[U-Boot-Users] U-Boot WinCE booting support?

[U-Boot-Users] U-Boot WinCE booting support?

[R&D4]

Hi Stefan!

we are currently using u-boot (1.2.0) on our ARM9 based platform to boot 
WinCE 4.2, 5.0 and 6.0 images (.bin).
More than this we also changes some part of WinCE BSP to allow passing 
"kernel bootline parameters" (as much like in linux ;-) ) to configure 
console output (on serial line) or ip configuration.

If you want I can send you the patch: it's a bit "ugly" ;-) but it can 
be made platform indipendent with ease.
Basically it adds a new command (bootwince) which is much like bootm, 
but "check AND decompress" .bin images and run WinCE.
Of course the WinCE image can be started directly RAM (e.g. downloaded 
via TFTP for debugging pourpose) or from Flash (for stand alone operations).

Best Regards,

-- 

Andrea

DAVE Srl - Electronics System House
e-mail address: r&d4 at dave-tech.it



> Hi,
> 
> I'm wondering what may be needed to boot WinCE (6.0) images from U-Boot.
> Searching the web leads to some pages that mention booting WinCE is possible.
> But my understanding is that some additional patches are necessary and the
> official U-Boot doesn't support this currently.
> 
> Does anybody have experience with this? Any hints appreciated.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Best regards,
> Stefan 

[U-Boot-Users] U-Boot WinCE booting support?

[Stefan Roese]

Hi Andrea,

On Thursday 07 February 2008, R&D4 wrote:
> we are currently using u-boot (1.2.0) on our ARM9 based platform to boot
> WinCE 4.2, 5.0 and 6.0 images (.bin).
> More than this we also changes some part of WinCE BSP to allow passing
> "kernel bootline parameters" (as much like in linux ;-) ) to configure
> console output (on serial line) or ip configuration.

Thanks. That's good news.

> If you want I can send you the patch: it's a bit "ugly" ;-) but it can
> be made platform indipendent with ease.
> Basically it adds a new command (bootwince) which is much like bootm,
> but "check AND decompress" .bin images and run WinCE.
> Of course the WinCE image can be started directly RAM (e.g. downloaded
> via TFTP for debugging pourpose) or from Flash (for stand alone
> operations).

Yes, please send me the patch. Perhaps we will clean it up and integrate it 
into the common source.

Thanks.

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] U-Boot WinCE booting support?

[R&D4]

Here it is Stefan!

There is only one main changes:

* add common/cmd_bin.c for adding 'bootwince' command. This command 
accept only one argument which is the base address of .bin image. The 
command should also handle .nk (raw) images, but I have never tried it 
so much (.nk are quite huge and useless)
It also calls build_bin_image_parameters() (if defined) to build 
"platform dependent" parameters (e.g. command line, EDBG setup and so on)
* obvious changes to cmd_confdefs.h and Makefile

The "real" patch (as it's used on our platform) also:

* add two platform dependent file (drv_glob.h and halether.h) taken from 
WinCE BSP (don't know if this can be added due licence restrictions) to 
have C struct to pass info to the kernel (DRIVER_GLOBALS as called 
withing WinCE BSP).
* add build_bin_image_parameters() to pass command line and "BSP 
dependent" info to the WinCE kernel.

I think that this can be useful too, if you want I can give you a 
separate "platform dependent" patch.

I think that the patch needs only to adjust .bin base address and entry 
point which is now platform dependent. It can be made platform 
independet by playing with WinCE .bib parameters...

HTH!

Best Regards,

-- 

Andrea

DAVE Srl - Electronics System House
e-mail address: r&d4 at dave-tech.it



Stefan Roese wrote:
> 
> Yes, please send me the patch. Perhaps we will clean it up and integrate it 
> into the common source.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Best regards,
> Stefan
> 
> =====================================================================

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[U-Boot-Users] U-Boot WinCE booting support?

[Stefan Roese]

Hi,

I'm wondering what may be needed to boot WinCE (6.0) images from U-Boot. 
Searching the web leads to some pages that mention booting WinCE is possible. 
But my understanding is that some additional patches are necessary and the 
official U-Boot doesn't support this currently.

Does anybody have experience with this? Any hints appreciated.

Thanks.

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] U-Boot WinCE booting support?

[Ken.Fuchs at bench.com]

On Thursday, February 07, 2008 09:59, Stefan Roese wrote:

> I'm wondering what may be needed to boot WinCE (6.0) images 
> from U-Boot. 
> Searching the web leads to some pages that mention booting 
> WinCE is possible. 
> But my understanding is that some additional patches are 
> necessary and the 
> official U-Boot doesn't support this currently.
> 
> Does anybody have experience with this? Any hints appreciated.

It is my understanding that:

MS Windows CE (6.0) typically starts with the assumption that
Eboot has setup the MMU for it.  To fix this problem, the MMU code
could be moved from Eboot to the early OEM code in the CE kernel.

The NK.nb0 raw file would be easier to boot (than the proprietary
NK.bin file) via U-Boot.  In my experience, the NK.nb0 file is not
much larger than the NK.bin, though that can vary greatly,
especially if the kernel contains a lot of empty space.

Sincerely,

Ken Fuchs