Re: [microblaze-uclinux] Booting from system ace

["Nathan Hillery" <nhillery1@xxxxxxxxx>]

Michal,

Thanks for your quick and helpful responses.  I was not able to
download the latest version of u-boot BSP, but I had a copy I had
downloaded sometime past.  I followed the instructions in README for
adding a new board and got it to compile eventually and am now on step
6 (debug and solve problems;-)  I get no output on the RS232 when I
run my u-boot.  What do you recommend using to debug?  I am trying to
get XPS XMD/software debugger to let me see what is going on, but
without success. XPS is on windows and I built u-boot on linux.  I
haven't succeeded in getting XPS to see the u-boot application as
something to be debugged.  I am also trying mb-gdb outside of XPS, but
since I copied across systems, the paths to source files don't match
so I don't see anything either.  My rusty gears are turning (slowly)
to remind me how to get around that in gdb.

Here's some feedback on your instructions at
http://www.monstr.eu/wiki/doku.php?id=uboot:uboot (if you want it):
In "Copy BSP to project folder bsp or edk_project_repository": The
directory structure of the u-boot BSP didn't match what EDK 10.1.3 was
expecting.  The u-boot BSP looked like: u-boot/data/*.mld & *.tcl,
while 10.1.3 wants u-boot/bsp/uboot_v1_00_a/data/*.mld & *.tcl.

In listing of MSS, it shows PARAMETER intc, but this is commented out
of the mld file so will never appear.  Also, PARAMETER stdin_out was
replaced with seperate entries for stdin and stdout. Is there guidance
on the value to pick for uboot_position?

In "Copy config.mk & xparameters.h to ..." I had to go search for
those files.  I found them at
microblaze_0/libsrc/uboot_v1_00_a/config.mk &
microblaze_0/libsrc/xparameters.h.

Thanks for your work in maintaining u-boot & helping us follow your trailblaze!
Cheers,
Nathan.

On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 3:07 PM, Michal Simek <monstr@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi Nathan,
>
>> Michal - Never mind about your git server.  I now see that your
>> instructions direct me to git from denx.de which is working.  (I got
>> hung up on your "recommended repository" section under Microblaze,
>> which references git.monstr.eu).
>
> yes I know. I changed it. If you have any problem with u-boot bsp, please
> contact me I'll send you latest version.
>
> Michal
>
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 10:19 AM, Nathan Hillery <nhillery1@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>> John & Michal - Thanks for your helpful responses. I think I have a
>>> much clearer view of what needs to happen now (it's amazing how I can
>>> labor under delusion for so long, only realizing after a truer picture
>>> emerges...)
>>>
>>> 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?  If I understand
>>> it corrrectly, the SystemACE configuration process will program the
>>> FPGA, initialize RAM with u-boot, and jump to it.  Then it's up to
>>> u-boot to locate the kernel in the filesystem on the SystemACE Compact
>>> Flash.  Do the ace files and filesystem have to be in different
>>> partitions? (sorry for 20 questions - pondering out loud now...) The
>>> ACE needs to be in a FAT16 filesystem. 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?
>>> It looks like your git server is down - is there an alternative and/or
>>> when will yours be available again? Finally, it looks like the page
>>> describing the lltemac driver for u-boot is a site with "limited
>>> access".  I have a need for temac support, what do I need to do to get
>>> access to that? (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...)
>>>
>>> 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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>>>>
>>>>
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>>
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