Quartus 9.0 SP2 on Win7_X64 - USB Blaster drivers

[RedskullDC]

Hi All,

Since this area is for general discussion, seems to be the best place to post.

I just did a fresh install on Q9.0SP2 on a new WIndows7 Ultimate X64 machine.
X64 requires all drivers to be signed.
X64 drivers for USB blaster that are installed by 9.0SP2 *DO* appear to be signed correctly (when you look at the properties of the driver files) though Win7, won't accept the certs for some reason #$^!!.

This has been a problem before with 7.0SP2 on X64 when Altera realeased drivers whose certificates had expired...nuff said.

If you have problems installing the drivers on X64, use the ones in the attached zip file.

I'll update them to the new versions from the FTDI site over the weekend.

Cheers,
Red

[tcdev]

Thanks!

Coincidently, we're expecting our Quartus v9 licence to be delivered any day now - though we're still using 32-bit platforms.

[RedskullDC]

Hi All,

As promised, here are the new V2.04.16 FTDI drivers to suit the USB blaster when using Win7 X64 (attached).

When you have your blaster connected, go to device manager, locate the USB blaster under USB devices, then right-click->Update driver.
Navigate to the X64 directory in the attached zip file, and Bob's your uncle.

Current set up to recognise the folloing Altera devices:

USB\VID_09FB&PID_6001.DeviceDesc="Altera USB-Blaster"
USB\VID_09FB&PID_6002.DeviceDesc="Altera Cubic Cyclonium"
USB\VID_09FB&PID_6003.DeviceDesc="Altera Nios II Evaluation Board"

Other possible values are:
USB\VID_09FB&PID_6004.DeviceDesc="Altera Cyclone III EP3C25 Starter Kit"
USB\VID_09FB&PID_6005.DeviceDesc="Altera Cyclone III EP3C120 Development Kit"
USB\VID_09FB&PID_6006.DeviceDesc="Altera Stratix III EP3SL150 Development Kit"
USB\VID_09FB&PID_6007.DeviceDesc="Altera Stratix III EP3SL340 Development Kit"
USB\VID_09FB&PID_6008.DeviceDesc="Altera Nios Embedded Evaluation Kit"
USB\VID_09FB&PID_6009.DeviceDesc="Altera Nios Development Kit, Cyclone III Edition"

Just cut and paste the relevant entries into the .inf file before installing if you have have one of these boards.
I'm reasonaly certain that all Altera flavour boards bought direct from TerASIC just identify themselves as "USB Blaster", but don't quote me on that.

Cheers,
Red

[RedskullDC]

Hi tcdev,
Thanks!

Coincidently, we're expecting our Quartus v9 licence to be delivered any day now - though we're still using 32-bit platforms.

With most common designs I only notice a difference of a few seconds per minute between X86 and X64 versions.
Real difference seems to start happening when you begin partitioning parts of the design.
Can't say I have done any extensive benchmarking to test this out though.

As you know, most of the stuff I do is trivial compared to your stuff at work :)

Cheers,
Leslie

[tcdev]

With most common designs I only notice a difference of a few seconds per minute between X86 and X64 versions.
The design I'm working on atm takes 2hr 20min to build on a 3GHz single-core 32-bit processor. It's painful! :eek:

We've been discussing buying a machine specifically for building large designs but atm we're not sure what sort of gain to expect. My colleague reckons he gets about 30% time reduction on his home machine, but even then it's more time-effective to schedule builds for overnight IMHO... :(