SparkFun Forums

[LostTime77]

I really cannot seem to find a clear answer to this question.

Does open ocd work out of the box with the Altera Cyclone 5 SocKit from arrow? I have read a few forum posts that at one point there were "definitions" added for the board or something. Additionally, it seems that open ocd works with byte blaster, but not byte blaster II? The SocKit, I believe uses byte blaster II.

I want to be able to debug the cyclone 5 HPS via eclipse without having to use the Arm DS5 environment as it costs a lot of money.

Thanks

[hsutherl]

I don't know anything about the SocKit. 0.8.0 includes altera_sockit.cfg in scripts/board:

Code: Select all

#
# Cyclone V SocKit board
# http://www.altera.com/b/arrow-sockit.html
#
# Software support page:
# http://www.rocketboards.org/

# openocd does not currently support the on-board USB Blaster II.
# Install the JTAG header and use a USB Blaster instead.
interface usb_blaster

source [find target/altera_fpgasoc.cfg]

# If the USB Blaster II were supported, these settings would be needed
#usb_blaster_vid_pid 0x6810 0x09fb
#usb_blaster_device_desc "USB-Blaster II"

adapter_khz 100

that seems to support most of what you said.

[LostTime77]

Thanks for the response.

I apologize as I am fairly new to open OCD.

I have a few questions. I don't mind buying a blaster cable; however, does anybody know if this guy would work? http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?No=46. The official USB blaster cable from altera is $300 while this is $50. It says it is compatible with the USB blaster.

Secondly, how well would does open OCD operate while debugging? I have not used many debuggers except for a jlink, which works very well. Unfortanately, the jlink does not support the sockit. I have used an ST link before, but it worked horribly or not at all. Can I expect open OCD to connect to the HPS on the sockit, download code into it, execute breakpoints, etc? How about after external DDR ram is setup? Can openOCD properly debug code / data in external RAM?

As a reference, I am coming from a microcontroller background, and this is actually my first embedded project where I am using an apps processor. I have never used external RAM before. All I know is that arm DS5 is a no go, and I will be damned if I am paying $1000 for a license that only lasts a year. Quartus II allows configuration and programming of the FPGA portion of the sockit for free. I am just missing the HPS side at this point.

Thanks