NOTE: Altera recommends using the Nios II Software Build Tools (SBT) for Eclipse as the software development platform for all new projects. Refer to the Nios II Software Developer's Handbook, Appendix A. Using the Nios II Integrated Development Environment to learn how to migrate your Nios II IDE project to the Nios II SBT for Eclipse.
These handbooks serve as the primary documentation for the Nios® II processor.
- The Nios II Processor Reference Handbook answers the question "What is the Nios II processor?" and is the primary reference for the Nios II processor architecture.
- The Nios II Software Developer's Handbook answers the question "How do I write programs for the Nios II processor?" and is the primary reference for programming the Nios II processor.
- The Embedded Peripherals IP User Guide (PDF) describes peripherals provided by Altera that work seamlessly with the Nios II processor and are included with Quartus II software.
Other related documents, such as tutorials and user guides, cover specific topics that are not included in the handbooks.
Embedded Documentation One-Click Download
- Version 12.1 (.zip)
- Version 12.0 (.zip)
- Version 11.1 (.zip)
- Version 11.0 (.zip)
- Version 10.1 (.zip)
- Version 10.0 (.zip)
- Version 9.1 (.zip)
- Version 9.0 (.zip)
- Version 8.1 (.zip)
The files provide a snapshot of the Nios II processor, the Nios II C-to-Hardware (C2H) acceleration compiler, SOPC Builder, and embedded peripherals documentation. After extracting the files, refer to the documentation.htm file for a list of included documents.
Additional Documentation
- Nios II Performance Benchmarks
- Nios II Design Contest Papers
- Nios II Hardware Development
- Software Development
- C-to-Hardware (C2H) Acceleration Compiler
- Development Tools, Kits, and Boards
- SOPC Builder System Development
- Using Megafunctions
- Other Related Documentation
Nios II Processor Reference Handbook (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 2 MB)
Chapter 1. Introduction (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 213 KB) - Chapter 2. Processor Architecture (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 365 KB)
- Chapter 3. Programming Model (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 732 KB)
- Chapter 4. Instantiating the Nios II Processor (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 296 KB)
- Chapter 5. Nios II Core Implementation Details (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 307 KB)
- Chapter 6. Nios II Processor Revision History (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 175 KB)
- Chapter 7. Application Binary Interface (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 317 KB)
- Chapter 8. Instruction Set Reference (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 1,010 KB)
Section I. Nios II Processor Design
Section II. Nios II Processor Implementation and Reference
Nios II Software Developer's Handbook (ver 11.0, May 2011, 4 MB)
- Chapter 1. Overview of Nios II Embedded Development (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 247 KB)
- Chapter 2. Getting Started with the Graphical User Interface (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 316 KB)
- Chapter 3. Getting Started from the Command Line (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 266 KB)
- Chapter 4. Nios II Software Build Tools (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 400 KB)
- Chapter 5. Overview of the Hardware Abstraction Layer (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 145 KB)
- Chapter 6. Developing Programs Using the Hardware Abstraction Layer (ver 11,0.0, May 2011, 378 KB)
- Chapter 7. Developing Device Drivers for the Hardware Abstraction Layer (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 385 KB)
- Chapter 8. Exception Handling (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 330 KB)
- Chapter 9. Cache and Tightly-Coupled Memory (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 150 KB)
- Chapter 10. MicroC/OS-II Real Time Operating System (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 154 KB)
- Chapter 11. Ethernet and the NicheStack TCP/IP Stack - Nios II Edition (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 173 KB)
- Chapter 12. Read-Only Zip File System (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 121 KB)
- Chapter 13. Publishing Component Information to Embedded Software (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 190 KB)
- Chapter 14. HAL API Reference (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 369 KB)
- Chapter 15. Nios II Software Build Tools Reference (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 636 KB)
Section I. Nios II Software Development
Section II. Hardware Abstraction Layer
Section III. Advanced Programming Topics
Section IV. Reference Material
Appendix A. Using the Nios II Integrated Development Environment (ver 11.0.0, May 2011, 239 KB)
Embedded Design Handbook (ver 2.9, Jul 2011, 7 MB)
- Chapter 1. First-Time Designer's Guide (ver 2.3, Jul 2011, 416 KB)
- Chapter 2. Developing Nios II Software (ver 1.4, Jul 2011, 685 KB)
- Chapter 3. Debugging Nios II Designs (ver 1.3, Dec 2009, 480 KB)
- Chapter 4. Nios II Command-Line Tools (ver 2.2, Jul 2011, 208 KB)
- Chapter 5. Optimizing Nios II C2H Compiler Results (ver 1.2, Jul 2011, 892 KB)
- Chapter 6. SOPC Builder Design Optimizations (ver 1.2, Jul 2011, 1 MB)
- Chapter 7. Memory System Design (ver 1.2, Feb 2010, 307 KB)
- Chapter 8. Hardware Acceleration and Coprocessing (ver 1.2, Jul 2011, 638 KB)
- Chapter 9. Verification and Board Bring-Up (ver 1.3, Jul 2011, 517 KB)
- Chapter 10. Interfacing an External Processor to an Altera FPGA (ver 1.1, Jul 2011, 553 KB)
- Chapter 11. Avalon-MM Byte Ordering Considerations (ver 1.1, Jul 2011, 835 KB)
Section I. Introduction
Section II. Nios II Software Development
Section III. System Level Design
Related Documentation
Release Notes
- Nios II Embedded Design Suite Release Notes (ver 11.0, May 2013, 52 KB)
Nios II Hardware Development
- AN 391: Profiling Nios II Systems (ver 3.0, Jul 2011, 325 KB)
- AN 548: Nios II Compact Configuration System for Cyclone III (ver 1.0, Nov 2008, 320 KB)
Design Files for AN 548 (597 KB)
- AN 531: Reducing Power with Hardware Accelerators (ver 1.0, May 2008, 151 KB)
Design Files for AN 531 (1 MB)
- Using Tightly Coupled Memory with the Nios II Processor Tutorial (ver 2.0, Jul 2011, 1 MB)
Design Files for Tightly Coupled Memory Tutorial (15 KB)
- Creating Multiprocessor Nios II Systems Tutorial (ver 2.0, Jun 2011, 1 MB)
- AN 351: Simulating Nios II Embedded Processor Designs (ver 1.3, Jun 2011, 383 KB)
AN 351 Software Files (6 KB)
- Nios II Hardware Development Tutorial (ver 4.0, May 2011, 1 MB)
Design Files for Nios II Hardware Development Tutorial (14 KB)
- Nios II Custom Instruction User Guide (ver 2.0, Feb 2011, 1 MB)
- Using Nios II Floating-Point Custom Instructions Tutorial (ver 2.0, Feb 2010, 235 KB)
Tutorial design files (4 KB)
- Nios II Flash Programmer User Guide (ver 2.1, Feb 2010, 273 KB)
- AN 595: Vectored Interrupt Controller Usage and Applications (ver 1.0, Nov 2009, 246 KB)
Example Designs for AN595 (503 KB)
- Nios II 3C25 Microprocessor with LCD Controller Data Sheet (ver 1.1, Mar 2009, 580 KB)
- Nios II 3C120 Microprocessor with LCD Controller Data Sheet (ver 1.1, Mar 2009, 634 KB)
- AN527: Implementing an LCD Controller (ver 1.0, May 2008, 344 KB)
- AN 350: Upgrading Nios Processor Systems to the Nios II Processor (ver 1.1, Jul 2006, 617 KB)
Software Development
- Accelerating Nios II Networking Applications (ver 2.1, Jan 2013, 265 KB)
- My First Nios II Software Tutorial (ver 2.1, Dec 2012, 986 KB)
- Using Tightly Coupled Memory with the Nios II Processor Tutorial (ver 2.0, Jul 2011, 1 MB)
Design Files for Tightly Coupled Memory Tutorial (15 KB)
- AN 459: Guidelines for Developing a Nios II HAL Device Driver (ver 4.0, Jul 2011, 2 MB)
- Using the NicheStack TCP/IP Stack - Nios II Edition Tutorial (ver 3.0, Jun 2011, 1 MB)
NicheStack tutorial software files (29 KB)
- Using MicroC/OS-II RTOS with the Nios II Processor Tutorial (ver 3.0, May 2011, 695 KB)
MicroC/OS-II Tutorial Software Files (7 KB)
- AN 429: Remote Configuration Over Ethernet with the Nios II Processor (ver 3.0, Apr 2010, 172 KB)
Application Note 429 Design Files (3 MB)
- AN 540: Nios II MPU Usage (ver 1.0, Mar 2010, 385 KB)
Design Files for AN 540 (221 KB)
- AN543: Debugging Nios II Software Using the Lauterbach Debugger (ver 1.0, Apr 2009, 278 KB)
Example Design for AN543 (6 MB)
- Nios II IDE Help System (ver 1.7, Mar 2009, 1 MB)
- NicheStack Technical Manuals (PDFs) (ver , Apr 2007, 1 MB)
- NicheStack Technical Reference Manual (HTML) (ver , Apr 2007, 193 KB)
C-to-Hardware Acceleration
- Nios II C2H Compiler User Guide (ver 1.6, Dec 2009, 911 KB)
dma_c2h_tutorial.c Tutorial design file for Nios II C2H Compiler User Guide (2 KB)
- AN 531: Reducing Power with Hardware Accelerators (ver 1.0, May 2008, 151 KB)
Design Files for AN 531 (1 MB)
- Adding Hardware Accelerators to Reduce Power in Embedded Systems (ver 1.0, Sep 2009, 722 KB)
- Accelerating Nios II Systems with the C2H Compiler Tutorial (ver 1.3, Aug 2008, 803 KB)
Design files for Stratix II and Cyclone II boards (387 KB)
- AN 417: Accelerating Functions with the C2H Compiler: Scatter-Gather DMA with Checksum (ver 1.1, Jul 2006, 424 KB)
Scatter-Gather DMA Design Files (6 KB)
- Automated Generation of Hardware Accelerators With Direct Memory Access From ANSI/ISO Standard C Functions (ver 1.0, May 2006, 296 KB)
Design Guidelines and Applications
- Optimize Motor Control Designs with an Integrated FPGA Design Flow (ver 1.2, May 2012, 811 KB)
SOPC Builder System Development
- Avalon Verification IP Suite User Guide (ver 3.2, May 2013, 5 MB)
(Includes SOPC Buider and Qsys tutorials)
Avalon Verification IP Suite Design Files (19 KB)
- Embedded Peripherals IP User Guide (ver 11.0, Jun 2011, 6 MB)
- Using Tightly Coupled Memory with the Nios II Processor Tutorial (ver 2.0, Jul 2011, 1 MB)
Design Files for Tightly Coupled Memory Tutorial (15 KB)
- Nios II System Architect Design Tutorial (ver 2.0, Jun 2011, 2 MB)
Nios II Architect Design Tutorial Design Files (5 MB)
- AN 446: Debugging Nios II Systems with the SignalTap II Embedded Logic Analyzer (ver 2.0, Jun 2011, 397 KB)
signal_tap_test software file (9 KB)
- AN458: Alternative Nios II Boot Methods (ver 2.1, May 2011, 514 KB)
AN458 design example files (36 KB)
- Qsys System Design Tutorial (ver 2.0, May 2011, 1,015 KB)
- AN624: Debugging with System Console Over TCP/IP (ver 1.0, Aug 2010, 423 KB)
- AN 346: Using the Nios II Configuration Controller Reference Designs (ver 1.2, Mar 2009, 793 KB)
- AN 323: Using SignalTap II Embedded Logic Analyzers in SOPC Builder Systems (ver 1.1, Nov 2007, 386 KB)
Other Related Documentation
- Nios II Performance Benchmarks (ver 8.0, Dec 2012, 234 KB)
- NicheStack Technical Manuals (PDFs) (ver , Apr 2007, 1 MB)
- NicheStack Technical Reference Manual (HTML) (ver , Apr 2007, 193 KB)
Related Links
- Download the latest version of the Nios II Embedded Design Suite
- Nios II Processor
- Nios II Embedded Design Suite Errata
- Nios II Embedded Design Suite Release Notes
- SOPC Builder Literature
- Nios II Processor Online Demonstrations
- SOPC Builder Online Demonstrations
- Development Kits
- Altera Development Kits Archive
- Embedded Systems Development Kit, Cyclone III Edition
- Nios II Embedded Evaluation Kit, Cyclone III Edition
- Arria II GX FPGA Development Kit
- Stratix IV GX FPGA Development Kit
