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RE: Creating eCos flash application image for AT91EB40aRedboot
- From: "Gary D. Thomas" <gary dot thomas at mind dot be>
- To: Øyvind Harboe <oyvind dot harboe at zylin dot com>
- Cc: 'eCos Discussion' <ecos-discuss at sources dot redhat dot com>
- Date: 23 May 2003 17:45:24 -0600
- Subject: RE: [ECOS] Creating eCos flash application image for AT91EB40aRedboot
- Organization:
- References: <000001c32184$5771c7a0$0200000a@famine>
On Fri, 2003-05-23 at 17:37, Øyvind Harboe wrote:
> > Indeed, it is this way by design. IMO loading stuff into
> > memory is quite distinct from writing to the FLASH. There
> > are times when one wants to do one and not the other and I
> > don't think that the functions should be intertwined like this.
> > Then there is the problem
> > of reasonable ways to manage the two functions. Some devices
> > may take a very long time to write - how might one throttle
> > the incoming data stream while this happens? That's just one
> > of many complications that would be added if these functions
> > were combined. Another thing is that it's a good idea to
> > verify that the image has been correctly downloaded before
> > committing to FLASH - that's why there's a separate checksum
> > command. This is just part of the list...
>
> These are good explanations why it isn't technically straightforward
> to implement a pervasive robust serial->flash programming option
> to the Redboot load command.
>
> >From a product point of view it is nice, as we have been able
> to in the past, to launch any terminal program, type in
> a single command, upload a single file and reset the
> unit. Poof done!
Which, by the way, is completely feasible today with the command
set already in RedBoot, including such esoterics as connecting
via telnet, etc.
>
> This avoids dependency on a custom app to do all these steps
> for the user. With 64k chunks and 2MB flash, it can't be done
> manually.
>
> Currently I believe the best option is to write a custom upload
> app and leave Redboot be. We use Java on the desktop side of
> things, so supporting a couple of platforms is doable.
>
> Once my eCos superpowers reach their prime, I may attempt to
> add a robust "load directly to flash" option to Redboot. :-)
>
As I said before, you have the source so feel free.
--
Gary D. Thomas <gary.thomas@mind.be>
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