Quartus installation on Linux

Introduction

Quartus web edition 14.0 is the software used to synthesize bitstream for Altera FPGAs. It's required for the cyclone V soldered on APF6SP.

Installation guide for version 14.0

Package needed

On debian jessie :

sudo apt-get install libstdc++5 libmotif4 libxp6 libcurl3
# for 64 arch, install also 32bits packets:
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt-get install libstdc++5:i386 libmotif4:i386 libxp6:i386 libcurl3:i386

Download

Download the big (4GB) quartus installer here (Use "download software web edition" button).

Uncompress and install

• Untar the archive :

 tar -xvf Quartus-web-14.0.0.200-linux.tar

• run the installer:

 bash setup.sh 

• follow the instructions to install it where you want.

configure .bashrc

Adding the path of your quartus in ~/.bashrc

export ALTERAPATH="/opt/quartus/altera/14.0/"
export ALTERAOCLSDKROOT="${ALTERAPATH}/hld"
export QUARTUS_ROOTDIR=${ALTERAPATH}/quartus
export QUARTUS_ROOTDIR_OVERRIDE="$QUARTUS_ROOTDIR"
export PATH=$PATH:${ALTERAPATH}/quartus/bin
export PATH=$PATH:${ALTERAPATH}/nios2eds/bin
export PATH=$PATH:${QSYS_ROOTDIR}

Launch Quartus

To launch quartus, open a terminal and simply type :

$ quartus

USB-Blaster

USB-BLaster is an USB JTAG adaptor usefull to debug altera FPGA. Under Linux some rights must be added to use it with quartus.

• create an udev rules files in :

/etc/udev/rules.d/altera-usb-blaster.rules

• And add following configuration :

ATTR{idVendor}=="09fb", ATTR{idProduct}=="6001", MODE="666" 

Version 15.1 prime lite

Note: Quartus 15.1.1 with update 1 take about ~16GB once installed, but ~15 more GB are required for download/untar before installation

Version 15.1 with update (click on updates tab).

• In Complete Download chapter, download the big archive with update 1 (7.6GB) on the download center (free Altera account needed):

Quartus-lite-15.1.1.189-linux.tar

• Watch a good movie (min 2 hours)

• Move the big archive in a directory with enough free space and untar it:

$ tar -xvf Quartus-lite-15.1.1.189-linux.tar

• Take a little coffee (~3 min)

• Launch the installation:

./setup.sh 

• follow the instructions to install it where you want
• Take a big coffee or go to lunch (~30min)

• Change your environment variables in your .bashrc:

export ALTERAPATH="/directory/where/you/installed/quartus/"
export ALTERAOCLSDKROOT="${ALTERAPATH}/hld"
export QUARTUS_ROOTDIR=${ALTERAPATH}/quartus
export QUARTUS_ROOTDIR_OVERRIDE="$QUARTUS_ROOTDIR"
export QSYS_ROOTDIR="${ALTERAPATH}/quartus/sopc_builder/bin"
export PATH=$PATH:${ALTERAPATH}/quartus/bin
export PATH=$PATH:${ALTERAPATH}/nios2eds/bin

Warning: The altera installation script will edit your .bashrc file adding a line at the end. export QUARTUS_ROOTDIR=... If you add the lines above you can delete it. But if you have an esoteric language like french in some comments, the script will trash it

• Run quartus in a new console and select prime software:

$ quartus

Version 19.1 prime lite

Installation process is mainly identical with this little fixes.

Perl Getopt::Long

When synthesize platform design (qsys) a perl error like this occure:

... Can't locate Getopt/Long.pm in @INC ...

Apparently, the module is not installed for Intel embedded perl. To solve the problem, a solution is to use your perl installed in distribution.

But before, be sure that you have the getopt installed correctly :

$ sudo apt install libgetopt-simple-perl

Then go to your Intel Quartus installation :

$ cd altera/19.1/quartus/linux64/perl/bin
$ mv perl perl_old
$ ln -s /usr/bin/perl

And relaunch your quartus project.

Links

• Installation guide for Debian on Altera's official wiki
• USB-Blaster installation guide for debian
• Altera wiki
• Altera forum