Altera Arria II GX FPGA - Manual (Page 20)

5–2 Chapter 5: Board Update Portal
Using the Board Update Portal to Update User Designs
Arria II GX FPGA Development Kit User Guide February 2011 Altera Corporation
5. Click Arria II GX FPGA Development Kit on the Board Update Portal web page to
access the kit’s home page. Visit this page occasionally for documentation updates
and additional new designs.
f You can also navigate directly to the Arria II GX FPGA Development Kit page of the
Altera website to determine if you have the latest kit software.
Using the Board Update Portal to Update User Designs
The Board Update Portal allows you to write new designs to the user portion of flash
memory. Designs must be in the Nios II Flash Programmer File (.flash) format.
1
Design files available from the Arria II GX FPGA Development Kit page include
.flash files. You can also create .flash files from your own custom design. Refer to
“Preparing Design Files for Flash Programming” on page A–2 for information about
preparing your own design for upload.
To upload a design over the network into the user portion of flash memory on your
board, perform the following steps:
1. Perform the steps in “Connecting to the Board Update Portal Web Page” to access
the Board Update Portal web page.
2. In the Hardware File Name field specify the .flash file that you either downloaded
from the Altera website or created on your own. If there is a software component
to the design, specify it in the same manner using the Software File Name field,
otherwise leave the Software File Name field blank.
3. Click Upload. The progress bar indicates the percent complete.
4. To configure the FPGA with the new design after the flash memory upload process
is complete, set the USER_LOAD switch (SW4.4) to the on position and power
cycle the board, or press the IMAGE SEL button (PB6) until the CONFIG1 LED
(D12) illuminates and then press the LOAD IMAGE button (PB5). Refer to
Table 6–1 on page 6–5 for information about the CONFIG LEDs.
1 As long as you don’t overwrite the factory image in the flash memory device, you can
continue to use the Board Update Portal to write new designs to the user portion of
flash memory. If you do overwrite the factory image, you can restore it by following
the instructions in
“Restoring the Flash Device to the Factory Settings” on page A–4 .