[ECOS] no ecm-file for AT91SAM7X-EK

[ECOS] no ecm-file for AT91SAM7X-EK

[Robert Brusa]

Hi
I want to build Redboot for the AT91SAM7X-EK and found that the  
package/hal/arm/at91/at91sam7x-folder exists, but its contents is  
incomplete (I am talking about the anonymous CVS version which I got a few  
days ago). There is no Redboot_RAM.ecm nor a Redboot_ROM.ecm file - as is  
the case e. g. for the AT91SAM7S. May I use the one of the 7S family and  
where do I find a documentation about the meaning of the contents of such  
an *.ecm-file?

Regards Robert

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Re: [ECOS] no ecm-file for AT91SAM7X-EK

[Andrew Lunn]

On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 11:34:51AM +0200, Robert Brusa wrote:
> Hi
> I want to build Redboot for the AT91SAM7X-EK and found that the  
> package/hal/arm/at91/at91sam7x-folder exists, but its contents is  
> incomplete (I am talking about the anonymous CVS version which I got a 
> few days ago). There is no Redboot_RAM.ecm nor a Redboot_ROM.ecm file - 
> as is the case e. g. for the AT91SAM7S. May I use the one of the 7S 
> family and where do I find a documentation about the meaning of the 
> contents of such an *.ecm-file?

It never made much sense to me to have redboot on this target. The guy
who ported eCos to SAM7S did however, which is why they exist. For me,
the SAM7{SX} do not have enough RAM and FLASH to use redboot. You don't
have enough RAM to be able to upgrade the FLASH with anything more
than around 40Kbytes of image. It make little sense to use gdb with
redboot since your code is likely to be running from FLASH, not RAM,
so you need hardware breakpoints, not software breakpoints. So you
will be using a JTAG debugger, not a serial port debugger. If you have
a JTAG debugger, you have the ability to download into FLASH as big an
application as you want etc.....

The SAM7S files will give you a good idea what you need in SAM7X
files. So feel free to create them and contribute them. But first
think, does it make sense for what you want to do?

       Andrew

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Re: [ECOS] no ecm-file for AT91SAM7X-EK

[Robert Brusa]

On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:00:26 +0200, Andrew Lunn <andrew@lunn.ch> wrote:

> On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 11:34:51AM +0200, Robert Brusa wrote:
>> Hi
>> I want to build Redboot for the AT91SAM7X-EK and found that the
>> package/hal/arm/at91/at91sam7x-folder exists, but its contents is
>> incomplete (I am talking about the anonymous CVS version which I got a
>> few days ago). There is no Redboot_RAM.ecm nor a Redboot_ROM.ecm file -
>> as is the case e. g. for the AT91SAM7S. May I use the one of the 7S
>> family and where do I find a documentation about the meaning of the
>> contents of such an *.ecm-file?
>
> It never made much sense to me to have redboot on this target. The guy
> who ported eCos to SAM7S did however, which is why they exist. For me,
> the SAM7{SX} do not have enough RAM and FLASH to use redboot. You don't
> have enough RAM to be able to upgrade the FLASH with anything more
> than around 40Kbytes of image. It make little sense to use gdb with
> redboot since your code is likely to be running from FLASH, not RAM,
> so you need hardware breakpoints, not software breakpoints. So you
> will be using a JTAG debugger, not a serial port debugger. If you have
> a JTAG debugger, you have the ability to download into FLASH as big an
> application as you want etc.....
>
> The SAM7S files will give you a good idea what you need in SAM7X
> files. So feel free to create them and contribute them. But first
> think, does it make sense for what you want to do?
>
>        Andrew

Hi Andrew
Well no, I would like to do the job without redboot, but I came to the  
conclusion, that an application built with eCOS - as e. g. the little  
expamples that come with eCOS - do not boot without additional support.  
Now from your comment, I understand, that I should avoid using redboot.  
Does that also mean that e. g. the hellow eCOS-world application I built  
 from the examples should run? So far it does not. I download it using our  
JTAG-Debugger. Then I remove the debugger from the target, pressed reset  
and expected an output on (one of) its serial interfaces. But there is  
nothing - which could of course have a pletora of reasons.....

If I interpret the loader map correctly, the eCOS-version of the simple  
hello eCOS world requires app. 32 kB of flash. That compares favorably  
with the 256 kB flash of my (current) target. There is ample space to  
include more features of eCOS and code of the application program. So with  
a "naked" eCOS, I would be happy.

In a way, my problem with the hello-example is similar to my problem with  
the test-programs generated by configtool. I have not yet figured out a  
method how to run them - or they do not work. How to decide?
Robert

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Re: [ECOS] no ecm-file for AT91SAM7X-EK

[Andrew Lunn]

> Well no, I would like to do the job without redboot, but I came to the  
> conclusion, that an application built with eCOS - as e. g. the little  
> expamples that come with eCOS - do not boot without additional support.  

A ROM application will run without any other support. Redboot is just an
eCos application...

> Does that also mean that e. g. the hellow eCOS-world application I built  
> from the examples should run? So far it does not. I download it using our 
> JTAG-Debugger. Then I remove the debugger from the target, pressed reset  
> and expected an output on (one of) its serial interfaces. But there is  
> nothing - which could of course have a pletora of reasons.....

It should work. 

As you said, there are many reasons it might not.  Did you program it
at the right address? Do you have the baud rate right? What crystal
are you using?

The best bet is to use your JTAG interface and debug it. Put a
breakpoint at main() and see if it is hit. You need to be a little
careful here. My JTAG device appears to remap the FLASH away from
address 0. So i tend to start debugging from address 0x00100000, not
0x0.

        Andrew



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