Wind River Linux Support for Altera Nios II Embedded Processor

Altera and Wind River Logos Altera and Wind River together announce the availability of the Linux support for Altera’s Nios II embedded processor. The products based on Nios II processor can now utilize the Linux solution for all Altera’s FPGAs and HardCopy ASICs.

Well, this Linux solution is based on Linux 2.6 kernel technology, the GNU 4 tool chain and the Eclipse-based Wind River Workbench Development Suite. Adhering to renowned industry standards on Linux and tools, it has been customized to support Nios II instruction set, the processor architecture, whereas the custom instructions function can be used in the FPGA fabric to increase the efficiency of performance.

“Together, Altera and Wind River have brought Linux support to the Nios II embedded processor on FPGAs,” said Mike Langlois, general manager of networking solutions at Wind River. “Our customers can leverage a flexible hardware and software solution to create and bring to market faster, highly differentiated systems. The fact that the Nios II processor can run on all of Altera’s FPGAs and HardCopy ASICs to enable a broad spectrum of solutions is well-matched to the needs of our customers who are looking to differentiate on price and performance.”

The developed framework of Altera and Wind River provides an integrated, network-enabled processor-system reference design which effortlessly boots Linux on power-up, thus brings faster start on an FPGA-based platform.

The hardware platform is completely time-constrained and performance-optimized processor subsystem design with a Nios II/f core with some other peripherals like Ethernet, timer and UART, on implementing on a Cyclone III FPGA Development Kit. The application developers are ensured a familiar and stable environment with a matching board support package (BSP) and a pre-built Linux kernel for the hardware platform. A similar processor system reference design can be utilized for FPGA or HardCopy ASIC.

“As more customers adopt FPGA platforms to create product differentiation in ever bigger and more sophisticated systems, their software development needs increase and evolve,” said Danny Biran, senior vice president of product and corporate marketing at Altera. “Our relationship with Wind River provides us with a partner who can support the broad and diverse needs of our global customers, and whose breath and depth of software expertise complements our hardware expertise.”

The Nios II embedded processor is widely used for its flexibility, easy integration and low cost. It is said to be the FPGA industry’s most widely used embedded processor for its design starts, by the market research firm, Gartner.

It delivers up to 340 DMIPS of performance in FPGAs and is configurable. With the inclusion of SOPC Builder tool in the Altera Quartus II software tool suite, the developers can create systems using processor with the right fit and right set of peripherals for the Altera’s devices.

The Linux distribution, a Nios II/f-based processor-system reference design and a BSP for the Altera Cyclone III FPGA Development Kit are available at Wind River.