uClinux boot from epcs ?

[Altera_Forum]

If someone like me wants to run uCLinux on a Nios2 but the fpga must not be a bga type then the biggest fpga available is EP2C20 with QFP 240 pins. That one can be handsoldered http://forum.niosforum.com/work2/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif (Done that several times before) 

 To have a lot of memory a would like to include sdram and of course a compact flash. as i would like to get rid of the cfi as the fpga will boot from epcs i asked myself if it could be possible to have only fpga + sdram + a big epcs + cf. after an AS configuration from the epcs nios could boot from epcs.  now my question has anybody done this ? booting uCLinux from epcs. but not the whole uclinux. i think of a smal bootloader like lilo (grub under debian) that loads the rest from a compact flash card that can&#39;t be big enough :-)  Regards Michael

[Altera_Forum]

Hi Michael, 

 > booting uCLinux from epcs. but not the whole uclinux. i think of a smal bootloader > like lilo (grub under debian) that loads the rest from a compact flash card that > can&#39;t be big enough  You can use u-boot in such a design ... as it supports CF as well as epcs. If your epcs is large enough, you could fit the entire kernel ... u-boot can load, decompress, and boot a gzip/bzip kernel image (same goes for CF of course).  Currently, I load u-boot from epcs and then boot a gzipped kernel image (~520 KB) either from parallel flash, a tftp server, or an NFS server. Same goes for the cramfs filesystem (which gets stuffed into SDRAM as well).  Regards, --Scott

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  originally posted by smcnutt@Feb 22 2006, 04:43 PM hi michael,  >  booting uclinux from epcs. but not the whole uclinux. i think of a smal bootloader > like lilo (grub under debian) that loads the rest from a compact flash card that > can&#39;t be big enough  you can use u-boot in such a design ... as it supports cf as well as epcs. if your epcs is large enough, you could fit the entire kernel ... u-boot can load, decompress, and boot a gzip/bzip kernel image (same goes for cf of course).  currently, i load u-boot from epcs and then boot a gzipped kernel image (~520 kb) either from parallel flash, a tftp server, or an nfs server. same goes for the cramfs filesystem (which gets stuffed into sdram as well).  regards, --scott <div align='right'><{post_snapback}> (index.php?act=findpost&pid=12890)  --- quote end ---    --- Quote End ---  

[Altera_Forum]

Related to this, what are the advantages of using U-boot? I mean, Altera seems to have included a nice little boot copier that copies code from either CFI or EPCS to RAM and then boots, along with their flash programming utility. So to boot a kernel from EPCS, it should be as simple as downloading it to the config device and pointing to the altera boot copier. 

 Are there any advantages of U boot?

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  originally posted by jdhar@Feb 28 2006, 01:46 AM related to this, what are the advantages of using u-boot? i mean, altera seems to have included a nice little boot copier that copies code from either cfi or epcs to ram and then boots, along with their flash programming utility. so to boot a kernel from epcs, it should be as simple as downloading it to the config device and pointing to the altera boot copier.  are there any advantages of u boot? <div align='right'><{post_snapback}> (index.php?act=findpost&pid=12981)  --- quote end ---    --- Quote End ---    I boot from EPCS with the Altera boot copier and it works perfectly (Only with Quartus 5.1 and NiosII 5.1, the 5.0 versions had a bug which made it VERY slow). But if you want more control, load the kernel over the network, change parameters, choose a different kernel each time you boot etc. you need u-boot.  I personally don&#39;t need it since I just use one kernel which I stored in EPCS. But the Altera bootcopier gives you zero flexibility.

[Altera_Forum]

I gotcha, makes sense. Do you know why Alteras flash programmer doesn&#39;t verify the contents of the EPCS when it programs? It just says "Did not attempt to verify device contents, leaving target processor paused"... when programming the EPCS.

[Altera_Forum]

Hi jdhar, 

 The Altera boot copier is a bare-bones crt0 implementation. It does exactly what you need it to do ... in only a handful of instructions ... nothing more. u-boot however, is a full-featured boot-loader, not just a "a nice little boot copier". In addition to the features wgoossens mentioned, u-boot also supports the following:  - Command line interface via JTAG/UART. - Full epcs support read/write/program/protect. - Serial port download using kermit. - File download via Ethernet using TFTP and/or NFS. - Scripting (scripts can be run automatically at startup). - Flash programming (e.g. download your file via NFS, then program into your flash). - BOOTP/DHCP client support. - Memory read, write, fill, compare and tesing (several test flavors available). - RARP - Support for JFFS2, CRAMFS, DOS, etc. (including multiple partitions). - Support for SPI, MMC, CompactFlash, etc.  The list goes on ... but you get the picture ... if all you need is crt0 -- use the Altera boot-copier. If you want (or need) to do more than that you can use u-boot ... or redboot ... or something similar.  In any case, I highly recommend you give u-boot (and/or redboot) a test drive. There are many features you may find very handy ... and there&#39;s lots of code you can hoist into your own loaders as well.  Regards, --Scott

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  originally posted by smcnutt@Feb 28 2006, 09:33 AM hi jdhar,  the altera boot copier is a bare-bones crt0 implementation. it does exactly what you need it to do ...  in only a handful of instructions ... nothing more. u-boot however, is a full-featured boot-loader[/b], not just a "a nice little boot copier". In addition to the features wgoossens mentioned, u-boot also supports the following:  - Command line interface via JTAG/UART. - Full epcs support read/write/program/protect. - Serial port download using kermit. - File download via Ethernet using TFTP and/or NFS. - Scripting (scripts can be run automatically at startup). - Flash programming (e.g. download your file via NFS, then program into your flash). - BOOTP/DHCP client support. - Memory read, write, fill, compare and tesing (several test flavors available). - RARP - Support for JFFS2, CRAMFS, DOS, etc. (including multiple partitions). - Support for SPI, MMC, CompactFlash, etc.  The list goes on ... but you get the picture ... if all you need is crt0 -- use the Altera boot-copier. If you want (or need) to do more than that you can use u-boot ... or redboot ... or something similar.  In any case, I highly recommend you give u-boot (and/or redboot) a test drive. There are many features you may find very handy ... and there&#39;s lots of code you can hoist into your own loaders as well.  Regards, --Scott <div align='right'><{post_snapback}> (index.php?act=findpost&pid=12988)  --- Quote End ---  [/b]  --- Quote End ---    Excellent info smcnutt; I believe the reason I didn&#39;t give Uboot a try before is because I saw a lot of board-specific stuff (meant for the Altera Eval boards), while I mostly work in custom hardware. I will admit that I didn&#39;t look in that much detail, so I could have missed it, but I will search around and give it a try. There&#39;s no such thing as too many options in my book http://forum.niosforum.com/work2/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif