Generic Nios II Booting Methods User Guide

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ID 683820
Date 5/24/2016
Public
Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
1. Generic Nios II Booting Methods User Guide 2. Document Revision History for Generic Nios II Booting Methods
1. Generic Nios II Booting Methods User Guide x
1.1. Overview 1.2. Prerequisites 1.3. Acronym 1.4. Nios II Processor Boot Copier 1.5. Nios II Processor Booting Methods 1.6. Nios II Booting Elements 1.7. Nios II Programming Solutions
1.4. Nios II Processor Boot Copier x
1.4.1. Memcpy-Based Boot Copier 1.4.2. EPCS Controller-Based Boot Copier
1.5. Nios II Processor Booting Methods x
1.5.1. Nios II Booting General Flow 1.5.2. Summary of Nios II Processor Vector Configurations and BSP Settings 1.5.3. Nios II Processor Application Execute-In-Place from CFI Flash 1.5.4. Nios II Processor Application Copied from CFI Flash to RAM Using Boot Copier 1.5.5. Nios II Processor Application Copied from EPCS Flash to RAM Using Boot Copier
1.6. Nios II Booting Elements x
1.6.1. Nios II SBT Makefile 'mem_init_generate' Target 1.6.2. Convert Programming Files Option 1.6.3. Elf2flash Utility
1.7. Nios II Programming Solutions x
1.7.1. Recommended Programming Solution
1. Generic Nios II Booting Methods User Guide
2. Document Revision History for Generic Nios II Booting Methods

1.5.2. Summary of Nios II Processor Vector Configurations and BSP Settings

Table 1.  Summary of Nios II Processor Vector Configurations
Boot Option Reset Vector Configuration Exception Vector Configuration
Nios II processor application execute-in-place from CFI flash CFI flash Choose between:
  • OCRAM/ External RAM
  • CFI Flash
Nios II processor application copied from CFI flash to RAM using boot copier CFI flash OCRAM/ External RAM
Nios II processor application copied from EPCS flash to RAM using boot copier EPCS controller OCRAM/ External RAM
Nios II processor application executes in-place from Altera On-chip Flash (UFM) UFM Choose between:
  • OCRAM/ External RAM2
  • UFM
Nios II processor application copied from UFM to RAM using boot copier UFM OCRAM/ External RAM
Nios II processor application execute-in-place from Altera On-chip Memory (OCRAM) OCRAM OCRAM
Table 2.  Summary of Nios II Processor BSP Settings
Boot Option BSP Settings: Settings.Advanced.hal.linker BSP Editor Setting: Linker Script
Nios II processor application execute-in-place from CFI flash
If the exception vector memory is set to OCRAM/ External RAM, enable the following settings in Settings.Advanced.hal.linker:
  • allow_code_at_reset
  • enable_alt_load
  • enable_alt_load_copy_rodata
  • enable_alt_load_copy_rwdata
  • enable_alt_load_copy_exceptions
If the exception vector memory is set to CFI Flash, enable the following settings in Settings.Advanced.hal.linker:
  • allow_code_at_reset
  • enable_alt_load
  • enable_alt_load_copy_rodata
  • enable_alt_load_copy_rwdata
  • Set .text Linker Section to Altera On-chip Flash
  • Set other Linker Sections (.heap, .rwdata, .rodata, .bss, .stack) to OCRAM/ External RAM
Nios II processor application copied from CFI flash to RAM using boot copier

All settings in Settings.Advanced.hal.linker are left unchecked.

All Linker Sections are set to OCRAM/ External RAM
Nios II processor application copied from EPCS flash to RAM using boot copier

All settings in Settings.Advanced.hal.linker are left unchecked.

All Linker Sections are set to OCRAM/ External RAM
Nios II processor application executes in-place from Altera On-chip Flash (UFM)
If the exception vector memory is set to OCRAM/ External RAM, enable the following settings in Settings.Advanced.hal.linker:
  • allow_code_at_reset
  • enable_alt_load
  • enable_alt_load_copy_rodata
  • enable_alt_load_copy_rwdata
  • enable_alt_load_copy_exceptions
If the exception vector memory is set to UFM, enable the following settings in Settings.Advanced.hal.linker:
  • allow_code_at_reset
  • enable_alt_load
  • enable_alt_load_copy_rodata
  • enable_alt_load_copy_rwdata
  • Set .text Linker Section to Altera On-chip Flash
  • Set other Linker Sections (.heap, .rwdata, .rodata, .bss, .stack) to OCRAM/ External RAM
Nios II processor application copied from UFM to RAM using boot copier All settings in Settings.Advanced.hal.linker are left unchecked. All Linker Sections are set to OCRAM/ External RAM
Nios II processor application execute-in-place from Altera On-chip Memory (OCRAM) Enable allow_code_at_reset in Settings.Advanced.hal.linker and leave the other settings unchecked. All Linker Sections are set to OCRAM
2 Setting exception vector memory to OCRAM/ External RAM is recommended to make the interrupt processing faster.
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