Development and Education Board
Development and Education Board
User Manual
CONTENTS
Chapter 1 DE2 Package.....................................................................................................................1
1.1 Package Contents .................................................................................................................1
1.2 The DE2 Board Assembly....................................................................................................2
1.3 Getting Help.........................................................................................................................3
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DE2 User Manual
Chapter 1
DE2 Package
The DE2 package contains all components needed to use the DE2 board in conjunction with a
computer that runs the Microsoft Windows software.
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• Altera Corporation
101 Innovation Drive
San Jose, California, 95134 USA
Email: [email protected]
• Terasic Technologies
9F., No.176, Sec.2, Gongdao 5th Rd, East Dist, Hsinchu City, 30070. Taiwan
Email: [email protected]
Web: DE2.terasic.com
• Arches Computing
Unit 708-222 Spadina Ave
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T3A2
Email: [email protected]
Web: DE2.archescomputing.com
A BBS (Bulletin Board System) Forum for the DE2 board has been created at the address shown
below. This Forum is meant to serve as a repository for information about the DE2 board, and to
provide a resource through which users can ask questions, and share design examples.
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Chapter 2
Altera DE2 Board
This chapter presents the features and design characteristics of the DE2 board.
The DE2 board has many features that allow the user to implement a wide range of designed
circuits, from simple circuits to various multimedia projects.
• 512-Kbyte SRAM
• 8-Mbyte SDRAM
• 4-Mbyte Flash memory (1 Mbyte on some boards)
• SD Card socket
• 4 pushbutton switches
• 18 toggle switches
• 18 red user LEDs
• 9 green user LEDs
• 50-MHz oscillator and 27-MHz (from TV decoder) for clock sources
• 24-bit CD-quality audio CODEC with line-in, line-out, and microphone-in jacks
• VGA DAC (10-bit high-speed triple DACs) with VGA-out connector
• TV Decoder (NTSC/PAL) and TV-in connector
• 10/100 Ethernet Controller with a connector
• USB Host/Slave Controller with USB type A and type B connectors
• RS-232 transceiver and 9-pin connector
• PS/2 mouse/keyboard connector
• IrDA transceiver
• Two 40-pin Expansion Headers with diode protection
In addition to these hardware features, the DE2 board has software support for standard I/O
interfaces and a control panel facility for accessing various components. Also, software is provided
for a number of demonstrations that illustrate the advanced capabilities of the DE2 board.
In order to use the DE2 board, the user has to be familiar with the Quartus II software. The
necessary knowledge can be acquired by reading the tutorials Getting Started with Altera’s DE2
Board and Quartus II Introduction (which exists in three versions based on the design entry method
used, namely Verilog, VHDL or schematic entry). These tutorials are provided in the directory
DE2_tutorials on the DE2 System CD-ROM that accompanies the DE2 board and can also be
found on Altera’s DE2 web pages.
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SRAM
• 512-Kbyte Static RAM memory chip
• Organized as 256K x 16 bits
• Accessible as memory for the Nios II processor and by the DE2 Control Panel
SDRAM
• 8-Mbyte Single Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic RAM memory chip
• Organized as 1M x 16 bits x 4 banks
• Accessible as memory for the Nios II processor and by the DE2 Control Panel
Flash memory
• 4-Mbyte NOR Flash memory (1 Mbyte on some boards)
• 8-bit data bus
• Accessible as memory for the Nios II processor and by the DE2 Control Panel
SD card socket
• Provides SPI and 4-bit SD mode for SD Card access
• Accessible as memory for the Nios II processor with the DE2 SD Card Driver
Pushbutton switches
• 4 pushbutton switches
• Debounced by a Schmitt trigger circuit
• Normally high; generates one active-low pulse when the switch is pressed
Toggle switches
• 18 toggle switches for user inputs
• A switch causes logic 0 when in the DOWN (closest to the edge of the DE2 board) position
and logic 1 when in the UP position
Clock inputs
• 50-MHz oscillator
• 27-MHz clock input
• SMA external clock input
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Audio CODEC
• Wolfson WM8731 24-bit sigma-delta audio CODEC
• Line-level input, line-level output, and microphone input jacks
• Sampling frequency: 8 to 96 KHz
• Applications for MP3 players and recorders, PDAs, smart phones, voice recorders, etc.
VGA output
• Uses the ADV7123 140-MHz triple 10-bit high-speed video DAC
• With 15-pin high-density D-sub connector
• Supports up to 1600 x 1200 at 100-Hz refresh rate
• Can be used with the Cyclone II FPGA to implement a high-performance TV Encoder
Serial ports
• One RS-232 port
• One PS/2 port
• DB-9 serial connector for the RS-232 port
• PS/2 connector for connecting a PS2 mouse or keyboard to the DE2 board
IrDA transceiver
• Contains a 115.2-kb/s infrared transceiver
• 32 mA LED drive current
• Integrated EMI shield
• IEC825-1 Class 1 eye safe
• Edge detection input
1. Connect the provided USB cable from the host computer to the USB Blaster connector on
the DE2 board. For communication between the host and the DE2 board, it is necessary to
install the Altera USB Blaster driver software. If this driver is not already installed on the
host computer, it can be installed as explained in the tutorial Getting Started with Altera's
DE2 Board. This tutorial is available on the DE2 System CD-ROM and from the Altera
DE2 web pages.
2. Connect the 9V adapter to the DE2 board
3. Connect a VGA monitor to the VGA port on the DE2 board
4. Connect your headset to the Line-out audio port on the DE2 board
5. Turn the RUN/PROG switch on the left edge of the DE2 board to RUN position; the
PROG position is used only for the AS Mode programming
6. Turn the power on by pressing the ON/OFF switch on the DE2 board
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Chapter 3
DE2 Control Panel
The DE2 board comes with a Control Panel facility that allows users to access various components
on the board from a host computer. The host computer communicates with the board through a USB
connection. The facility can be used to verify the functionality of components on the board or be
used as a debug tool while developing RTL code.
This chapter first presents some basic functions of the Control Panel, then describes its structure in
block diagram form, and finally describes its capabilities.
Specific control circuit should be downloaded to your FPGA board before the control panel can
request it to perform required tasks. The program will call Quartus II tools to download the control
circuit to the FPGA board through USB-Blaster[USB-0] connection.
1. Make sure Quartus II 12.0 or later version is installed successfully on your PC.
2. Set the RUN/PROG switch to the RUN position
3. Connect the supplied USB cable to the USB Blaster port, connect the 9V power supply,
and turn the power switch ON.
4. Start the executable DE2_ControlPanel.exe on the host computer. The Control Panel user
interface shown in Figure 3.1 will appear.
5. The DE2_ControlPanel.sof bit stream is loaded automatically as soon as the
DE2_control_panel.exe is launched.
6. In case the connection is disconnected, click on CONNECT where the .sof will be
re-loaded onto the board.
7. Note, the Control Panel will occupy the USB port until you close that port; you cannot use
Quartus II to download a configuration file into the FPGA until the USB port is closed.
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8. The Control Panel is now ready for use; experience it by setting the ON/OFF status for
some LEDs and observing the result on the D1 board.
The concept of the DE2 Control Panel is illustrated in Figure 3.2. The “Control Circuit” that
performs the control functions is implemented in the FPGA board. It communicates with the
Control Panel window, which is active on the host computer, via the USB Blaster link. The
graphical interface is used to issue commands to the control circuit. It handles all requests and
performs data transfers between the computer and the DE2 board.
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The DE2 Control Panel can be used to light up LEDs, change the values displayed on 7-segment
and LCD displays, monitor buttons/switches status, read/write the SDRAM and Flash Memory,
monitor the status of an USB device, communicate with the PS/2 mouse, output VGA color pattern
to VGA monitor, communicate with PC via RS-232 interface and read SD Card specification
information. The feature of reading/writing a word or an entire file from/to the Flash Memory
allows the user to develop multimedia applications (Flash Audio Player, Flash Picture Viewer)
without worrying about how to build a Memory Programmer.
Choosing the LED tab leads to the window in Figure 3.3. Here, you can directly turn the LEDs on
or off individually or by clicking “Light All” or “Unlight All”.
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Choosing the 7-SEG tab leads to the window shown in Figure 3.4. From the window, directly use
the left-right arrows to control the 7-SEG patterns on the DE2 board which are updated immediately.
Note that the dots of the 7-SEGs are not enabled on DE2 board.
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The ability to set arbitrary values into simple display devices is not needed in typical design
activities. However, it gives the user a simple mechanism for verifying that these devices are
functioning correctly in case a malfunction is suspected. Thus, it can be used for troubleshooting
purposes.
The ability to check the status of push-button and slide switch is not needed in typical design
activities. However, it provides users a simple mechanism for verifying if the buttons and switches
are functioning correctly. Thus, it can be used for troubleshooting purposes
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A 16-bit word can be written into the SDRAM by entering the address of the desired location,
specifying the data to be written, and pressing the Write button. Contents of the location can be read
by pressing the Read button. Figure 3.7 depicts the result of writing the hexadecimal value 06CA
into offset address 200, followed by reading the same location.
The Sequential Write function of the Control Panel is used to write the contents of a file into the
SDRAM as follows:
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