Re: [microblaze-uclinux] Booting from system ace

[Michal Simek <monstr@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Nathan,

> John - If I add u-boot.elf to the ace file (I assume that's what you
> mean), then I won't have need for fs-boot, correct?

John meant that you will add u-boot.elf (or u-boot bin) use genace script.

> If I understand
> it corrrectly, the SystemACE configuration process will program the
> FPGA, initialize RAM with u-boot, and jump to it. 
No system ace load bitstream to FPGA and then load elf or bin to memory and
starts to execute code from point which you choose. Begin of u-boot should be fine.

 Then it's up to
> u-boot to locate the kernel in the filesystem on the SystemACE Compact
> Flash.  

U-boot can read your cf and can load what to want to proper place. U-boot can
read ext2/3 and fat which will be on your CF.

>Do the ace files and filesystem have to be in different
> partitions?
yes.

> (sorry for 20 questions - pondering out loud now...) The
> ACE needs to be in a FAT16 filesystem. 

yes

> U-boot & petalinux may be able
> to support that, but there may be performance reasons to have a more
> sophisticated filesystem for the linux files. (pondering done - at
> least out loud;-)

> 
> Michal - If I read http://monstr.eu/wiki/doku.php correctly, it looks
> like you have added support for SystemACE to u-boot. Is that correct?

yes. I tested and did some tests with system ace and currently is fully
supported by u-boot.

> It looks like your git server is down - is there an alternative and/or
> when will yours be available again?

yes, my git server is temporary down. You can use version on git.denx.de. There
is the newest version of u-boot.

> Finally, it looks like the page
> describing the lltemac driver for u-boot is a site with "limited
> access". 

yes. LL-temac is in petalogix svn head too.

> I have a need for temac support, what do I need to do to get
> access to that? 
LL-temac is not problem in linux or u-boot. Currently we have fifo mode too.

> (We have a Marvell 88E1121 dual gigabit transceiver on
> our board. We've had problems where it looked like the temac is
> referencing phy0, but the 88E1121 operates on phy1. We also can't get
> RGMII to work evidently.  Has anyone gotten either or both of those
> features working, or have familiarity with the territory? Deadlines
> passed, new milestones looming...)

:-)
Michal

> On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 1:34 AM, John Williams <jwilliams@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Hi Nathan,
>>
>> Nathan Hillery wrote:
>>> I lied a little;-) My board has flash, but only enough to program the
>>> FPGA.
>>> I have fs-boot working from bram (it is selected to initialize block
>>> ram) and it works - at least it starts and accepts an s-rec file.
>>> However, it doesn't seem to know about the flash in system ace,
>>> so it doesn't write the downloaded file correctly.  To get around
>>> that, I was trying to get u-boot to build with system ace support, but
>>> haven't been able to get it to compile successfully.
>>>
>>> I have found a potential solution in "Software Platform Settings" ->
>>> "OS and Libraries" configuration for petalinux. This allows you to
>>> select the "Name of Flash Memory Controller" for petalinux, but won't
>>> recognize any variation on the name in my design.  The core is
>>> xps_sysace and my instance is SysACE_CompactFlash.
>> This is a common misconception.  SystemACE presents itself to the MicroBlaze
>> as a block-based, disk-like device, not a typical parallel flash memory
>> interface as is expected by the PetaLinux tools and u-boot default configs
>> etc.
>>
>> As Michal says, you have a bit of work to do as this is not a default
>> configuration.
>>
>> To be honest the easiest way to do this would be to just add the u-boot elf
>> file as a payload after the configuration bitstream on the compact flash
>> device, this would just boot u-boot directly after configuration the FPGA.
>>
>> But, you'll then have to hack on u-boot to get it to interact with the
>> systemACE (as a disk, not flash memory).  Then, you should be able to pull a
>> kernel from SystemACE for booting.  I think the upstream u-boot sources at
>> denx.de have a SystemACE driver you could backport.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>>
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