[U-Boot-Users] DULG/Manual: 7.6. Standalone Operation with Ramdisk Image

[U-Boot-Users] DULG/Manual: 7.6. Standalone Operation with Ramdisk Image

[Alexander Povolotsky]

On PQ2FADS-VR board the U-Boot is programmed into flash sector started at address 0xFFF00000 (and ending at 0xFFF3FFFF I presume).
The next sector on the flash (starting at 0xFFF40000 and ending at 0xFFF7FFFF ) is used for U-Boot environment variables.

Does it mean that a minimal ramdisk image ramdisk_image.zip "for first tests" for 82xx, which I have downloaded from:

 ftp://ftp.denx.de/pub/LinuxPPC/usr/src/SIMPLE-PPCBOOT-ramdisk 

could be programmed directly onto flash (bypassing putting it into ram first and then copying it into flash) using CodeWarrior/WireTap CCS's "Flash Programmer" tool into next 8 sectors, starting from address 0xFFF80000 ?

Aternatively - if I am to strictly follow steps outlined in DULG/Manual: 7.6. "Standalone Operation with Ramdisk Image"
I am not clear on addresses used there ?

My "normal" (without ramdisk) booting sequence is:
=> tftpboot 200000 uimage  
=> bootm 200000

So what addresses I should use in:

=> tftp "/tftpboot/SIMPLE-PPCBOOT-ramdisk"

and

=> cp.b 

and 

=> bootm

steps ?

Thanks,
Best regards,
Alex




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[U-Boot-Users] DULG/Manual: 7.6. Standalone Operation with Ramdisk Image

[himba]

Alexander Povolotsky wrote:
> 
> So what addresses I should use in:
> 
> => tftp "/tftpboot/SIMPLE-PPCBOOT-ramdisk"
> 
> and
> 
> => cp.b 
> 
> and 
> 
> => bootm
> 
> steps ?
> 

Some flash address after the end of kernel image should be fine. Later 
invoke bootm with:
bootm <kernel-address> <ramdisk-address>

regards,
himba

[U-Boot-Users] DULG/Manual: 7.6. Standalone Operation with Ramdisk Image

[Wolfgang Denk]

In message <20040920.173127.26706.915588@webmail12.lax.untd.com> you wrote:
> 
> Does it mean that a minimal ramdisk image ramdisk_image.zip "for first tests" for 82xx, which I have downloaded from:
> 
>  ftp://ftp.denx.de/pub/LinuxPPC/usr/src/SIMPLE-PPCBOOT-ramdisk 

Please confirm that you downloaded a file  from  this  link.  It  was
rmoed  a  long,  long time ago and should NOT point to any valid data
any more.

If you have this file, then remove it. Don't even attempt to  use  it
on a MPC82xx system. It was never meant for this.

The DULG section you quote correctly lists:

        "Ramdisk images for tests can be found in the
        ftp://ftp.denx.de/pub/LinuxPPC/usr/src/SELF/images/
        directories."

so please use these instead.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
Software Engineering:  Embedded and Realtime Systems,  Embedded Linux
Phone: (+49)-8142-4596-87  Fax: (+49)-8142-4596-88  Email: wd at denx.de
There are bugs and then there are bugs.  And then there are bugs.
                                                    - Karl Lehenbauer

[U-Boot-Users] DULG/Manual: 7.6. Standalone Operation with Ramdisk Image

[Alexander Povolotsky]

Wolfgang - You are (as always) correct - it was a typo in my posting, sorry.

Indeed I have downloaded correct ramdisk_image.zip 

apovolot at USPITLAD104868 ~/fadsroot
$ ls -l ramdisk_image.gz
-rwx------+   1 apovolot ????????  1400198 Sep 20 19:11 ramdisk_image.gz

 from the:

ftp://ftp.denx.de/pub/LinuxPPC/usr/src/SELF/images/ppc_82xx

Now when this detail is clarified, Wolfgang - could you please answer the actual questions posted (I will retype it below for your convenience) ? 
(I think your answer will clarify/supplement info you already have in 7.6 of your manual).

TAI, Alex
**************************
On PQ2FADS-VR board the U-Boot is programmed into flash sector started at the address 0xFFF00000 (and ending at 0xFFF3FFFF I presume).
The next sector on the flash (starting at 0xFFF40000 and ending at 0xFFF7FFFF ) is used for U-Boot environment variables.
 
Does it mean that a minimal ramdisk image ramdisk_image.zip " could be programmed directly onto flash (bypassing putting it into ram first and then copying it into flash) using CodeWarrior/WireTap CCS"s "Flash Programmer" tool into next 8 sectors, starting from address 0xFFF80000 ?
 
Aternatively - if I am to strictly follow steps outlined in DULG/Manual: 7.6. "Standalone Operation with Ramdisk Image"
I am not clear on addresses used there ?
 
 My "normal" (without ramdisk) booting sequence is:
 => tftpboot 200000 uimage  
 => bootm 200000

In more details i have:

=> tftpboot 200000 uimage
Using FCC2 ETHERNET device
TFTP from server 192.168.1.100; our IP address is 192.168.1.103
Filename 'uimage'.
Load address: 0x200000
Loading: 
done
Bytes transferred = 864364 (d306c hex)

=> imi 200000

## Checking Image at 00200000 ...
   Image Name:   Linux-2.6.8-rc4
   Image Type:   PowerPC Linux Kernel Image (gzip compressed)
   Data Size:    864300 Bytes = 844 kB
   Load Address: 00000000
   Entry Point:  00000000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
 
 So what addressess I should use in:
1. 
 => tftp "/tftpboot/SIMPLE-PPCBOOT-ramdisk"

 and in 
2. 
 => cp.b 
 
 and in
3. 
 => bootm
 
 steps ?

PS:
per suggestion from Himba for 1. : "Some flash address after the end of kernel image should be fine." 

the "tftpboot" address should be  >= (00200000 + "864300 Bytes") ?

Is there U-Boot command to complement "imi" which would give the address
of the next available sector on the flash after the kernel image, where ramdisk inmage could be put (to avoid calculations) ?

 
 Thanks,
 Best Regards,
 Alex


In message <20040920.173127.26706.915588@webmail12.lax.untd.com> you 
wrote:
> 
> Does it mean that a minimal ramdisk image ramdisk_image.zip "for 
> first tests" for 82xx, which I have downloaded from:
> 
>  ftp://ftp.denx.de/pub/LinuxPPC/usr/src/SIMPLE-PPCBOOT-ramdisk 

Please confirm that you downloaded a file  from  this  link.  It  was
rmoed  a  long,  long time ago and should NOT point to any valid data
any more.

If you have this file, then remove it. Don't even attempt to  use  it
on a MPC82xx system. It was never meant for this.

The DULG section you quote correctly lists:

        "Ramdisk images for tests can be found in the
        ftp://ftp.denx.de/pub/LinuxPPC/usr/src/SELF/images/
        directories."

so please use these instead.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
Software Engineering:  Embedded and Realtime Systems,  Embedded Linux
Phone: (+49)-8142-4596-87  Fax: (+49)-8142-4596-88  Email: wd at denx.de
There are bugs and then there are bugs.  And then there are bugs.
                                                    - Karl Lehenbauer


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[U-Boot-Users] DULG/Manual: 7.6. Standalone Operation with Ramdisk Image

[Wolfgang Denk]

In message <20040921.071207.22523.923750@webmail16.lax.untd.com> you wrote:
> 
> Does it mean that a minimal ramdisk image ramdisk_image.zip " could be programmed directly onto flash (bypassing putting it into ram first and then copying it into flash) using CodeWarrior/WireTap CCS"s "Flash Programmer" tool into next 8 sectors, start

Please use shorter lines. Maximum linelength should never exceed 70
characters or so.

The strict answer to your question is "no". U-Boot  cannot  handle  a
"ramdisk_image.zip"  file  -  whatever  this  might  be. It expects a
ramdisk image (compressed or uncompressed) with a valid U-Boot header
as created using the "mkimage" tool.

> ing from address 0xFFF80000 ?

Yes, but you can also program it using U-Boot.

> Aternatively - if I am to strictly follow steps outlined in DULG/Manual: 7.6. "Standalone Operation with Ramdisk Image"
> I am not clear on addresses used there ?

Try to _understand_ what these commands are doing.

>  My "normal" (without ramdisk) booting sequence is:
>  => tftpboot 200000 uimage  
>  => bootm 200000

We load the kernel image to RAM and boot it there - the  RAM  address
must be large enough to not collide with the excepion vectors (on PPC
0  ...  16 kB) or with the code, data and stack used by U-Boot itself
(assume the top 1 MB of your RAM), and it must allow that  the  Linux
kernel  image gets uncompressed without overwriting the image itself.
If you assume an uncompressed kernel size of 2 MB or  so  this  means
you  cannot load below 0x200000 or so. [Actually a _small_ overlap is
possible as uncompression works starting at low addresses.]

So in short: any load address between 0x200000 and [RAMSIZE - 1 MB  -
size of compressed kernel] will work fine.

>  So what addressess I should use in:
> 1. 
>  => tftp "/tftpboot/SIMPLE-PPCBOOT-ramdisk"

Any address between 0x200000 and [RAMSIZE - 1 MB - size of compressed
kernel]. As a default, use 0x200000.

>  and in 
> 2. 
>  => cp.b 

Use the tftp load address as source address and an address  in  flash
which is not use otherwise as target address.

>  and in
> 3. 
>  => bootm

The current address where your image is located - in RAM or in  flash
as you like.

> per suggestion from Himba for 1. : "Some flash address after the end of kernel image should be fine." 
> 
> the "tftpboot" address should be  >= (00200000 + "864300 Bytes") ?

0x00200000 is a RAM address.

Use "flinfo" to get information about available flash and which parts
(marked as RO = read-only) are in use for U-Boot. Use "imls"  to  get
information  about  existing images. Locate any area that is free (i.
e. not used by anything you need - like  the  kernel  image)  and  of
sufficient contiguous size. Remember that you can erase flash only in
"erase units" ("sectors").

> Is there U-Boot command to complement "imi" which would give the address
> of the next available sector on the flash after the kernel image, where ramdisk inmage could be put (to avoid calculations) ?

No, you have to do the calculation manually.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
Software Engineering:  Embedded and Realtime Systems,  Embedded Linux
Phone: (+49)-8142-4596-87  Fax: (+49)-8142-4596-88  Email: wd at denx.de
Every solution breeds new problems.