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bladeRF 2.0 micro: FPGA build flow on Windows
Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2023 8:26 am
by HB9TVB
Dear all
I'm trying to get the FPGA build flow working on a Windows machine. My goal is rather simple: I'd like to make some tiny changes (just a few additional lines of VHDL code) to the FPGA. Before building the modified code, I'd prefer to go through the whole build flow and build all required binaries from the original source and download them to the bladeRF to understand the whole process.
I'm able to launch the Nios II command shell, but the problem starts when I try to launch build_bladerf.sh. Based on the error message ('Error: quartus_sh (Quartus 'bin' directory) does not appear to be in your PATH') the script seems to exit around line 265. The weird thing is, that when I manually execute the command 'which quartus_sh' it returns no path, although the appropriate path is included in the PATH environment variable.
Is there any chance to get the FPGA build flow working in a Windows environment? Any ideas why the paths are not working / seen, although they are defined in the PATH variable? I'm not refusing Linux, but as I'm doing this project at work I have to use a Windows environment (our IT staff doesn't yet support Linux machines on a regular basis therefore it's a rather big effort to get a Linux machine approved and setup).
Some technical details:
-SDR: bladeRF 2.0 micro A4
-Windows 11 64-bit with Quartus Prime Lite 17.1 and Quartus Prime Lite 22.1
-WSL 2 with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
Many thanks in advance for any advice
Best regards
Alex
Re: bladeRF 2.0 micro: FPGA build flow on Windows
Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2023 12:47 am
by robert.ghilduta
Hi Alex,
I haven't tried Ubuntu WSL + Quartus. Curious if you found a solution to the issue.
Regards,
Rob
Re: bladeRF 2.0 micro: FPGA build flow on Windows
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2023 5:21 am
by dachi
Hi,
I'm experiencing exactly the same issue with the same setup on Windows. I've also tried to run it on a native Ubuntu 22.04.03 machine. In the latter case, I can run
./build_bladerf.sh -b bladeRF-micro -r hosted -s A9 -c but it doesn't generate the project file. After running the script on Ubuntu, the
bladeRf/hdl folder appears as below:
Code: Select all
:ls
CHANGELOG fpga quartus README.md
:cd quartus/
:ls
build_bladerf.sh build.tcl launch_eclipse.sh work
:cd work/
:ls
bladerf-micro-A9-hosted
:cd bladerf-micro-A9-hosted/
:ls
bladeRF_nios_bsp fx3_pll hosted.srf ip.ipx nios_system nios_system.qsys nios_system.sopcinfo settings.bsp system_pll
Any troubleshooting guide?
Thanks
Re: bladeRF 2.0 micro: FPGA build flow on Windows
Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2025 1:58 am
by phasedual
HB9TVB wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 8:26 am
Dear all
I'm trying to get the FPGA build flow working on a Windows machine. My goal is rather simple: I'd like to make some tiny changes (just a few additional lines of VHDL code) to the FPGA. Before building the modified code, I'd prefer to go through the whole build flow and build all required binaries from the original source and download them to the bladeRF to understand the whole process.
I'm able to launch the Nios II command shell, but the problem starts when I try to launch build_bladerf.sh. Based on the error message ('Error: quartus_sh (Quartus 'bin' directory) does not appear to be in your PATH') the script seems to exit around line 265. The weird thing is, that when I manually execute the command 'which quartus_sh' it returns no path, although the appropriate path is included in the PATH environment variable.
Is there any chance to get the FPGA build flow working in a Windows environment? Any ideas why the paths are not working / seen, although they are defined in the PATH variable? I'm not refusing Linux, but as I'm doing this project at work I have to use a Windows environment (our IT staff doesn't yet support Linux machines on a regular basis therefore it's a rather big effort to get a Linux machine approved and setup).
Some technical details:
-SDR: bladeRF 2.0 micro A4
-Windows 11 64-bit with Quartus Prime Lite 17.1 and Quartus Prime Lite 22.1
-WSL 2 with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
Many thanks in advance for any advice
Best regards
Alex
On Windows, the bladeRF FPGA build flow works best in WSL/Linux; your PATH issue occurs because the Quartus binaries aren’t visible in WSL—add Quartus’s bin path inside WSL, not just Windows, or install Quartus directly in WSL.
Re: bladeRF 2.0 micro: FPGA build flow on Windows
Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2025 8:11 pm
by dehofa
dachi wrote: ↑Tue Nov 07, 2023 5:21 am
Hi,
I'm experiencing exactly the same issue with the same setup on Windows. I've also tried to run it on a native Ubuntu 22.04.03 machine. In the latter case, I can run
./build_bladerf.sh -b bladeRF-micro -r hosted -s A9 -c but it doesn't generate the project file. After running the script on Ubuntu, the
bladeRf/hdl folder appears as below:
curve rush 2
Code: Select all
:ls
CHANGELOG fpga quartus README.md
:cd quartus/
:ls
build_bladerf.sh build.tcl launch_eclipse.sh work
:cd work/
:ls
bladerf-micro-A9-hosted
:cd bladerf-micro-A9-hosted/
:ls
bladeRF_nios_bsp fx3_pll hosted.srf ip.ipx nios_system nios_system.qsys nios_system.sopcinfo settings.bsp system_pll
Any troubleshooting guide?
Thanks
Good information!
Re: bladeRF 2.0 micro: FPGA build flow on Windows
Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2026 1:19 am
by Hilletty
phasedual wrote: ↑Thu Aug 14, 2025 1:58 am
HB9TVB wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 8:26 am
Dear all
I'm trying to get the FPGA build flow working on a Windows machine. My goal is rather simple: I'd like to make some tiny changes (just a few additional lines of VHDL code) to the FPGA. Before building the modified code, I'd prefer to go through the whole build flow and build all required binaries from the original source and download them to the bladeRF to understand the whole process on
math playground.
I'm able to launch the Nios II command shell, but the problem starts when I try to launch build_bladerf.sh. Based on the error message ('Error: quartus_sh (Quartus 'bin' directory) does not appear to be in your PATH') the script seems to exit around line 265. The weird thing is, that when I manually execute the command 'which quartus_sh' it returns no path, although the appropriate path is included in the PATH environment variable.
Is there any chance to get the FPGA build flow working in a Windows environment? Any ideas why the paths are not working / seen, although they are defined in the PATH variable? I'm not refusing Linux, but as I'm doing this project at work I have to use a Windows environment (our IT staff doesn't yet support Linux machines on a regular basis therefore it's a rather big effort to get a Linux machine approved and setup).
Some technical details:
-SDR: bladeRF 2.0 micro A4
-Windows 11 64-bit with Quartus Prime Lite 17.1 and Quartus Prime Lite 22.1
-WSL 2 with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
Many thanks in advance for any advice
Best regards
Alex
On Windows, the bladeRF FPGA build flow works best in WSL/Linux; your PATH issue occurs because the Quartus binaries aren’t visible in WSL—add Quartus’s bin path inside WSL, not just Windows, or install Quartus directly in WSL.
Thanks for the detailed info!