Re: [ECOS] How to write a complicated bootloader?

[Gary Thomas <gary at mlbassoc dot com>]

Stanislav Meduna wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I have a hardware with a complicated ethernet device that
> is not usable in a polled mode (or at least I don't have enough
> documentation to be able to use it in such a way). There
> is an OEM driver needing all kind of stuff (including eCos
> kernel) to run, that works fine in a regular application.
> 
> The hardware has a serial port, which is enough for debugging,
> but pain in the you know where for downloading our 2+ MB large
> binary over max. 115200 bps. In the field this serial port
> won't be available at all, so the only way to upgrade the device
> is via ethernet.
> 
> What I'd like to have is some kind of bootloader, that
> is able to
> - load the application via ethernet
> - manipulate the flash (application upgrade and at least
>   initialize the jffs, even better to access it filewise)
> - start the loaded application
> - support debugging the application at least over serial
>   line including the asynchronous ctrl-c support
>   (ethernet in a way of gdbserver would be nice, but
>   I imagine this can't be achieved in the eCos architecture
>   where the application and OS can't be really separated)
> 
> 
> Is there any special magic in loading an application somewhere
> into memory and transfer control to it, while leaving the
> GDB stubs in the bootloader? For the development cycle
> I imagine something like:
> 
> - connect with the gdb over serial
> - connect with a telnet-like interface over ethernet
> - initiate a tftp load
> - run the application
> - the application loads, runs and breaks into the gdb
>   as soon as the basic initialization is done (everything
>   else in the bootloader is now dead, only the vectors
>   needed for serial comm remain)
> 
> Is there information (and examples) available on how to approach
> this?
> 
> 
> Many thanks for hints

Rather than reinvent the wheel (or maybe fire...), I think you'd
be better off just getting your ethernet device driver running
with RedBoot.  eCos network drivers use the same API whether they
are running in a full eCos application (using interrupts) or as
part of RedBoot (polled), so it should be pretty easy to get it
to work if you already have code that runs with a full eCos system.

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Thomas                 |  Consulting for the
MLB Associates              |    Embedded world
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