Quick start

Hardware requirements

  • Rysino board
  • USBmini cable
  • USB Blaster JTAG programmer

Needed software

Quartus II is IDE provided by Intel for their FPGA chips. Before downloading we need to create free account. To do it visit Intel. Then download software from fpgasoftware.intel.com.

You will need:

  • Quartus Prime (includes Nios II EDS)
  • MAX 10 FPGA device support
Projects was tested on release 18.1. Package also contain driver for USB Blaster programmer.

Nice to have is also:

  • ModelSim-Intel FPGA Edition (includes Starter Edition)

For FT230 USB/UART converter additional driver is needed. It could be downloaded from www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm.

Configuring FPGA

Now connect USB Blaster to Rysino JTAG connector. Connection edging should be located on top as shown at Fig. 1. Then connect Rysino and USB Blaster to USB ports in your computer.

Connecting JTAG to Rysino FPGA dev board
Fig. 1. Connecting JTAG to Rysino FPGA dev board.

Next step is program board with testing project: board_test.sof. Open Programmer (Quartus Prime 18.1). Its window is shown at Fig. 2.

Quartus Programmer
Fig. 2. Quartus Programmer.

In (1) should be information about detected USB Blaster programmer.

Click Add file button (2) and load board_test.sof.

Click Start button (3).

Progress will be shown in (4). After a few seconds it should be "100% (Successful)" (Fig. 3).

Quartus Programmer
Fig. 3. FPGA is configured.

Also this short movie could be helpful for you:

Video tutorial about programming FPGA.

Test program

After programming you could start playing with board:

  • LED1-4 show numbers from 0 to 15 in binary mode.
  • LED5-8 are controlled by switches.
  • UART is working in "echo" mode.
As we programm only RAM memory, FPGA configuration is lost after power down. To make it permanent *.pof file must be used. It could be generated from Quartus project.