Running C Code on the DE1 SoC ARM Linux System — GPIO LED & Button Control Tutorial
In this video, we walk through how to write, compile, and run a C program on the ARM processor of the DE1-SoC Terasic board, using the Linux environment. You’ll learn how to build a simple application that reads a push-button input and controls an LED output through HPS GPIO registers.
Create and use a Makefile to compile the project
✅ Cross-compile using Altera SoC EDS
✅ Transfer and execute the program on the DE1-SoC Linux system
✅ Observe LED behavior based on button input
🧰 What We Use in This Tutorial
DE1-SoC development board
Bootable SD card with Linux OS
Windows PC with USB & Ethernet ports
Altera SoC EDS (cross-compiler for ARM)
PuTTY (SSH/serial terminal)
FTDI Virtual COM driver
💡 What You Will Learn
How Makefile automation works:
Selects the compiler
Chooses source files
Links them into an executable
How Linux applications interact with hardware through memory-mapped I/O
Why Linux uses virtual addresses, translated to physical addresses by the MMU
How to access GPIO registers from C to control hardware