Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010
The Cyclone III FPGA development board includes an integrated
USB-Blaster circuitry for FPGA programming. However, for the host
computer and board to communicate, you must install the USB-Blaster
driver on the host computer.
Installation instructions for the USB-Blaster driver are available on the
Altera website at www.altera.com/support/software/drivers/
dri-index.html. On the “Altera Programming Cable Driver Information”
page of the Altera website, locate the table entry for your configuration
and click the link to access the instructions.
Development Board and Control Panel Setup
Control Panel Setup
Configuring the FPGA Using the Quartus II Programmer
Setting up the control panel involves the following:
■ Configuring the FPGA
■ Starting the control panel
1 Power up the board and ensure that is is operational.
For more information about using the control panel, refer to the “Using
the Control Panel” chapter.
You can use the Quartus II Programmer to configure the FPGA with a
specific .sof. Before configuring the FPGA, ensure that the Quartus II
Programmer and the USB-Blaster driver are installed on the host
computer, the USB cable is connected to the development board, power
to the board is on, and no other applications that use the JTAG chain are
running.
To configure the Cyclone III FPGA, follow these steps:
1. Start the Quartus II Programmer.
2. Click Add File and select the path to the desired .sof.
3. Turn on the Program/Configure option for the added file.
4. Click Start to configure the selected file to the FPGA. Configuration
is complete when the progress bar reaches 100%.
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July 2010 Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide
Configuring the FPGA Using the Quartus II Programmer
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Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010
3. Using the Control Panel
Overview
The control panel consists of the following:
■ The graphical user interface (GUI) application on the host computer
■ The standard Nios II hardware design running on the board's
Cyclone III FPGA device
After installing the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit, you can locate the
control panel for the hardware and software in the
<kit path>\demos\control_panel directory.
The design downloaded to the Cyclone III device implements a
command controller that processes board commands sent over the
USB-Blaster from the control panel. To perform the appropriate actions,
the command controller communicates with the controller of the targeted
board I/O device.
You can perform the following actions with the control panel:
■ Light up LEDs
■ Detect push button presses
■ Read from and write to the DDR SDRAM, SRAM, flash memory, and
on-chip RAM
The following sections describe how to perform the above actions with
the control panel already open on the host computer. If not already open,
launch the control panel as described in “Control Panel Start”.
Control Panel Start
Altera Corporation Core Version a.b.c variable 3–1
July 2010 Preliminary
The Cyclone III development board is shipped with an example design
stored in the flash memory which configures the Cyclone III FPGA upon
power-up with the standard Nios II design.
1 For an older version of the Cyclone III development board
shipped with the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit v7.1.0, v7.2.0, or
8.0.0 application, you must manually configure the
cycloneIII_3c25_start_niosII_standard.sof into the FPGA
before launching the control panel application.
LEDs and Buttons
You can locate the source for the example design in the <kit
path>\examples\cycloneIII_3c25_starter_board_standard directory.
1 To launch the control panel user interface, run the
control_panel.exe program found in the <kit
path>\demos\control_panel directory (Figure 3–1).
Figure 3–1. Control Panel Window
LEDs and
Buttons
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Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010
Illuminating LEDs
To illuminate an LED, follow these steps:
1. The LED & Buttons tab should be visible when the application runs.
If it is not visible, click the LED & Buttons tab (Figure 3–2).
2. Click on LEDs to individually turn on the LEDs.
Using the Control Panel
Buttons Indicators
1. Press the push-button switches on the board. Notice that buttons on
the GUI change accordingly.
Figure 3–2. Control Panel Window for LEDs and Buttons
DDR SDRAM/
You can perform the following types of memory read/write operations
with the control panel:
SSRAM/On-Chip
Controller
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July 2010 Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide
■ Read from and write to the DDR SDRAM, SSRAM, or on-chip device
■ Write entire contents of a file, to the DDR SDRAM, SSRAM, or
on-chip device
■ Read contents of the DDR SDRAM, SSRAM, or on-chip device, to a
file
DDR SDRAM/ SSRAM/On-Chip Controller
The following sections describe how to access the DDR SDRAM. You can
use the same procedure to access the SSRAM.
Read/Write Data
To read from and write to the DDR SDRAM, follow these steps:
1. Click the DDR SDRAM tab (Figure 3–3). The Address column
indicates the hex address of the DDR SDRAM. The values inside the
0-3, 4-7, 8-B, and C-F columns are the DDR SDRAM contents in hex
words format.
Figure 3–3. Control Panel DDR SDRAM Tab
2. To write a 32-bit word to the DDR SDRAM, click the desired
location, enter the desired value in hex format, and press Enter.
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Using the Control Panel
Read from a File
To read the contents of a file and load it to the DDR SDRAM, follow these
steps:
1. Click Load File.
2. Browse to sample.txt located in the control_panel directory and
click Open. This step instantiates the DDR SDRAM controller and
loads the text contents into the DDR SDRAM. Notice that the Data
to Ascii-text column shows the DDR SDRAM contents in Ascii
value.
Write to a File
To write the contents of the DDR SDRAM to a file, follow these steps:
1. Click Save File.
2. Enter the start and end addresses of the DDR SDRAM.
3. Choose a file name and click Save. This instantiates the controller to
read the DDR SDRAM contents from the start address to the end
address, and write the contents to a file.
Flash Memory
You can perform the following operations to read from and write to the
board’s flash memory with the control panel:
Programmer
■ Perform a CFI query of flash memory
■ Erase select blocks of flash memory
■ Write 32-bit hex word to flash memory
■ Write a binary file to flash memory
■ Load the contents of the flash memory into a file
c Do not exit from the control panel while erasing the flash
memory.
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July 2010 Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide
Flash Memory Programmer
Flash Memory Tab
To use the flash memory functions, click the Flash Memory tab
(Figure 3–4).
Figure 3–4. Control Panel Flash Memory Tab
CFI Query
The common flash interface (CFI) flash memory devices conform to basic
flash commands. The most basic command is Query which switches the
device into a ROM table mode so that features of the flash device are
determined by reading values from the table.
To perform a CFI query using the host application, click CFI Query.
Notice that the memory table displays contents that correlate with the
table contents as described in the device datasheet.
To put the flash device back in user mode, press Reset on the control
panel.
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Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010
Using the Control Panel
Read/Write Data
To read from and write to the flash memory, follow these steps:
Figure 3–5. Control Panel Flash Memory Tab
1. Click Erase Block to perform a block erase of the flash memory. The
Address column indicates the hex address of the flash memory. The
values inside the 0-3, 4-7, 8-B, and C-F columns are the flash
memory contents in hex words format.
2. To write a 32-bit word to the flash memory, click the desired
location, enter the desired value in hex format, and press Enter.
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July 2010 Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide
Flash Memory Programmer
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Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010
4. Measuring Power on the Cyclone III Starter Board
Introduction
Table 4–1. Four Input Button Functionality
Button FPGA Pin Type Description
1 F1 Reset Resets the demo to the beginning, node
2 F2 Toggle Advances the example design to the next higher
3 A10 Toggle Advances the example design to the next higher
4 B10 Press and Hold Enables the outputs to toggle, node
One of the main features of the Cyclone®III device is its low power
consumption. You can measure the power of the 3C25 device on the
Cyclone III starter board under various conditions with an example
design provided with the kit.
The power example design allows you to control the amount of logic
utilized in the FPGA, the clock frequency, the number of I/Os being used,
and measure the effect on the power to the Cyclone III device. Because the
Cyclone III starter board has only four buttons and four LEDs, interaction
with the board is minimal as defined below.
Table 4–1 describes the functionality of the four input buttons that control
the power example design.
i_nrst.
frequency, node i_nfreq_next.
resource utilization, node_i_nperc_next.
i_noutput_ena.
Tables 4–2 and 4–3 describe how the LEDs indicate the example design’s
current power state.
Table 4–2. LEDs Power State (Frequency)
Displays
MSB LSB
Frequency LED2 LED1 00 0
Altera Corporation Core Version a.b.c variable 4–1
July 2010 Preliminary
LEDs
State
01 33
10 67
11 100
Clock Frequency
(MHz)
Measuring Power
Table 4–3. LEDs Power State (Resources)
Displays
State % of Design Used
MSB LSB
LEDs
Resources LED4 LED3 00 25%
01 50%
10 75%
11 100%
The design used for power measurement is a replicated set of randomly
filled ROMs that feed a multiplier block and a shift register that is fed by
a signal that changes every clock cycle. Ta bl e s 4– 2 and 4–3 show the
power state which represent the percent of the full design used. As
compiled, this full design uses:
■ Logic elements: 22,493/24,624 (91%)
■ Combinational functions: 1,961/24,624 (8%)
■ Dedicated logic registers: 21,133/24,624 (86%)
■ Total registers: 21,133
■ Total pins: 73/216 (34%)
■ Total memory bits: 524,288/608,256 (86%)
■ Embedded Multiplier 9-bit elements: 128/132 (97 %)
■ Total PLLs: 1/4 (25%)
Measuring
Power
The example design is located in
<kit install>\examples\cycloneIII_3c25_start_power_demo. Configure
the FPGA with the .sof found in the directory.
1 The input clock (i_clk PIN_B9) is the 50-MHz oscillator on the
board, which generates the input clock for the reference design
through a PLL
f For more information on configuring the FPGA, refer to “Configuring
the FPGA Using the Quartus II Programmer” on page 2–3.
Current sense resistors (0.010 ± 1%) are installed at locations JP6 (FPGA
core power) and JP3 (FPGA I/O power + other device I/O power). With
a digital multimeter set to mV measurement range, the resistor at location
JP6 measures the core power. The resistor at location JP3 measures the
I/O power. To measure the current being used in various configurations,
use the following steps:
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Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010
Measuring Power on the Cyclone III Starter Board
1 To obtain the power (P) in milliwatts, measure <Measured
Vol ta ge > (the voltage across the sense resistors at JP6 or JP3) in
mV and calculate the nominal power using the equation:
P = 100 x <Measured Voltage> x <Supply Voltage>
where <Supply Voltage> is 1.2 V for JP6 and 2.5 V for JP3.
You can use the four input buttons to advance through the various power
state as outlined in Table 4–2. Notice how current increases as frequency
and resource usage increase.
You can also measure the I/O power consumed by measuring the voltage
across sense-resistor JP3 when Button 4 is pressed and held. Because this
2.5-V power rail is shared with other devices, there is a nominal 100 mW
that must be subtracted from the calculated I/O power to obtain the
FPGA I/O power.
The number of I/O pins used is controlled by the resource state (shown
in Tables 4–2 and 4–3). For each increment in resources, 16 additional I/O
pins are added (refer to Table 4–4).
Table 4–4. I/O Pin & Resource State
LED4/LED3 Number of I/O Pins
00 16
01 32
10 48
11 64
Similarly, the toggle-frequency of these I/O pins is set by the overall
design frequency (refer to Tab l e 4– 1).
Changing the Example Design
The source code for the Cyclone III power example design is also
provided so you can use it as a starting point for your own measurements.
You can adjust the number of outputs by changing parameter
NUM_OUTPUTS_PER_STAMP. The default is 16, which for four resource
percentage steps equates to 16 x 4 = 64.
The appropriate pins to be used as outputs are pre-assigned to the HSMC
connector (J1). If you would like to look at more than the 76 I/Os available
on J1, you need to make the appropriate pin assignments.
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Measuring Power
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Appendix A. Programming the
Configuration Flash Device
Overview
Creating a
FlashProgrammable
POF File
Figure A–1. Convert Programming Files Window
The Intel® P30 flash device uses active parallel flash configuration to
configure the Cyclone®III device on power up. The Cyclone III Starter
Board has a factory default configuration programmed into the P30 flash;
however, after developing your own project, you may want to replace this
factory default configuration with your own. This appendix describes
how to reprogram the Intel P30 flash device.
After a Quartus II compilation, a Programmer Object File (.pof) is created.
Before you can program this file into the Intel P30 flash device on the
Cyclone III development board, you must modify the .pof by performing
the following steps:
1. Choose Convert Programming File from the File menu. The
Convert Programming Files window opens (refer to Figure A–1).
Altera Corporation A–1
July 2010 Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide
Creating a Flash-Programmable POF File
2. Select the following settings:
● Programming File Type: Programmer Object File (.pof)
● Configuration Device: CFI_128MB
● Mode: Active Parallel
● File Name: Type the name of the flashable .pof to write
1 If you choose to overwrite the existing .pof, a warning
3. Under Input file to the convert, select Configuration Master under
SOF Data. Refer to Figure A–2.
1 Before moving to the next step, ensure that the setting for
Figure A–2. Input File to Convert
message occurs.
the Configuration Device is CFI_128MB.
4. Click Add File.
5. Choose the .sof you want to convert and click OK.
6. Select SOF Data and click Properties. The SOF Data Properties
window appears.
7. Select and type the following settings as shown in Figure A–3:
● Pages: 0
● Address mode for selected pages: Start
● Start address (32-bit hexadecimal): 0x020000
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Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010
Figure A–3. SOF Data Properties
1 The flash address 0x20000 is the default starting address
from which the Cyclone III device starts loading
configuration data.
8. Click OK. Figure A–4 shows the updated Convert Programming
Files window.
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July 2010 Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide
Creating a Flash-Programmable POF File
Figure A–4. Updated Convert Programming Files Window
9. Click Generate. If you are overwriting the input .pof you will
receive a warning asking if you want to overwrite it. Click Yes to
overwrite the file or enter a different filename. When the Quartus II
software finishes converting the file, you can use the converted .pof
to program the on-board parallel flash device.
1 The Quartus II software also generates a MAP file, which
can help you debug issues with locations in the flash device.
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Programming the Flash Device
Altera recommends that you do not overwrite the factory hardware and
factory software images unless you are an expert with the Altera tools or
deliberately overwriting the factory design. If you unintentionally
overwrite the factory image, perform these flash programming
instructions using the cycloneIII_3c25_start_niosII_standard.pof found
in the factory_recovery directory for the object file in step 9.
To program the flash device, follow these steps:
1. Open the Quartus II Programmer.
2. Click Auto Detect from the button list to the left of the
programming file list area.
3. Select the detected Cyclone III 3C25 device.
4. Choose Attach Flash Device (Edit menu). The Select Flash Device
window opens.
5. Turn on the Flash Memory and CFI_128MB options (refer to
Figure A–5).
Figure A–5. Select Flash Device
6. Click OK.
Altera Corporation A–5
July 2010 Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide
Programming the Flash Device
7. In the Quartus II Programmer, select the CFI_128MB device.
8. Click Change File from the button list at the left of the
9. Select the converted .pof that you generated in the previous section.
1 To restore factory flash contents, choose
10. Turn on the Program/Configure option for all devices shown in the
Figure A–6. POF Options
programming file area.
cycloneIII_3c25_start_niosII_standard.pof located in the
factory_recovery directory as your converted .pof.
Programmer.
1 Turning on the option for the .pof enables all three options,
which is what you want to do (refer to Figure A–6).
11. Click Start. The Programmer loads the special flash programming
hardware into the FPGA, which allows the Programmer to
communicate with the flash device. The Programmer sends the .pof
to the flash device via the flash programming hardware. The
Quartus II Message window displays the bank addresses as they are
erased and then written.
12. To configure the Cyclone III 3C25 with your design from the
on-board flash device, either push the reconfiguration button or
turn the Cyclone III Starter Board off and then on again.
A–6 Altera Corporation
Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010
Additional Information
Revision History
The table below displays the revision history for the chapters in this user
guide.
Chapter Date Version Changes Made
All July 2010 1.2.0 ● Removed “Licensing the Quartus II Software”.
● Updated Figure 1–1 on page 1–3.
● Updated “Installing the Quartus II Web Edition Software” on
page 1–4.
● Updated “Installing the Cyclone III FPGA Star ter Kit” on page 1–2.
● Updated “Further Information” on page 1–2.
● Updated Copyright information.
All March 2010 1.1.0
1, 2, 4 June 2008 1.0.1
All April 2007 1.0.0
● Updated the directory structure in Figure 1–1.
● Updated “Control Panel Start” section and Figure 3–1.
● Updated “LEDs” section and Figure 3–2.
● Updated “DDR SDRAM/SSRAM Controller and Programmer” section
and Figure 3–3.
● Updated “Flash Memory Programmer” section and Figure 3–4.
● Updated directory structure figure and installed directory contents
table.
● Updated the control panel user interface executable file name.
● Updated the kit directory path.
● Updated the configuration SOF file name.
● Updated kit's example design file name.
● First publication.
Altera Corporation Info–i
Preliminary
How to Contact Altera Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide
How to Contact
Altera
For the most up-to-date information about Altera products, refer to the
following table.
Contact
Typographic
Contact Note (1)
Technical support Website www.altera.com/support
Technical training Website www.altera.com/training
Product literature Website www.altera.com/literature
Non-technical support (General) Email nacomp@altera.com
(Software Licensing) Email authorization@altera.com
Note to Table:
(1) You can also contact your local Altera sales office or sales representative.
This document uses the typographic conventions shown below.
Method Address
Email custrain@altera.com
Conventions
Visual Cue Meaning
Bold Type with Initial
Capital Letters
bold type External timing parameters, directory names, project names, disk drive names,
Italic Type with Initial Capital
Letters
Italic type Internal timing parameters and variables are shown in italic type.
Command names, dialog box titles, checkbox options, and dialog box options
are shown in bold, initial capital letters. Example: Save As dialog box.
filenames, filename extensions, and software utility names are shown in bold
type. Examples: f
Document titles are shown in italic type with initial capital letters. Example: AN
75: High-Speed Board Design.
Examples: t
PIA
, \qdesigns directory, d: drive, chiptrip.gdf file.
MAX
, n + 1.
Variable names are enclosed in angle brackets (< >) and shown in italic type.
Example: <file name>, <project name>.pof file.
Initial Capital Letters Keyboard keys and menu names are shown with initial capital letters. Examples:
Delete key, the Options menu.
“Subheading Title” References to sections within a document and titles of on-line help topics are
shown in quotation marks. Example: “Typographic Conventions.”
Info–ii Altera Corporation
Preliminary
Additional Information Typographic Conventions
Visual Cue Meaning
Courier type Signal and port names are shown in lowercase Courier type. Examples: data1,
tdi, input. Active-low signals are denoted by suffix n, e.g., resetn.
Anything that must be typed exactly as it appears is shown in Courier type. For
example:
actual file, such as a Report File, references to parts of files (e.g., the AHDL
keyword
Courier.
1., 2., 3., and
a., b., c., etc.
● • Bullets are used in a list of items when the sequence of the items is not important.
■
v The checkmark indicates a procedure that consists of one step only.
1 The hand points to information that requires special attention.
c
w
r The angled arrow indicates you should press the Enter key.
f The feet direct you to more information on a particular topic.
Numbered steps are used in a list of items when the sequence of the items is
important, such as the steps listed in a procedure.
A caution calls attention to a condition or possible situation that can damage or
destroy the product or the user’s work.
A warning calls attention to a condition or possible situation that can cause injury
to the user.
c:\qdesigns\tutorial\chiptrip.gdf. Also, sections of an
SUBDESIGN), as well as logic function names (e.g., TRI) are shown in
Altera Corporation Info–iii
Preliminary
Typographic Conventions Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide
Info–iv Altera Corporation
Preliminary
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