[U-Boot] u-boot-socfpga repository

David Hawkins
2014-09-12T21:05:52Z

Hi guys,

I'm going to jump in here with an end-user's perspective,
along with an offer of assistance/contribution.

I'm interested in using Altera's SOCs in my designs.
Altera guys - if you look over on the Altera Forum,
you will see that I am very active over there
(basically answering everyone's FPGA questions).

Up until now I have avoided any SoC development kits as
I considered the software support to not have matured
enough. I consider "mature" code to be code that I can
checkout from mainline, where mainline is U-Boot via the
Denx repos, and Linux via the Kernel repos.

Freescale has done this forever, and I hold their
processors and code in high regard.

Texas Instruments has recently realized that this
is the way to go, and have invested significantly
in this area - as demonstrated by Tom Rini.
TI have dedicated a page to mainlining:

http://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/tools-software/mainlinelinux.page

TI have similarly gained my respect.

The fact that discussion is now occurring for Altera's
SoCs indicates to me that a certain level of maturity has
been reached and that it is now time for me to consider
using these devices.

I'd like to help, and I'm sure Ira Snyder will help too
(most likely more so than me). I would like to obtain
some SoC development kits so as to help with the SoC
"experience" for end-users.

To aid in this development, I'd like some recommendations
on what hardware to buy. I've included the list below
the body of this email (to save cluttering the flow of
this discussion). Its possible for me to obtain one or more
of these boards.

Which ones are supported in mainline U-Boot and Linux?
What will it take to make it easier for the end-user
like myself?

I would like to be able to buy something like the Critical
Link or Denx modules and simply plug them into my custom
hardware, configure the FPGA fabric with whatever custom
"magic" I need, have Ira develop a custom drive to that
"magic" and just have things *WORK*. As an end-user,
I don't want to have to pull a dozen patches off the
mailing list to get a working system.

Altera's success in the SoC market depends on "getting
it right" with respect to integration with the open-source
community. That integration involves playing by the established
set of rules. Wolfgang and his (creation and) support of U-Boot
is of immeasurable value to the open-source community.

Altera developers, please follow Wolfgang's advice.

Cheers,
Dave Hawkins,
California Institute of Technology.

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1. Cyclone V SoC Development Kit

http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-cyclone-v-soc.html

This is the main kit that most people are probably
developing with. At $1,795 its pretty expensive,
but I could request a couple of kits from the
Altera University Program.

2. Arria V SoC kit

http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-arria-v-soc.html

At $3,495 this is also very expensive.
This board still ships with ES (Engineering Sample), so I
would not buy this yet.

3. Terasic/Arrow SOCKit

http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&No=816

At $299 this is pretty reasonable.

4. SOC System-on-Modules

http://www.altera.com/devices/processor/soc-fpga/cyclone-v-soc/module/system-module.html

eg, Critical Link MitySOM

http://www.criticallink.com/product/mitysom-5csx/

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Critical-Link/5CSX-H6-42A-RC/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMvtrnhC60i%252bOnQkBUtKjKom2RbBJy3SVoI%3d

Each module is about $600 at Mouser.

5. Denx MCV board

http://www.denx-cs.de/?q=MCV

These modules look reasonably priced.

The CriticalLink and Denx modules look suitable for my intended
application, i.e., as the controller for a much larger FPGA board.

Wolfgang - feel free to advise me to use the Denx modules, and
I'll take a more critical look at the data sheets to check
they have the features I want to use.