Install Modelsim/Quartus on Ubuntu 20.04/Fedora 32

How to install Modelsim and Quartus on Fedora 32 and Ubuntu 20.04

I tried these steps in virtual machines with these OSes, and successfully got Modelsim and Quartus to open.

Update your system.

Fedora:

sudo dnf upgrade --refresh

Ubuntu:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Install dependencies.

Fedora:

sudo dnf install libX11.i686 libXext.i686 libXft.i686 libuuid.i686 libnsl.i686 libnsl.x86_64 \
                 libtool zlib-devel.x86_64 zlib-static.x86_64 zlib-devel.i686 zlib-static.i686 \
                 ncurses-compat-libs.i686 glibc-devel.i686 libstdc++-devel.i686 glibc-devel

Ubuntu:

sudo apt install gcc-multilib g++-multilib lib32z1 \
    lib32stdc++6 lib32gcc1 libxt6:i386 libxtst6:i386 expat:i386 \
    fontconfig:i386 libfreetype6:i386 libexpat1:i386 libc6:i386 \
    libgtk-3-0:i386 libcanberra0:i386 libice6:i386 libsm6:i386 \
    libncurses5:i386 zlib1g:i386 libx11-6:i386 libxau6:i386 \
    libxdmcp6:i386 libxext6:i386 libxft2:i386 libxrender1:i386 \
    zlib1g-dev libtool autoconf build-essential pkg-config \
    automake

Install libpng from source:

wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/libp/libpng/libpng_1.2.54.orig.tar.xz
tar xvf libpng_1.2.54.orig.tar.xz
cd libpng_1.2.54
./autogen.sh
./configure # Add `--prefix=/usr/` for Fedora.
make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

Run the installation script:
```
./QuartusLiteSetup-18.1.0.625-linux.run
```

Make the vco script writable:

chmod u+w ~/intelFPGA_lite/18.1/modelsim_ase/vco

Make a backup of the vco file:

cp ~/intelFPGA_lite/18.1/modelsim_ase/vco \
    ~/intelFPGA_lite/18.1/modelsim_ase/vco_original

Edit the vco script:

sed -i 's/linux\_rh[[:digit:]]\+/linux/g' \
    ~/intelFPGA_lite/18.1/modelsim_ase/vco
sed -i 's/MTI_VCO_MODE:-""/MTI_VCO_MODE:-"32"/g' \
    ~/intelFPGA_lite/18.1/modelsim_ase/vco
sed -i '/dir=`dirname "$arg0"`/a export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${dir}/lib32' \
    ~/intelFPGA_lite/18.1/modelsim_ase/vco

Verify the vco script was edited correctly:

diff ~/intelFPGA_lite/18.1/modelsim_ase/vco \
    ~/intelFPGA_lite/18.1/modelsim_ase/vco_original

should yield

13c13
< mode=${MTI_VCO_MODE:-"32"}
---
> mode=${MTI_VCO_MODE:-""}
51d50
< export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${dir}/lib32
211c210
<           *)                vco="linux" ;;
---
>           *)                vco="linux_rh60" ;;

Install libfreetype:

wget download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/freetype/freetype-2.4.12.tar.bz2
tar xjf freetype-2.4.12.tar.bz2
cd freetype-2.4.12/
./configure --build=i686-pc-linux-gnu "CFLAGS=-m32" \
"CXXFLAGS=-m32" "LDFLAGS=-m32"
make clean
make
cd ~/intelFPGA_lite/18.1/modelsim_ase/
mkdir lib32
cp ~/freetype-2.4.12/objs/.libs/libfreetype.so* lib32/

For Fedora install fontconfig as well:

mkdir fontconfig-2.13.0-4.3.el7
cd fontconfig-2.13.0-4.3.el7
wget https://rpmfind.net/linux/centos/7.8.2003/os/x86_64/Packages/fontconfig-2.13.0-4.3.el7.i686.rpm
rpm2cpio fontconfig-2.13.0-4.3.el7.i686.rpm | cpio -idmv
cp usr/lib/libfontconfig.so.1 ~/intelFPGA_lite/18.1/modelsim_ase/lib32/

Now both Modelsim and Quartus should open.

To make sure you can upload to your FPGA board (or whichever you're using), add a new file named /etc/udev/rules.d/51-usbblaster.rules on Fedora, or name it /etc/udev/rules.d/92-usbblaster.rules on Ubuntu. Ensure it's contents are as follows:

 Intel FPGA Download Cable
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="09fb", ATTR{idProduct}=="6001", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="09fb", ATTR{idProduct}=="6002", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="09fb", ATTR{idProduct}=="6003", MODE="0666"

# Intel FPGA Download Cable II
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="09fb", ATTR{idProduct}=="6010", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="09fb", ATTR{idProduct}=="6810", MODE="0666"

To ensure that Platform Designer/Qsys can generate your system, you will need to ensure perl is installed, and will need to do the following to fix the perl that the Quartus installation uses:

cd ~/intelFPGA_lite/18.1/quartus/linux64/perl/bin
mv perl perl_old
ln -s /usr/bin/perl

Sources:

ihsan314/installation_steps.md

How to install Modelsim and Quartus on Fedora 32 and Ubuntu 20.04

n005 commented Feb 3, 2025