Modelsim

April 13, 2012 3:19 PM

How did you learn how to use ModelSim?

I'm taking a digital design class at Georgia Tech which I'm having a great time with. They have the altera board in our lab so we are using the Quartus II software version 9.1 to be specific. I'd like to move to version 11.0 but they phased out the simulator in that version and insituted Modelsim I just can't seem to find a good resource on how to use it. I know what I want to do interms of which signals I might like use but I need a 10000 feet up overview of what the parts are to Modelsim.

posted by Rubbstone to technology (2 answers total)

I think the thing that helped for me was writing a really simple test bench and getting that working in modelsim (so just a clock signal to start with). With a single source file and no real dependencies it's easy to get the hang of the compile / simulate steps. The problem with taking a project exported from a device toolchain is there is a ton of boilerplate and device specific libraries and things and it's hard to actually get started.

It's been a few years so I am struggling to remember the exact steps to get started with a new project though!
posted by samj at 5:47 PM on April 13, 2012

It's been awhile since my digital design class, so I don't recall the details of using the stripped down student edition of ModelSim. But you should be able to find manuals and other info at ModelSim's website in addition to Altera's website.

The big hurdle I remember, coming from a strong software background, was learning what was synthesizable RTL code and what wasn't. I remember coding a lot of stuff and getting it to work in the simulator, but having many issues with synthesizing it to work on the FPGA.

Sorry for the rather unhelpful answer, feel free to shoot me an email if you have any other questions.
posted by mister e at 9:33 AM on April 14, 2012