[U-Boot] mpc83xx U-boot questions

[Jerry Van Baren <gerald.vanbaren@ge.com>]

David Hawkins wrote:
> Hi Yuke,

[snip]

> You say that the development is done with RHLE5, but
> then that a .exe is created. That seems to be a conflicting
> statement. Perhaps you could explain ... are you running
> the RTEMs tools under Wine??

The RTEMS "quickstart" example uses an .exe extension, so it looks like 
Yuke's toolset is braindamaged.
   <http://www.rtems.com/wiki/index.php/Quick_Start>
Example:
   bash-3.1$ sparc-rtems4.9-gdb `find . -name ticker.exe`
(bleah!)

The RTEMS example is running on a simulator via gdb, which is a far cry 
from running on real hardware, booting either on bare metal (very big 
ouch) or using u-boot to start it (much less ouch - I would start by 
running your RTEMS build as a u-boot "application" - that gets you 
things like fairly painless serial support).

Note to Yuke: this will be a learning experience for you - please keep 
us informed so we can learn vicariously with you.  I'm not aware of 
anybody using u-boot to boot RTEMS, so you may have some useful stuff 
when you get to the end of your journey.  We will help as much as we can...

> Anyway, a good suggestion is to install ELDK and rebuild
> U-Boot and update it, even get Linux booted. It may not be
> your main goal, but consider it educational :)

Note to Yuke: you should also have a JTAG debugger to recover from 
failed u-boot reprogramming if you rebuild and reflash u-boot.  You may 
want to use a JTAG debugger even if you *don't* reflash u-boot.

Note that the Abatron BDI3000 supports "gdb remote target".
   <http://www.abatron.ch/products/bdi-family/bdi3000.html>
   <http://www.abatron.ch/products/debugger-support/gnu-support.html>
I think most of the competitors do too now, but I don't know. 
Definitely ask about their linux (as the host) and gdb (remote target 
over ethernet) support before you buy.

USB-attached JTAG debuggers tend to be Windows-only.  Bleah!  On a 
positive note, I have a whole collection of single-board computers 
(curiously labeled "USB TAP" ;-) with a MPC866, usb, and JTAG interface. 
  If only I had the time to port u-boot to them and make them useful... :-D

> Cheers,
> Dave

Best regards,
gvb