Timesys Getting Started Guide for Altera Cyclone-III DK

Introduction
Prerequisites
- Host Requirements
- Target Requirements
Preparing the Target
- Loading the Hardware Design
- Loading the Bootloader
Preparing the Host
Booting the Board
- Booting the Kernel
Additional Information
- Factory Documentation
- Altera NIOS2 Documentation

Introduction

This document will describe in detail the procedures for booting a Linux kernel image and mounting a root file system over NFS on the Altera Cyclone-III DK.

Prerequisites

Host Requirements

To properly boot the Altera Cyclone-III DK using software from Timesys, your host machine must meet the following requirements:

Modern GNU/Linux Distribution. Timesys recommends one of the following distributions:
- Ubuntu (Most recent release or LTS)
- Fedora (Most recent release)
An internet connection on the Development Host.
Root or sudo permission on the Development Host.
A copy of the Linux Kernel (uImage-2.6.30-ts-nios2) and Root File System (rootfs.tar.gz) for the Target Board downloaded from Factory. These are found in the output directory of your online build, or in the directory build_nios2-timesys-linux-<libc>/images/ on the command line.
If you are booting your root file system over the network, you will need two network cards installed and configured in the Development Host. One to communicate normally with your LAN/WAN while installing host packages, the other to communicate solely with the target board.
Quartus II Software from Altera

Target Requirements

To boot the Altera Cyclone-III DK, you will need the following items:

Altera Cyclone-III DK Board
Ethernet Crossover Cable or Ethernet hub/switch and Ethernet Patch Cables
USB A to B Cable
NIOS2 design project. Projects corresponding to Timesys Starting Points are available at: http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-emb-dev-cyc3.html

Once you have all of the necessary components, you should perform the following steps:

Connect the USB B port of the board to the USB Type-A port of your workstation using the USB A to B cable.
If you are using a cross-over cable, connect the Ethernet port of the board to the second Ethernet port of your workstation.
If you are using an Ethernet hub or switch, connect the board to the hub with a straight-through Ethernet cable, then connect the hub to the second Ethernet port of your workstation.
Connect the power supply to your board.

Preparing the Target

Loading the Hardware Design

First verify that the JTAG connection is working correctly.

[NiosII EDS]$ jtagconfig 1) USB-Blaster [USB 1-1.2] 020F70DD EP3C120 [NiosII EDS]$

With a working USB connection, we can load the SOF onto the Altera Cyclone-III DK.

[NiosII EDS]$ nios2-configure-sof nios2_linux_3c120_125mhz_top.sof Searching for SOF file: in . nios2_linux_3c120_125mhz_top.sof Info: ******************************************************************* Info: Running Quartus II Programmer Info: Command: quartus_pgm -no_banner -mode=jtag -o p;./nios2_linux_3c120_125mhz_top.sof Info: Using programming cable "USB-Blaster [USB 1-1.2]" Info: Started Programmer operation at Wed Sep 16 11:02:41 2009 Info: Configuring device index 1 Info: Device 1 contains JTAG ID code 0x020F70DD Info: Configuration succeeded - 1 device(s) configured Info: Successfully performed operation(s) Info: Ended Programmer operation at Wed Sep 16 11:02:47 2009 Info: Quartus II Programmer was successful. 0 errors, 0 warnings Info: Peak virtual memory: 62 megabytes Info: Processing ended: Wed Sep 16 11:02:47 2009 Info: Elapsed time: 00:00:18 Info: Total CPU time (on all processors): 00:00:11 [NiosII EDS]$

Loading the Bootloader

The U-Boot ELF file is loaded using the Quartus II Programmer.

[NiosII EDS]$ nios2-download -g u-boot Using cable "USB-Blaster [USB 1-1.2]", device 1, instance 0x00 Pausing target processor: OK Initializing CPU cache (if present) OK Downloaded 145KB in 2.1s (69.0KB/s) Verified OK Starting processor at address 0xF7F80000 [NiosII EDS]$

Use the following command to begin interacting with U-Boot:

[NiosII EDS]$ nios2-terminal nios2-terminal: connected to hardware target using JTAG UART on cable nios2-terminal: "USB-Blaster [USB 1-1.2]", device 1, instance 0 nios2-terminal: (Use the IDE stop button or Ctrl-C to terminate) U-Boot 2009.03 (Sep 15 2009 - 12:42:30) CPU : Nios-II SYSID : 0x45ff1c2a, Fri Jan 30 03:53:01 2009 BOARD : Altera 3C120 Net: board eth init Altera TSE init Marvell 88E1111S found tse0 Hit any key to stop autoboot: 0

Preparing the Host

Setting up the network

The commands discussed in this section are meant to be performed by a privileged user account. This requires the root login or prepending each command with sudo.

Identify the network adapter connecting the Host to the Target

Timesys only supports direct Ethernet connections from the development Host to the Target board. Ideally, the development Host would have two network adapters; one adapter to connect to your LAN, and one Ethernet card to connect directly to the Target board with a crossover cable or Ethernet hub. If your development Host only has one network interface it must be directly connected to the Target board. The Ethernet adapter connected directly to the target board must be:

Configured with a proper static IP address and Subnet Mask.
Connected directly to the target board with either a crossover cable or its own Ethernet hub.

From a command prompt issue the command:

# /sbin/ifconfig

Each interface will report its IP address, Subnet Mask, and Default Gateway information:

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:19:bb:49:ff:0e inet addr:192.168.3.244 Bcast:192.168.3.255 Mask:255.255.254.0 inet6 addr: fe80::219:bbff:fe49:ff0e/64 Scope:Link UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:57214 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:47272 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:43109083 (41.1 MB) TX bytes:6308206 (6.0 MB) Interrupt:16 eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:10:b5:4a:c1:a9 inet addr:10.0.0.1 Bcast:10.0.0.255 Mask:255.0.0.0 UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B) Interrupt:21 Base address:0x1100 lo Link encap:Local Loopback inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0 inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1 RX packets:1974 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:1974 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 RX bytes:226637 (221.3 KB) TX bytes:226637 (221.3 KB)

Note the IP address and Subnet Mask of the appropriate network connection. You will use this to configure the DHCP server.

Installing the server daemons on the development host

On Ubuntu 11.04 and newer:
# apt-get install xinetd tftp tftpd isc-dhcp-server \ nfs-kernel-server portmap
On Ubuntu 10.11 and older:
# apt-get install xinetd tftp tftpd dhcp3-server \ nfs-kernel-server portmap
NOTE: Older versions of Ubuntu use nfs-common and nfs-user-server in place of nfs-kernel-server
On Fedora Core:

# yum install xinetd tftp tftp-server dhcp nfs-utils

Important:

After installing these packages the DHCP server software may start automatically. Having the DHCP server running while you are connected to a LAN can interfere with the operation of other computers. After the DHCP service installs and starts issue these commands to stop the DHCP service and prevent it from starting automatically at boot:

To stop the dhcp service:
- On Ubuntu 11.04 and newer:
  
  # service isc-dhcp-server stop
- On Ubuntu 10.11 and older:
  
  # service dhcp3-server stop
- On Fedora Core:
  
  # /etc/init.d/dhcp stop
To prevent the service from starting automatically:
- On Ubuntu 11.04 and newer:
  
  # chmod 644 /etc/init.d/isc-dhcp-server
- On Ubuntu 10.11 and older:
  
  # chmod 644 /etc/init.d/dhcp3-server
- On Fedora Core:
  1. Click the System Menu
  2. Select Administration
  3. Select Services
  4. Select dhcpd
  5. Click the Customize button
  6. Uncheck Runlevel 2, 3, 4 and 5

Disable SELinux and Firewall on Fedora Core

On Fedora Core, SELinux and the firewall will interfere with many of the services that are needed to work with the target board. These should be disabled before continuing.

Generally Ubuntu does not have these services running by default.

Disable SELinux:
1. Click the System Menu
2. Select Administration
3. Select SELinux Management
4. Change System Default Enforcing Mode to Disabled
Disable Firewall:
1. Click the System Menu
2. Select Administration
3. Select Services
4. Select iptables
5. Click the Customize button
6. uncheck Runlevel 2, 3, 4 and 5

Setting up DHCP

Edit the dhcpd configuration file:
- On Ubuntu, edit /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf and include the following lines (note: on older versions of Ubuntu this file is at either /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf or /etc/dhcpd.conf):
  
  subnet 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.0.0.0 { host targetboard { fixed-address 10.0.0.10; hardware ethernet 12:34:56:78:9a:bc; option root-path "/full/path/to/rfs"; filename "uImage-2.6.30-ts-nios2"; } }
- On Fedora Core, edit /etc/dhcpd.conf and include the following lines:
  
  ddns-update-style ad-hoc; subnet 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.0.0.0 { host targetboard { fixed-address 10.0.0.10; hardware ethernet 12:34:56:78:9a:bc; option root-path "/full/path/to/rfs"; next-server 10.0.0.1; filename "uImage-2.6.30-ts-nios2"; } }
Test the DHCP server on the network card that is connected to your development board. For this example assume eth1. This command will start the DHCP server in the foreground and output any status or error messages to the screen.
- On Ubuntu up to 12.04 LTS:
  
  # service dhcp3-server restart
- On Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and later:
  
  # service isc-dhcp-server restart
- On Fedora Core:
  
  # /usr/sbin/dhcpd -d eth1
- It is recommended to start the DHCP server in this manner each time you need to boot your Target board.

Setting up TFTP

Edit the xinetd.conf file
- On Ubuntu, edit /etc/xinetd.conf and add the following lines just above the line that reads includedir /etc/xinetd.d.
  
  service tftp { socket_type = dgram protocol = udp wait = yes user = root server = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd server_args = -s /tftpboot disable = no }
- On Fedora Core, the tftp-server package creates a /etc/xinetd.d/tftp file. Edit this file and change the disable line from yes to no. The contents of the file are:
  
  service tftp { socket_type = dgram protocol = udp wait = yes user = root server = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd server_args = -s /tftpboot disable = no per_source = 11 cps = 100 2 flags = IPv4 }
Create the /tftpboot folder if it does not exist:

# mkdir /tftpboot
Copy the kernel image to the /tftpboot directory:

# cp /path/to/kernel/image/uImage-2.6.30-ts-nios2 \ /tftpboot/uImage-2.6.30-ts-nios2

NOTE Also copy other files that are required for booting, such as a device tree blob, to /tftpboot.
Restart the xinetd server with the following command:

# /etc/init.d/xinetd restart
Test the TFTP server with the following commands

# tftp localhost tftp> get uImage-2.6.30-ts-nios2 Received 1456898 bytes in 0.4 seconds tftp> quit
Set xinetd to start automatically on Fedora Core.
Ubuntu users will skip this step.
1. Click the System Menu
2. Select Administration
3. Select Services
4. Select xinetd
5. Click the Customize button
6. Check Runlevel 2, 3, 4 and 5

Setting up NFS

As root, extract rootfs.tar.gz to a directory and note the path. This path will be referred to as /full/path/to/rfs in this document.

# mkdir /full/path/to/rfs # cd /full/path/to/rfs # sudo tar xvf rootfs.tar.gz
Export this path by editing /etc/exports to include a line similar to the following:

/full/path/to/rfs 10.0.0.10(rw,no_root_squash)
Restart the NFS services
- On Ubuntu issue the following commands in order:
  
  # service portmap stop # service nfs-kernel-server stop # service portmap start # service nfs-kernel-server start
  NOTE: Older versions of Ubuntu use nfs-common and nfs-user-server in place of nfs-kernel-server
- On Fedora Core:
  
  # /etc/init.d/nfs restart
Set nfsd to start automatically on Fedora Core. Ubuntu users will skip this step.
1. Click the System Menu
2. Select Administration
3. Select Services
4. Select NFS
5. Click the Customize button
6. Check Runlevel 2, 3, 4 and 5

Booting the Board

The Altera Cyclone-III DK board can be booted in a number of ways. The typical process is:

Load the design onto the FPGA using the USB Cable and Quartus II Programmer
Load U-Boot into memory
Run U-Boot
Load the uImage-2.6.30-ts-nios2 file into memory
Run the uImage-2.6.30-ts-nios2 file

This document explains how to boot a Linux System on a Altera Cyclone-III DK using the USB Cable and Quartus II Programmer.

Please consult the Altera documentation for loading designs from other types of flash.

Booting the Kernel

Use the following command to begin interacting with U-Boot:

You can boot the kernel from memory within U-Boot by using the following U-Boot commands:

==> tftp $loadaddr $serverip:$filename Using tse0 device TFTP from server 10.10.0.2; our IP address is 10.10.0.25 Filename 'kernel'. Load address: 0xf4000000 Loading: ################################################################# ################################################################# ################################################################# ################################################################# ################################################################# ################################################################# ################################################################# ####################################### done Bytes transferred = 2525928 (268ae8 hex) ==> setenv bootargs noinitrd ip=dhcp rw root=/dev/nfs console=ttyJ0 tsemac0=00:07:11:01:02:03 @ 0xf7f3fe48 ==> bootm

The kernel should boot within a few seconds.