[U-Boot-Users] How to specify the size of bin?

[U-Boot-Users] How to specify the size of bin?

[甜瓜]

Howdy,
     I know it is a newbie question. Any hint from you are welcome.
In default, u-boot 1.1.5, "make walut_config && make all" will
generate a 256KB bin.
The last 4 bytes of the bin is a jump instruction to the entry point
of u-boot.Is that right?
But my ppc405GP walnut board has 512KB flash for holding u-boot. I wonder how to
build a 512KB bin? Is there any OPTION/SETTING targeting this problem?
Anything else
I should take care?
    Thank you!
---
ShenLei

[U-Boot-Users] How to specify the size of bin?

[Stefan Roese]

On Friday 16 May 2008, ?? wrote:
>      I know it is a newbie question. Any hint from you are welcome.
> In default, u-boot 1.1.5, "make walut_config && make all" will
> generate a 256KB bin.
> The last 4 bytes of the bin is a jump instruction to the entry point
> of u-boot.Is that right?

Yes, this is correct.

> But my ppc405GP walnut board has 512KB flash for holding u-boot.

All Walnut boards have 512k of NOR FLASH. Do you really have an original 
IBM/AMCC Walnut or a different custom 405GP board?

> I wonder 
> how to build a 512KB bin?

Generally this is possible. You need to change CONFIG_MONITOR_LEN & 
CFG_MONITOR_BASE in include/configs/walnut.h. And TEXT_BASE in 
board/amcc/walnut/config.mk.

> Is there any OPTION/SETTING targeting this 
> problem? Anything else
> I should take care?

But please don't forget that the environment is also stored in the NOR FLASH. 
And by changing the U-Boot size to 512k you leave no space for the 
environment.

So why exactly do you want to change the U-Boot image size?

Best regards,
Stefan

=====================================================================
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: +49-8142-66989-0 Fax: +49-8142-66989-80  Email: office at denx.de
=====================================================================

[U-Boot-Users] How to specify the size of bin?

[甜瓜]

2008/5/16 Stefan Roese <sr@denx.de>:
> On Friday 16 May 2008, ?? wrote:
>>      I know it is a newbie question. Any hint from you are welcome.
>> In default, u-boot 1.1.5, "make walut_config && make all" will
>> generate a 256KB bin.
>> The last 4 bytes of the bin is a jump instruction to the entry point
>> of u-boot.Is that right?
>
> Yes, this is correct.
>
>> But my ppc405GP walnut board has 512KB flash for holding u-boot.
>
> All Walnut boards have 512k of NOR FLASH. Do you really have an original
> IBM/AMCC Walnut or a different custom 405GP board?
Yes, my board is a custom board DHT-Walut with 32MB SDRAM and
512k of boot flash AMD 29LV040B. Details are listed in:
    http://elinux.org/DHT-Walnut

>> I wonder
>> how to build a 512KB bin?
>
> Generally this is possible. You need to change CONFIG_MONITOR_LEN &
> CFG_MONITOR_BASE in include/configs/walnut.h. And TEXT_BASE in
> board/amcc/walnut/config.mk.

Thank you very much. That's exact what I need!

>> Is there any OPTION/SETTING targeting this
>> problem? Anything else
>> I should take care?
>
> But please don't forget that the environment is also stored in the NOR FLASH.
> And by changing the U-Boot size to 512k you leave no space for the
> environment.

Do you mean that environment settings (eg: ip_addr, ethaddr...) are
stored sperately
from the bin? In my mind (with guess :p), env should be defined in bin
code or data
section, and it will be compiled together with other codes to form a single bin.

> So why exactly do you want to change the U-Boot image size?
Well. The reason is:
1. Both default config of u-boot and a DHT-Walut-patched config
generate 256KB bin,
but the flash on board is 512KB. So I think I should get a 512KB bin
for flash writing.
2. The contents in the flash on my board is totally corrupted by
accident. It means
the important last-4-bytes should be rewritten to a proper state.
3. Currenly, I have to use special hardware to write bin into flash.
Therefore 256KB bin
will only overwrite the first half. The last-4-bytes in the end of
flash is still the old value.
Booting will definitely fail.

> Best regards,
> Stefan
>
> =====================================================================
> DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
> HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
> Phone: +49-8142-66989-0 Fax: +49-8142-66989-80  Email: office at denx.de
> =====================================================================
>

Thank you for your reply.
---
ShenLei

[U-Boot-Users] How to specify the size of bin?

[Wolfgang Denk]

In message <cdb837ea0805152231w72340d28r4ee31ee5d4d51654@mail.gmail.com> you wrote:
> 1. Both default config of u-boot and a DHT-Walut-patched config
> generate 256KB bin,
> but the flash on board is 512KB. So I think I should get a 512KB bin
> for flash writing.

Why?

Do you think on devices with 128 MB flash memory  we  should  have  a
128MB U-Boot image?

Do you see any problem with having a U-Boot image that is smaller than
your flash device?

> 2. The contents in the flash on my board is totally corrupted by
> accident. It means
> the important last-4-bytes should be rewritten to a proper state.

Agreed.

> 3. Currenly, I have to use special hardware to write bin into flash.
> Therefore 256KB bin
> will only overwrite the first half. The last-4-bytes in the end of
> flash is still the old value.

That's your problem, tehn. Most people use a noremal JTAG debugger
which can prgram the image to any address in the flash.

You got to add 256k of ramdom data in front of the 256 k image,  then
[memory filled with 0xFF recommended].

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: 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
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
                                                   - Arthur C. Clarke

[U-Boot-Users] How to specify the size of bin?

[甜瓜]

2008/5/16 Wolfgang Denk <wd@denx.de>:
> In message <cdb837ea0805152231w72340d28r4ee31ee5d4d51654@mail.gmail.com> you wrote:
>> 1. Both default config of u-boot and a DHT-Walut-patched config
>> generate 256KB bin,
>> but the flash on board is 512KB. So I think I should get a 512KB bin
>> for flash writing.
>
> Why?
>
> Do you think on devices with 128 MB flash memory  we  should  have  a
> 128MB U-Boot image?
>
> Do you see any problem with having a U-Boot image that is smaller than
> your flash device?
>
>> 2. The contents in the flash on my board is totally corrupted by
>> accident. It means
>> the important last-4-bytes should be rewritten to a proper state.
>
> Agreed.
>
>> 3. Currenly, I have to use special hardware to write bin into flash.
>> Therefore 256KB bin
>> will only overwrite the first half. The last-4-bytes in the end of
>> flash is still the old value.
>
> That's your problem, tehn. Most people use a noremal JTAG debugger
> which can prgram the image to any address in the flash.
>
> You got to add 256k of ramdom data in front of the 256 k image,  then
> [memory filled with 0xFF recommended].
haha! Great minds seem alike. Actually, if no solution, I will try this method.
Well. As you mentioned, using JTAG we can put bin in any place of flash.
Does it means we should manually set the last-4-bytes? How to determine
the exact entry point of bin? I can only see the hex value of last-4-bytes, and
it definitely does not simply jump to the beginning of bin. It should jump to
some location like "start:" in, for example, start.asm. Therefore the JTAG
user should translate "jmp start+offset" to machine code by hand. Am I right?

Last, let me tell you why I cannot use JTAG. The recommend method by u-boot
is using BDI2000. But it is really expensive. I don't have enough money. hehe.
I have tried many home-made wiggler JTAG connectors with OCD commander, but
all failed. Finally I give up for finding low-cost PPC JTAG. Currently
I give the
precompiled bin to some one with special flash writer, and let them burn.

  Best regards,
--
ShenLei

[U-Boot-Users] How to specify the size of bin?

[Wolfgang Denk]

In message <cdb837ea0805152326o58185f02g13d68a65f416c800@mail.gmail.com> you wrote:
>
> haha! Great minds seem alike. Actually, if no solution, I will try this method.
> Well. As you mentioned, using JTAG we can put bin in any place of flash.
> Does it means we should manually set the last-4-bytes? How to determine

Urgh. No, of course not. You just program the "u-boot.bin" image to
the last 256 kB of your flash memory, as Stefan already explained.

> Last, let me tell you why I cannot use JTAG. The recommend method by u-boot
> is using BDI2000. But it is really expensive. I don't have enough money. hehe.
> I have tried many home-made wiggler JTAG connectors with OCD commander, but
> all failed. Finally I give up for finding low-cost PPC JTAG. Currently
> I give the
> precompiled bin to some one with special flash writer, and let them burn.

You will reconsider buying a BDI3000 when you need a debugger...

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: 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
"Wagner's music is better than it sounds."               - Mark Twain

[U-Boot-Users] How to specify the size of bin?

[Stefan Roese]

On Friday 16 May 2008, ?? wrote:
> > All Walnut boards have 512k of NOR FLASH. Do you really have an original
> > IBM/AMCC Walnut or a different custom 405GP board?
>
> Yes, my board is a custom board DHT-Walut with 32MB SDRAM and
> 512k of boot flash AMD 29LV040B. Details are listed in:
>     http://elinux.org/DHT-Walnut

OK.

> >> I wonder
> >> how to build a 512KB bin?
> >
> > Generally this is possible. You need to change CONFIG_MONITOR_LEN &
> > CFG_MONITOR_BASE in include/configs/walnut.h. And TEXT_BASE in
> > board/amcc/walnut/config.mk.
>
> Thank you very much. That's exact what I need!

Noooo! Please wait.

> >> Is there any OPTION/SETTING targeting this
> >> problem? Anything else
> >> I should take care?
> >
> > But please don't forget that the environment is also stored in the NOR
> > FLASH. And by changing the U-Boot size to 512k you leave no space for the
> > environment.
>
> Do you mean that environment settings (eg: ip_addr, ethaddr...) are
> stored sperately
> from the bin?

Most of the boards do it this way, yes.

> In my mind (with guess :p), env should be defined in bin 
> code or data
> section, and it will be compiled together with other codes to form a single
> bin.

This can be done too. But its not the case on Walnut.

> > So why exactly do you want to change the U-Boot image size?
>
> Well. The reason is:
> 1. Both default config of u-boot and a DHT-Walut-patched config
> generate 256KB bin,
> but the flash on board is 512KB. So I think I should get a 512KB bin
> for flash writing.

No. You definitely don't need a 512k image for this setup. You just need to 
flash the image at the "end" of the FLASH chip. So starting at 256k:

0...256k:	Free and environment
256k...512k:	U-Boot image

> 2. The contents in the flash on my board is totally corrupted by
> accident. It means
> the important last-4-bytes should be rewritten to a proper state.
> 3. Currenly, I have to use special hardware to write bin into flash.
> Therefore 256KB bin
> will only overwrite the first half. The last-4-bytes in the end of
> flash is still the old value.
> Booting will definitely fail.

See above. Don't increase the image size, but flash it with an offset of 256k.

Best regards,
Stefan

=====================================================================
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: +49-8142-66989-0 Fax: +49-8142-66989-80  Email: office at denx.de
=====================================================================