Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guide: Getting Started

ID 683463
Date 4/03/2023
Public

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2.1. FPGA Basic Design Prerequisites

Using the Intel® Quartus® Prime software to create a basic FPGA design requires the following prerequisite knowledge and software installation and licensing:

Prerequisite Knowledge

  • Basic knowledge of digital logic design.
  • Basic knowledge of how to describe a hardware design using VHDL, Verilog HDL, SystemVerilog, or EDA schematic tools.
Note: You can accelerate design creation and success by starting your design project from a pre-verified design example that targets an Intel FPGA development board, as Creating a New Project from a Design Example describes.

Prerequisite Software and Licensing

To use the Intel® Quartus® Prime software for FPGA design, your system must first meet the minimum Windows or Linux system requirements for installation. Next, you download and install the software components. You must purchase a license for any applicable software prior to production use.

The Intel FPGA Software Download Center webpage allows you to download Intel FPGA software and IP cores. To download software, select and visit the desired software landing page from the FPGA Software Download Center.

Table 1.  Intel FPGA Design Software for Download and Installation
Software Description Required?
Intel® Quartus® Prime Software You must install an edition of the Intel® Quartus® Prime software to compile your design and generate files to program the target FPGA. The Intel® Quartus® Prime installation also includes the Intel FPGA IP Library and Nios II EDS.

The Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition software provides unique features that support the latest Intel® FPGAs. Select the Intel® Quartus® Prime software edition that provides the device support and features you require, as Selecting an Intel Quartus Prime Software Edition describes.

Yes
Device support Files (.qdz) You must install support for one or more Intel FPGA device families as part of the Intel® Quartus® Prime software installation when prompted. Only select the support files for the device families that you plan to target. Yes
Intel Quartus Prime Help Files Optional HTML help system that provides descriptions of the Intel® Quartus® Prime software GUI. No
Questa* Intel® FPGA Edition Simulator Intel provides this simulator which is a version of the Questa* Advanced simulator targeted for simulating Intel® Quartus® Prime designs. The Questa* Intel® FPGA Edition simulator supports the Intel FPGA gate-level simulation libraries, and includes behavioral simulation, HDL test benches, and Tcl scripting support. No
DSP Builder for Intel® FPGAs Digital signal processing (DSP) design tool that enables Hardware Description Language (HDL) generation of DSP algorithms directly from the MathWorks Simulink* environment onto Intel FPGAs. No
Note: Refer to Intel FPGA Software Installation and Licensing for step-by-step installation and licensing instructions for all Intel FPGA software.