Nios II Classic Processor Reference Guide

ID 683620
Date 10/28/2016
Public
Document Table of Contents

1. Introduction

This handbook describes the Nios® II Classic processor from a high-level conceptual description to the low-level details of implementation. The chapters in this handbook describe the Nios II Classic processor architecture, the programming model, and the instruction set.

We have ended development of new Nios® II Classic processor features with the Intel® Quartus® Prime 14.0 release. New features are implemented only in the Nios® II processor core. Although the Classic processor remains supported, we recommend that you use the Nios® II core for future designs. For more information, refer to the Nios II Processor Reference Guide.

This handbook assumes you have a basic familiarity with embedded processor concepts. You do not need to be familiar with any specific Intel FPGA technology or with Intel FPGA development tools. This handbook limits discussion of hardware implementation details of the processor system. The Nios® II processors are designed for Intel FPGA devices, and so this handbook does describe some FPGA implementation concepts. Your familiarity with FPGA technology provides a deeper understanding of the engineering trade-offs related to the design and implementation of the Nios® II processor.