Generic Nios II Booting Methods User Guide

ID 683820
Date 5/24/2016
Public

1.5.3. Nios II Processor Application Execute-In-Place from CFI Flash

Altera Avalon CFI Flash maps Avalon Memory Map (Avalon MM) signals into CFI signals which the entire CFI address space is mapped into Altera CFI Flash’s Avalon MM slave interface. Hence, CFI devices are immediately accessible by Nios II processor upon system reset without CSR initialization.

For these reasons, Nios II can execute application stored on CFI devices directly without a boot copier.

When a boot copier is not used, the Nios II application .text linker sections are set to CFI memory region while .bss, .rodata, .rwdata, .stack and .heap linker sections are set to RAM memory region. Enable the alt_load() function in the BSP Settings to copy the data sections (.rodata, .rwdata, .exceptions) to the RAM upon system reset. The code section (.text) remains in the CFI memory region.

For more information, refer to the "Summary of Nios II Processor Vector Configurations" chapter and the "BSP Settings" table for detailed BSP Settings.