User guide

Running and Debugging Projects

Running on a Nios II ModelSim target allows you to execute code on a hardware

simulation of a Nios II processor system. Hardware simulation allows you to simulate

cycle-accurate behavior of a Nios II processor system. ModelSim is only available as a run

target. You cannot interactively debug executable code using the ModelSim simulator.

Running on a Nios II ModelSim target

involves the following steps:

1. Ensuring that the target SOPC Builder system was generated with the ModelSim

simulation option enabled in SOPC Builder

2. Ensuring that ModelSim only, no hardware support is turned on in the system

library properties dialog box

3. Creating a run/debug configuration

4. Running the ModelSim simulator with a memory model of the executable software

file (.elf)

5. Viewing the simulation results in ModelSim

Nios II Multiprocessor Collection:

Running and debugging on a Nios II multiprocessor collection target allows you to execute

code simultaneously on multiple Nios II processors in hardware. Executing code on a

hardware target allows you to analyze the real-time behavior of your project. When

debugging on a hardware target, you can view execution trace

and view disassembly of

the program's execution.

Running and debugging on a Nios II multiprocessor collection target

involves the following

steps:

1. Creating a run/debug configuration for each project you wish to include in the

collection

2. Creating a run/debug configuration for the multiprocessor collection

3. Downloading the SRAM object file (.sof) to the target board to configure the FPGA

with the desired SOPC Builder system

4. Downloading the executable software files (.elf) for all the included projects to

memory on the target board

5. Executing the code

C/C++ Local Application:

Running and debugging a C/C++ local application is part of the default Eclipse

environment and allows you to execute code unrelated to Nios II targets. Refer to the