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zangman edited this page Sep 15, 2020 · 14 revisions

Absolute beginner's guide to DE10-Nano

Summary

This repository contains all the details for an absolute beginner to get started with the DE10-Nano.

Topics

  1. Introduction to SoCs
  2. Introduction to DE10-Nano - TODO
  3. Setting up the development Environment
  4. Building Embedded Linux:
    1. Introduction to embedded systems
    2. Building the Kernel
    3. Building the bootloader (U-Boot)
    4. Building the rootfs
      1. Debian (preferred)
      2. Yocto
    5. Basics of the Device Tree - WIP
    6. Creating the SD Card image
  5. Flashing the FPGA:
    1. On reboot - TODO
    2. From Linux

FAQ

Isn't there documentation already? Why this guide?

  • Not beginner friendly - There is a lot of documentation online, but they don't show always explain everything.
  • Comprehensive - The ultimate goal of this site is to be comprehensive so anyone starting new doesn't have to visit several websites and forums to get information.
  • Focused - There are several boards by Terasic and Altera which use Cyclone V and all of them vary slightly. This guide only focuses on the DE10-Nano. If you are using a DE1 or any other Cyclone V board, a lot of the content will still be applicable. But I haven't tested it, so I don't know if it will work or not.

I spotted a mistake!

Please let me know! Either raise an issue or submit a pull request and I will greatly appreciate it!

Getting further help

If you have a question about something, feel free to raise it as an issue and I'll try and address it. But this is a hobby for me and I can't really guarantee being able to answer it, nor do I guarantee that I will have time to answer your question.

You can also reach out to the following communities for more help:

  • FPGA Subreddit - Some of the nicest people online here. I have lost track of the number of times people have asked "Which board should I get?" and yet never has the post been taken down or rudely put down.
  • ##FPGA on IRC Freenode - Excellent resource for general FPGA related questions. Ask a question and do lurk around, people are busy and may not reply immediately.
  • Intel community forums - Not very active, but from time to time people do reply. Sometimes support engineers from Intel will come across your post and reply, but that usually takes time.
  • Rocketboards forum - Similar to the intel forums, these are not very active. But there's a lot of helpful information on the forums, so searching there is also an option when you get stuck.

Prerequisites

This document assumes no knowledge of SoCs. However, it requires a few things for you to be able to follow along:

  • DE10-Nano: Obviously you need the DE10-Nano board. Most prominent electronics retailers stock it (digikey, mouser, element14) or you can purchase it directly from the Terasic website. Please don't purchase knock-offs or cheap alternatives. FPGA programming is hard enough and there are a million things that can go wrong.
  • Beginner's knowledge of FPGAs - While there is some FPGA programming involved, this guide does not teach you the basics of FPGAs, HDLs etc. There are several resources available online.
  • Intermediate knowledge of Linux: Linux will be the preferred OS for this guide. You should be able to navigate the terminal and know at least the basic commands of the shell.
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