AN 1009: Preserving Nios® II Processor IP for Quartus® Prime Version 24.1 and Newer

ID 839394
Date 3/17/2025
Public
Document Table of Contents

3.1.1. Quartus® Prime Standard Edition and Nios® II Processor Software Build Tools

To preserve the Nios® II processor IP core as a generic component in the latest Quartus® Prime Standard Edition software projects, you need two versions of the Quartus® Prime Standard Edition software:
  • Quartus_1—any older Quartus® Prime Standard Edition that supports the Nios® II processor (software version 23.1std or earlier).
  • Quartus_2—any newer Quartus® Prime Standard Edition that discontinues the Nios® II processor (software version 24.1std or later).

After preserving the Nios® II implementation in Quartus_1, you can migrate the Quartus® Prime Standard Edition project to Quartus_2. However, all software development must continue in Quartus_1. This is because Quartus_2 has removed all Nios® II software development binaries, such as the Nios® II Software Build Tools for Eclipse plugin, Nios® II Command Shell, etc.

Table 2.   Quartus® Prime Software Setup
Installation Steps and Version Quartus_1 Quartus_2
Install Quartus® Prime Standard Edition software
Install Windows* Subsystem for Linux 1 (on Windows only)
Integrate open-source Eclipse IDE into Quartus® Prime Standard Edition software
Quartus® Prime Standard Edition Version Version 23.1 or earlier Version 24.1 or newer
The example in this document uses Quartus® Prime Standard Edition version 23.1std as Quartus_1 and Quartus® Prime Standard Edition version 24.1std as Quartus_2.
Figure 20. Quartus Version