[ECOS] Re: Nios eCos repository

[Grant Edwards <grante at visi dot com>]

On 2008-12-04, ?yvind Harboe <oyvind.harboe@zylin.com> wrote:

>>> I'm putting together a Nios eCos repository based on
>>> nios2ecos51.exe that Altera published a couple of years back.
>>> This version of eCos HAL is under the eCos license.
>>
>> Is it a real eCos port, or does it require you to install
>> Quartus and generate cdl files on the fly using Altera's bogus
>> Java programs and XML tempates?
>
>:-)
>
> It still requires Quartus installed and it stll generates cdl
> files on the fly, but I've solved some of the nastier problems
> in that it can be used with any version of eCos or Quartus.
>
> I don't have a fundamental problem with having the .ptf file
> as an input to the build process now that I've rearranged
> things a bit.

The problem with Quartus is that it's awfully expensive and has
always been very fragile (particularly on Windows hosts). We've
managed to extract just the Quartus pieces required to build
eCos -- those pieces don't seem to require a registered Quartus
license to run, but it's probably illegal anyway. Actually, we
never did get some of the Perl scripts to work right on some
hosts, so I re-wrote them as bash shell-scripts.

> I'd like to be able to commit the tools I use for a product to
> version control, so long term I'd like to remove the
> dependance on Quartus...

The subset of Quartus required to build eCos isn't all that
huge, so we just dumped a snapshot of that into our archive.

FWIW, I believe that eCosCentric has completed a normal eCos
port for NIOS2 that doesn't require Quartus, and it's available
for free download to anybody with a registered copy of Quartus.
Yes, to get a copy of eCos that doesn't require Quartus, you
have to buy a copy of Quartus anyway -- but at least you don't
have to use it.

IMO, Altera's requirement that all software developers install
Quartus was a fatal mistake.

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow! Your CHEEKS sit like
                                  at               twin NECTARINES above
                               visi.com            a MOUTH that knows no
                                                   BOUNDS --


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