[PATCH v10 05/21] docs: gpu: nova-core: Document the PRAMIN aperture mechanism

Joel Fernandes
2026-04-01T18:19:52Z

Add documentation for the PRAMIN aperture mechanism used by nova-core
for direct VRAM access.

Nova only uses TARGET=VRAM for VRAM access. The SYS_MEM target values
are documented for completeness but not used by the driver.

Cc: Nikola Djukic <ndjukic@nvidia.com>
Signed-off-by: Joel Fernandes <joelagnelf@nvidia.com>
---
Documentation/gpu/nova/core/pramin.rst | 123 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
Documentation/gpu/nova/index.rst | 1 +
2 files changed, 124 insertions(+)
create mode 100644 Documentation/gpu/nova/core/pramin.rst

diff --git a/Documentation/gpu/nova/core/pramin.rst b/Documentation/gpu/nova/core/pramin.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..bcedb6e06d33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/gpu/nova/core/pramin.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+=========================
+PRAMIN aperture mechanism
+=========================
+
+.. note::
+ The following description is approximate and current as of the Ampere family.
+ It may change for future generations and is intended to assist in understanding
+ the driver code.
+
+Introduction
+============
+
+PRAMIN is a hardware aperture mechanism that provides CPU access to GPU Video RAM (VRAM) before
+the GPU's Memory Management Unit (MMU) and page tables are initialized. This 1MB sliding window,
+located at a fixed offset within BAR0, is essential for setting up page tables and other critical
+GPU data structures without relying on the GPU's MMU.
+
+Architecture Overview
+=====================
+
+The PRAMIN aperture mechanism is logically implemented by the GPU's PBUS (PCIe Bus Controller Unit)
+and provides a CPU-accessible window into VRAM through the PCIe interface::
+
+ +-----------------+ PCIe +------------------------------+
+ | CPU |<----------->| GPU |
+ +-----------------+ | |
+ | +----------------------+ |
+ | | PBUS | |
+ | | (Bus Controller) | |
+ | | | |
+ | | +--------------+<------------ (window starts at
+ | | | PRAMIN | | | BAR0 + 0x700000)
+ | | | Window | | |
+ | | | (1MB) | | |
+ | | +--------------+ | |
+ | | | | |
+ | +---------|------------+ |
+ | | |
+ | v |
+ | +----------------------+<------------ (Program PRAMIN to any
+ | | VRAM | | 64KB-aligned VRAM boundary)
+ | | (Several GBs) | |
+ | | | |
+ | | FB[0x000000000000] | |
+ | | ... | |
+ | | FB[0x7FFFFFFFFFF] | |
+ | +----------------------+ |
+ +------------------------------+
+
+PBUS (PCIe Bus Controller) is responsible for, among other things, handling MMIO
+accesses to the BAR registers.
+
+PRAMIN Window Operation
+=======================
+
+The PRAMIN window provides a 1MB sliding aperture that can be repositioned over
+the entire VRAM address space using the ``NV_PBUS_BAR0_WINDOW`` register.
+
+Window Control Mechanism
+-------------------------
+
+::
+
+ NV_PBUS_BAR0_WINDOW Register (0x1700):
+ +-------+--------+--------------------------------------+
+ | 31:26 | 25:24 | 23:0 |
+ | RSVD | TARGET | BASE_ADDR |
+ | | | (bits 39:16 of VRAM address) |
+ +-------+--------+--------------------------------------+
+
+ The 24-bit BASE_ADDR field encodes bits [39:16] of the target VRAM address,
+ providing 40-bit (1TB) address space coverage with 64KB alignment.
+
+ TARGET field (bits 25:24):
+ - 0x0: VRAM (Video Memory)
+ - 0x1: SYS_MEM_COH (Coherent System Memory)
+ - 0x2: SYS_MEM_NONCOH (Non-coherent System Memory)
+ - 0x3: Reserved
+
+ .. note::
+ Nova only uses TARGET=VRAM (0x0) for video memory access. The SYS_MEM
+ target values are documented here for hardware completeness but are
+ not used by the driver.
+
+64KB Alignment Requirement
+---------------------------
+
+The PRAMIN window must be aligned to 64KB boundaries in VRAM. This is enforced
+by the ``BASE_ADDR`` field representing bits [39:16] of the target address::
+
+ VRAM Address Calculation:
+ actual_vram_addr = (BASE_ADDR << 16) + pramin_offset
+ Where:
+ - BASE_ADDR: 24-bit value from NV_PBUS_BAR0_WINDOW[23:0]
+ - pramin_offset: 20-bit offset within the PRAMIN window [0x00000-0xFFFFF]
+
+ Example Window Positioning:
+ +---------------------------------------------------------+
+ | VRAM Space |
+ | |
+ | 0x000000000 +-----------------+ <-- 64KB aligned |
+ | | PRAMIN Window | |
+ | | (1MB) | |
+ | 0x0000FFFFF +-----------------+ |
+ | |
+ | | ^ |
+ | | | Window can slide |
+ | v | to any 64KB-aligned boundary |
+ | |
+ | 0x123400000 +-----------------+ <-- 64KB aligned |
+ | | PRAMIN Window | |
+ | | (1MB) | |
+ | 0x1234FFFFF +-----------------+ |
+ | |
+ | ... |
+ | |
+ | 0x7FFFF0000 +-----------------+ <-- 64KB aligned |
+ | | PRAMIN Window | |
+ | | (1MB) | |
+ | 0x7FFFFFFFF +-----------------+ |
+ +---------------------------------------------------------+
diff --git a/Documentation/gpu/nova/index.rst b/Documentation/gpu/nova/index.rst
index e39cb3163581..b8254b1ffe2a 100644
--- a/Documentation/gpu/nova/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/gpu/nova/index.rst
@@ -32,3 +32,4 @@ vGPU manager VFIO driver and the nova-drm driver.
core/devinit
core/fwsec
core/falcon
+ core/pramin
--
2.34.1