Tutorial IV: Nios II Processor Hardware Design - Rapid Prototyping of Digital Systems - page 359

an RS-232 UART module can be useful when debugging systems by providing
an additional communication channel.
Add the RS-232 UART peripheral by expanding Interface Protocols Serial .
Select UART (RS-232 serial port) and click Add… . When the UART
configuration dialog box appears, set the options as shown in Figure 17.7. Click
Finish to add the component.
17.6 Adding an Interval Timer Peripheral
Most processor designs require at least one timer. This timer is used to delay
the processor, coordinate transactions, timestamp events, generate time slice
interrupts for an operating system scheduler, a watchdog timer, and more. The
Nios II timer peripheral is flexible; it has several options and three predefined
configurations. Add a full-featured interval timer to your Nios II processor by
expanding Peripherals Microcontroller Peripherals . Select Interval Timer
and click Add… . When the timer configuration dialog box appears, set the
options as shown in Figure 17.8. Click Finish to add the component. In the
SOPC Builder, rename the timer module to timer0 . The “0” is appended to the
timer name here to provide a consistent naming convention for your timers if
additional timers are added at a later time. It is not unusual for a processor to
have two or three timers - often of different configurations for specific uses.
Figure 17.8 These are the settings for the interval timer device to be added to the Nios II system.