[U-Boot] How to handle binary data file in u-boot

[U-Boot] How to handle binary data file in u-boot

[Lv Terry-R65388]

Hi Experts,
 
    We have implemented an display utilty in u-boot and this utlity
needs a waveform file.
 
    We are planning to release this display utility, but we don't know
how to do with the waveform file. The file is as large as 800KB.
 
    Now we just put the waveform file on mmc and read it out in boot.
 
    Is there any better way to deliver this binary waveform file as part
of the bootloader?
    How is this case  typically handled?
 
    Thanks in advance.
 
Yours
Terry
 
 

[U-Boot] How to handle binary data file in u-boot

[Reinhard Meyer]

Lv Terry-R65388 wrote:
> Hi Experts,
>  
>     We have implemented an display utilty in u-boot and this utlity
> needs a waveform file.
>  
>     We are planning to release this display utility, but we don't know
> how to do with the waveform file. The file is as large as 800KB.
>   
Files that large are usually not embedded within the u-boot image.
>  
>     Now we just put the waveform file on mmc and read it out in boot.
>   
It depends where your u-boot image is. If its in NOR flash, for example, 
one would add a partition of suitable size to put the data in.
If the external location can be flexibly defined (filename for SD/MMC or 
location for others) it is great.
>  
>     Is there any better way to deliver this binary waveform file as part
> of the bootloader?
>   
As part of the bootloader (image) you'd need to convert the bytestream 
into a lengthy initialized array and link it into the image. I'm not 
sure the toolchain can handle that and I am sure that method is not 
welcome in the repository (800kb binary --> several MB c-source)...
>     How is this case  typically handled?
>   
Have a look at the code to handle FPGA images, you can probably even 
reuse or share code with there.

Reinhard

[U-Boot] How to handle binary data file in u-boot

[Lv Terry-R65388]

Hi Reinhard,

	Thank you very much.

	:)

Yours
Terry 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Reinhard Meyer [mailto:reinhard.meyer at emk-elektronik.de] 
> Sent: 2010?7?29? 15:45
> To: Lv Terry-R65388
> Cc: u-boot at lists.denx.de
> Subject: Re: [U-Boot] How to handle binary data file in u-boot
> 
> Lv Terry-R65388 wrote:
> > Hi Experts,
> >  
> >     We have implemented an display utilty in u-boot and this utlity 
> > needs a waveform file.
> >  
> >     We are planning to release this display utility, but we 
> don't know 
> > how to do with the waveform file. The file is as large as 800KB.
> >   
> Files that large are usually not embedded within the u-boot image.
> >  
> >     Now we just put the waveform file on mmc and read it 
> out in boot.
> >   
> It depends where your u-boot image is. If its in NOR flash, 
> for example, one would add a partition of suitable size to 
> put the data in.
> If the external location can be flexibly defined (filename 
> for SD/MMC or location for others) it is great.
> >  
> >     Is there any better way to deliver this binary waveform file as 
> > part of the bootloader?
> >   
> As part of the bootloader (image) you'd need to convert the 
> bytestream into a lengthy initialized array and link it into 
> the image. I'm not sure the toolchain can handle that and I 
> am sure that method is not welcome in the repository (800kb 
> binary --> several MB c-source)...
> >     How is this case  typically handled?
> >   
> Have a look at the code to handle FPGA images, you can 
> probably even reuse or share code with there.
> 
> Reinhard
> 
> 

[U-Boot] How to handle binary data file in u-boot

[Stefano Babic]

Lv Terry-R65388 wrote:
> Hi Experts,
>  
>     We have implemented an display utilty in u-boot and this utlity
> needs a waveform file.
>  
>     We are planning to release this display utility, but we don't know
> how to do with the waveform file. The file is as large as 800KB.
>  
>     Now we just put the waveform file on mmc and read it out in boot.
>  
>     Is there any better way to deliver this binary waveform file as part
> of the bootloader?
>     How is this case  typically handled?

Because the file is raw data, it is normally not linked to u-boot code.
I mean, you can convert the data in a C-array and link it to the
bootloader, but is it worth ?

The same issue is for images used as splashscreen in u-boot, in some
case quite huge (but not so big as yours). They are often saved in
different areas (or after the bootloader), but not linked together.

You could easier concatenate u-boot and your waveform data in a single
file using "cat", padding bytes if you need to reserve some areas, and
probably you reach easier the same goal, if you want only to deliver a
single file containing both bootloader and data.

Best regards,
Stefano Babic


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