[U-Boot-Users] U-boot & MonteJade start up

[U-Boot-Users] U-boot & MonteJade start up

[Jonathan Pratt]

I'm trying to get u-boot up and running on an Intel MonteJade (IXDPG425)
board without much luck.

I downloaded version 2.0 of the Npe code and placed it in the
appropriate directory and the build worked fine. Getting it up and
running on the board has proved more difficulat.

I'm using a Macraigor USB wiggler to download to the FLASH. If anyone
has done this successfully then I would appreciate some pointers as I'm
not sure what I've done thus far is correct.

As far as I understand it, the xscale starts up in little endian mode.
The application is, however, big-endian. When I program the FLASH it
appears to be big-endian, and I don't as yet understand where the
transition from little endian occurs. The u-boot code in the current
state doesn't go anywhere with no response from the serial port.

Is there some pre-bootloader code which does the transition to
big-endian? If so, do I need to program this sepeartely? If not, where
does the transition to big-endian occur and why does the code I see (in
the srec file, for example) appear to start off big-endian? I can
imagine ld getting pretty confused trying to link a little-endian
snippet to a big-endian application.

Thanks

Jonathan Pratt

ELPRO Technologies Pty Ltd
"Wireless Solutions Since 1983"
ISO 9001:2000 Accredited
ABN 17 010 627 835

9/12 Billabong St, Stafford, 
QLD, Australia 4053
Telephone: +61 7 3352 4533   
Facsimile: +61 7 3352 4577

Web Site: http://www.elprotech.com

[U-Boot-Users] U-boot & MonteJade start up

[Stefan Roese]

On Wednesday 02 May 2007 06:39, Jonathan Pratt wrote:
> I'm trying to get u-boot up and running on an Intel MonteJade (IXDPG425)
> board without much luck.
>
> I downloaded version 2.0 of the Npe code and placed it in the
> appropriate directory and the build worked fine. Getting it up and
> running on the board has proved more difficulat.
>
> I'm using a Macraigor USB wiggler to download to the FLASH. If anyone
> has done this successfully then I would appreciate some pointers as I'm
> not sure what I've done thus far is correct.
>
> As far as I understand it, the xscale starts up in little endian mode.
> The application is, however, big-endian. When I program the FLASH it
> appears to be big-endian, and I don't as yet understand where the
> transition from little endian occurs. The u-boot code in the current
> state doesn't go anywhere with no response from the serial port.
>
> Is there some pre-bootloader code which does the transition to
> big-endian?

No.

> If so, do I need to program this sepeartely? If not, where 
> does the transition to big-endian occur and why does the code I see (in
> the srec file, for example) appear to start off big-endian?

Because it's compiled to be in big endian format. All IXP4xx U-Boot & Linux 
implementations I know of are done in big endian mode.

> I can 
> imagine ld getting pretty confused trying to link a little-endian
> snippet to a big-endian application.

I have to admit, that I don't know right now, where this big endian/little 
endian change is made. Perhaps some boot-strapping pin? Not sure, would have 
to look in the manual. Martijn? Could you jump in here?

For the 2 IXP4xx boards I used (ixdpg425 and pdnb3) I can say, that they "just 
work" with the current U-Boot implementation in big endian mode. And here 
definitely no pre-bootloader is required.

What exactly is your problem? Can you see where the U-Boot hangs with you 
debugger? You are aware that the IXDPG425 port uses UART1 (and not UART0) for 
console with 115200 baud.

Best regards,
Stefan

=====================================================================
DENX Software Engineering GmbH, HRB 165235 Munich, CEO: Wolfgang Denk
Office:  Kirchenstr. 5,       D-82194 Groebenzell,            Germany
=====================================================================

[U-Boot-Users] U-boot & MonteJade start up

[Jonathan Pratt]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stefan Roese [mailto:sr at denx.de] 
> Sent: Wednesday, 2 May 2007 3:17 PM
> To: u-boot-users at lists.sourceforge.net
> Cc: Jonathan Pratt
> Subject: Re: [U-Boot-Users] U-boot & MonteJade start up
> 
> On Wednesday 02 May 2007 06:39, Jonathan Pratt wrote:
> > Is there some pre-bootloader code which does the transition to 
> > big-endian?
> 
> No.
> 
> > If so, do I need to program this sepeartely? If not, where does the 
> > transition to big-endian occur and why does the code I see (in the 
> > srec file, for example) appear to start off big-endian?
> 
> Because it's compiled to be in big endian format. All IXP4xx 
> U-Boot & Linux implementations I know of are done in big endian mode.
> 
> > I can
> > imagine ld getting pretty confused trying to link a little-endian 
> > snippet to a big-endian application.
> 
> I have to admit, that I don't know right now, where this big 
> endian/little endian change is made. Perhaps some 
> boot-strapping pin? Not sure, would have to look in the 
> manual. Martijn? Could you jump in here?

When in doubt check the code, I guess.

I have been trawling the code and found that the reset vector points to
the reset code, and the first thing it does is set big-endian-ness (load
R0 with 0xF8 and write this value to CP15, register 1 - b7 is the
endian-ness control bit).

From the IXP42x Developer's Manual the state of this bit is 0
(little-endian) on reset. I can't find any information about
boot-strapping the endian-ness of the processor, or different behaviour
of the excternal bus interface. I can imagine the switch over being
problematic, but I can't find any documentaion as to how its done.

 
> For the 2 IXP4xx boards I used (ixdpg425 and pdnb3) I can 
> say, that they "just work" with the current U-Boot 
> implementation in big endian mode. And here definitely no 
> pre-bootloader is required.
> 
> What exactly is your problem? Can you see where the U-Boot 
> hangs with you debugger? You are aware that the IXDPG425 port 
> uses UART1 (and not UART0) for console with 115200 baud.

I'm having difficulty using the Macraigor USB wiggler. It doesn't seem
to allow me to do a 'step' or 'go' with any useful result (ie the
program counter doesn't appear to change). This is adding to my
difficulties. I can't tell at the moment how far the code is getting
before it dies.

I tried recompiling u-boot with UART2 as the console but had no better
results. I believe that UART1 in u-boot is UART0 for the IXP425 (ie the
console UART which is connected) and UART2 in u-boot is the other one
that is not available on the IXDGP425 board. [but feel free to correct
me if I'm wrong].
 
> Best regards,
> Stefan


Thanks for your input Stefan.

Jonathan Pratt

[U-Boot-Users] U-boot & MonteJade start up

[Martijn de Gouw]

Hi 

> I have to admit, that I don't know right now, where this big 
> endian/little 
> endian change is made. Perhaps some boot-strapping pin? Not 
> sure, would have 
> to look in the manual. Martijn? Could you jump in here?

first lines in cpu/ixp/start.S
reset:
        /* disable mmu, set big-endian */

> For the 2 IXP4xx boards I used (ixdpg425 and pdnb3) I can 
> say, that they "just 
> work" with the current U-Boot implementation in big endian 
> mode. And here 

The NPEs won't work when the cpu is run in little endian mode,
according to the datasheet.

best regards,
Martijn de Gouw 

[U-Boot-Users] IXP425 ethernet & NPE microcode

[Jonathan Pratt]

Hi.

I have a IXP425 (IXDPG425 dev board) running u-boot [yay!] but I get the
message 'No Ethernet Found' in the start up sequence. I would like to
get ethernet working but I have been unable to find out what I should do
so it happens.

When I used a pristine copy of u-boot, it wouldn't build for this target
(couldn't make .depend in the cpu/ixp/npe directory or something
similar). Since I had been building (snapgear) Linux using the Intel
Open Access Library I copied IxNpeMicrocode.c from
IPL_ixp400NpeLibrary-2_0.zip [ie version 2.0 of the NPE Library] into
the cpu/ixp/npe directory. Admittedly this was just a guess as to what
to do. U-boot now builds OK for this target, and I now have it running,
but without ethernet.

Is there some doco somewhere that explains what to do next, or does
someone have some insights to offer?

Thanks

Jonathan Pratt
Senior Development Engineer

ELPRO Technologies Pty Ltd
"Wireless Solutions Since 1983"
 

[U-Boot-Users] IXP425 ethernet & NPE microcode

[Eric BENARD]

Hi Jonathan,

Jonathan Pratt a ?crit :
> When I used a pristine copy of u-boot, it wouldn't build for this
> target (couldn't make .depend in the cpu/ixp/npe directory or
> something similar). Since I had been building (snapgear) Linux using
> the Intel Open Access Library I copied IxNpeMicrocode.c from 
> IPL_ixp400NpeLibrary-2_0.zip [ie version 2.0 of the NPE Library] into
>  the cpu/ixp/npe directory. Admittedly this was just a guess as to
> what to do. U-boot now builds OK for this target, and I now have it
> running, but without ethernet.
> 
You may check the Image Identifier in IxNpeMicrocode.c and be sure it's
the same as in the defines in include/IxNpeMicrocode.h else the
microcode search will fail and the NPE won't be loaded.

Eric

[U-Boot-Users] IXP425 ethernet & NPE microcode

[Stefan Roese]

Hi Jonathan,

On Wednesday 09 May 2007, Jonathan Pratt wrote:
> I have a IXP425 (IXDPG425 dev board) running u-boot [yay!] but I get the
> message 'No Ethernet Found' in the start up sequence. I would like to
> get ethernet working but I have been unable to find out what I should do
> so it happens.
>
> When I used a pristine copy of u-boot, it wouldn't build for this target
> (couldn't make .depend in the cpu/ixp/npe directory or something
> similar). Since I had been building (snapgear) Linux using the Intel
> Open Access Library I copied IxNpeMicrocode.c from
> IPL_ixp400NpeLibrary-2_0.zip [ie version 2.0 of the NPE Library] into
> the cpu/ixp/npe directory. Admittedly this was just a guess as to what
> to do. U-boot now builds OK for this target, and I now have it running,
> but without ethernet.
>
> Is there some doco somewhere that explains what to do next, or does
> someone have some insights to offer?

Did you set the "ethaddr" environment variable? If not, please do and reset 
the board after saving it. Could be that the driver only enables the 
interfaces when ethXaddr is set.

Best regards,
Stefan

=====================================================================
DENX Software Engineering GmbH, HRB 165235 Munich, CEO: Wolfgang Denk
Office:  Kirchenstr. 5,       D-82194 Groebenzell,            Germany
=====================================================================

[U-Boot-Users] IXP425 ethernet & NPE microcode

[Jonathan Pratt]

Thanks.

For future reference, the ethernet mac id (ethaddr) needed to be set...

Jonathan Pratt
Senior Development Engineer
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stefan Roese [mailto:sr at denx.de] 
> Sent: Wednesday, 9 May 2007 7:53 PM
> To: u-boot-users at lists.sourceforge.net
> Cc: Jonathan Pratt
> Subject: Re: [U-Boot-Users] IXP425 ethernet & NPE microcode
> 
> Hi Jonathan,
> 
> On Wednesday 09 May 2007, Jonathan Pratt wrote:
> > I have a IXP425 (IXDPG425 dev board) running u-boot [yay!] 
> but I get 
> > the message 'No Ethernet Found' in the start up sequence. I 
> would like 
> > to get ethernet working but I have been unable to find out what I 
> > should do so it happens.
> >
> > When I used a pristine copy of u-boot, it wouldn't build for this 
> > target (couldn't make .depend in the cpu/ixp/npe directory or 
> > something similar). Since I had been building (snapgear) 
> Linux using 
> > the Intel Open Access Library I copied IxNpeMicrocode.c from 
> > IPL_ixp400NpeLibrary-2_0.zip [ie version 2.0 of the NPE 
> Library] into 
> > the cpu/ixp/npe directory. Admittedly this was just a guess 
> as to what 
> > to do. U-boot now builds OK for this target, and I now have it 
> > running, but without ethernet.
> >
> > Is there some doco somewhere that explains what to do next, or does 
> > someone have some insights to offer?
> 
> Did you set the "ethaddr" environment variable? If not, 
> please do and reset the board after saving it. Could be that 
> the driver only enables the interfaces when ethXaddr is set.
> 
> Best regards,
> Stefan
> 
> =====================================================================
> DENX Software Engineering GmbH, HRB 165235 Munich, CEO: Wolfgang Denk
> Office:  Kirchenstr. 5,       D-82194 Groebenzell,            Germany
> =====================================================================
> 
> 
> 
> 

[U-Boot-Users] IXP425 ethernet & NPE microcode

[Wolfgang Denk]

In message <7EDC24AB1ED682439657D3B7790609D39397CC@deepthought.Elpro.local> you wrote:
> 
> similar). Since I had been building (snapgear) Linux using the Intel
> Open Access Library I copied IxNpeMicrocode.c from
> IPL_ixp400NpeLibrary-2_0.zip [ie version 2.0 of the NPE Library] into
> the cpu/ixp/npe directory. Admittedly this was just a guess as to what

Note that you cannot do this because of license conflicts.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,    CEO: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
Let's say the docs present a simplified view of reality...    :-)
                      - Larry Wall in  <6940@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>

[U-Boot-Users] IXP425 ethernet & NPE microcode

[Jonathan Pratt]

Hi Wolfgang.

Is there another way of providing ethernet support for this platform
without the license violation? Are there any legal ramifications that
follow? (Are they more likely to come from Intel or elsewhere?)

It seems that u-boot wouldn't build until I added the file (I suppose
that I could have tried disabling ethernet)...

Jonathan Pratt
Senior Development Engineer
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: wd at denx.de [mailto:wd at denx.de] 
> Sent: Thursday, 10 May 2007 8:37 AM
> To: Jonathan Pratt
> Cc: u-boot-users at lists.sourceforge.net; Stefan Roese
> Subject: Re: [U-Boot-Users] IXP425 ethernet & NPE microcode 
> 
> In message 
> <7EDC24AB1ED682439657D3B7790609D39397CC@deepthought.Elpro.loca
> l> you wrote:
> > 
> > similar). Since I had been building (snapgear) Linux using 
> the Intel 
> > Open Access Library I copied IxNpeMicrocode.c from 
> > IPL_ixp400NpeLibrary-2_0.zip [ie version 2.0 of the NPE 
> Library] into 
> > the cpu/ixp/npe directory. Admittedly this was just a guess 
> as to what
> 
> Note that you cannot do this because of license conflicts.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Wolfgang Denk
> 
> -- 
> DENX Software Engineering GmbH,    CEO: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
> HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
> Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
> Let's say the docs present a simplified view of reality...    :-)
>                       - Larry Wall in  <6940@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
> 
> 
> 
> 

[U-Boot-Users] IXP425 ethernet & NPE microcode

[David Hawkins]

Hi Jonathan,

> Is there another way of providing ethernet support for this platform
> without the license violation? Are there any legal ramifications that
> follow? (Are they more likely to come from Intel or elsewhere?)
> 
> It seems that u-boot wouldn't build until I added the file (I suppose
> that I could have tried disabling ethernet)...

Take a look at the www.nslu2-linux.org project.

The NSLU2 is a Linksys USB network storage device.
It has the same issue with IXP4xx Intel firmware.

The Slug's, as they are fondly referred to, use
RedBoot as a bootloader, and there exist various
Linux kernels.

Look around the NSLU2 web site for comments on the
Intel firmware. If there is nothing definitive there,
I recall Rod Whitby posted messages to the nslu2-linux
newsgroup explaining the requirements; check the archives,
or join the group and ask Rod directly.

I haven't looked into the details, but I figured you
might not be aware of the project, so this might
help.

Regards,
Dave

[U-Boot-Users] IXP425 ethernet & NPE microcode

[Jonathan Pratt]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Hawkins [mailto:dwh at ovro.caltech.edu] 
> Sent: Thursday, 10 May 2007 9:16 AM
> To: Jonathan Pratt
> Cc: u-boot-users at lists.sourceforge.net
> Subject: Re: [U-Boot-Users] IXP425 ethernet & NPE microcode
> 
> Hi Jonathan,
> 
> > Is there another way of providing ethernet support for this 
> platform 
> > without the license violation? Are there any legal 
> ramifications that 
> > follow? (Are they more likely to come from Intel or elsewhere?)
> > 
> > It seems that u-boot wouldn't build until I added the file 
> (I suppose 
> > that I could have tried disabling ethernet)...
> 
> Take a look at the www.nslu2-linux.org project.
> 
> The NSLU2 is a Linksys USB network storage device.
> It has the same issue with IXP4xx Intel firmware.
> 
> The Slug's, as they are fondly referred to, use RedBoot as a 
> bootloader, and there exist various Linux kernels.
> 
> Look around the NSLU2 web site for comments on the Intel 
> firmware. If there is nothing definitive there, I recall Rod 
> Whitby posted messages to the nslu2-linux newsgroup 
> explaining the requirements; check the archives, or join the 
> group and ask Rod directly.
> 
> I haven't looked into the details, but I figured you might 
> not be aware of the project, so this might help.
> 
> Regards,
> Dave


Thanks, David.

I was not aware of the project. They merely point out that it's a
necessary evil. The Intel redistribution restrictions seem rather
draconian, however.

I'm not sure about the conflict with u-boot (GPL), however, and whether
the issues are more than philosophical.

Jonathan Pratt
Senior Development Engineer
 

[U-Boot-Users] IXP425 ethernet & NPE microcode

[Stefan Roese]

On Thursday 10 May 2007, Jonathan Pratt wrote:
> I was not aware of the project. They merely point out that it's a
> necessary evil. The Intel redistribution restrictions seem rather
> draconian, however.
>
> I'm not sure about the conflict with u-boot (GPL), however, and whether
> the issues are more than philosophical.

You can include the NPE binary into U-Boot as you did, but this violates the 
GPL and therefore you are not allowed to ship products using this resulting 
image.

The best solution for this problem right now, if to not included the NPE 
binary in the U-Boot build process, but program it into a separate FLASH 
sector, and let the NPE ethernet driver load the NPE's with the binary from 
this location. This way we don't have link the NPE binary into the U-Boot 
image. Unfortunately nobody found the time to implement this solution till 
now.

And furthermore, it would be very desireable to drop the current NPE U-Boot 
ethernet driver implementation based on the original Intel code with the 
complex and ugly Intel access library completely, and re-implement the driver 
based on the new Linux IXP4xx NPE ethernet drivers. There are currently 2 
completely new drivers without the Intel access library which will result in 
lower memory footprint and much less and cleaner code.

Patches welcome! :-)

Best regards,
Stefan

=====================================================================
DENX Software Engineering GmbH, HRB 165235 Munich, CEO: Wolfgang Denk
Office:  Kirchenstr. 5,       D-82194 Groebenzell,            Germany
=====================================================================

[U-Boot-Users] IXP425 ethernet & NPE microcode

[Øyvind Repvik]

On Thursday 10 May 2007 07:16:50 Stefan Roese wrote:
> On Thursday 10 May 2007, Jonathan Pratt wrote:

> And furthermore, it would be very desireable to drop the current NPE U-Boot 
> ethernet driver implementation based on the original Intel code with the 
> complex and ugly Intel access library completely, and re-implement the driver 
> based on the new Linux IXP4xx NPE ethernet drivers. There are currently 2 
> completely new drivers without the Intel access library which will result in 
> lower memory footprint and much less and cleaner code.

That would be Christian Hohnstaedt <chohnstaedt@innominate.com>'s driver
which is (afaik) in mainstream by now, and  
Krzysztof Halasa <khc@pm.waw.pl>'s driver, which is newer. There's a discussion
about these drivers on linux-arm-kernel. 

Getting either of those drivers fixed up and pushed to u-boot would be great. Of
course, one will still need to put the microcode somewhere else due to licencing,
but that's a minor matter.

?yvind Repvik
nslu2-linux developer

[U-Boot-Users] IXP425 ethernet & NPE microcode

[Stefan Roese]

On Thursday 10 May 2007, ?yvind Repvik wrote:
> > And furthermore, it would be very desireable to drop the current NPE
> > U-Boot ethernet driver implementation based on the original Intel code
> > with the complex and ugly Intel access library completely, and
> > re-implement the driver based on the new Linux IXP4xx NPE ethernet
> > drivers. There are currently 2 completely new drivers without the Intel
> > access library which will result in lower memory footprint and much less
> > and cleaner code.
>
> That would be Christian Hohnstaedt <chohnstaedt@innominate.com>'s driver
> which is (afaik) in mainstream by now, and 
> Krzysztof Halasa <khc@pm.waw.pl>'s driver, which is newer. There's a
> discussion about these drivers on linux-arm-kernel.

Yes, but IIRC the one from Christian never made it into mainstream. And the 
new one from Krzysztof seems to get quite good reactions.

> Getting either of those drivers fixed up and pushed to u-boot would be
> great.

Yes, both would be way better than the current implementation. Hopefully one 
of those drivers will make in into mainline and this should be the one to 
pick then.

> Of course, one will still need to put the microcode somewhere else 
> due to licencing, but that's a minor matter.

Yes, just a minor issue from the code point of view, but a big issue from the 
licensing point of view.

Best regards,
Stefan

=====================================================================
DENX Software Engineering GmbH, HRB 165235 Munich, CEO: Wolfgang Denk
Office:  Kirchenstr. 5,       D-82194 Groebenzell,            Germany
=====================================================================