You can build a BSP OS image from the source code or the binary components contained in a BSP package. For instructions about building a BSP OS image, please refer to the chapter Working with a BSP in the Building Embedded Systems manual.
You should see output similar to the following:
RedBoot(tm) bootstrap and debug environment [ROMRAM]
Non-certified release, version FSL 200631 - built 15:19:21, Aug 25 2006
Platform: MX21 ADS (Freescale i.MX21 based) PASS 1.1 [x32 DDR]
Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Red Hat, Inc.
RAM: 0x00000000-0x03f00000, [0x00013e80-0x03ed1000] available
FLASH: 0xc8000000 - 0xca000000, 256 blocks of 0x00020000 bytes each.
RedBoot>
At the RedBoot prompt, issue the following command to change the current environment:
fconfigThe current configurations will be displayed; change the configuration if you want.
Run script at boot: false
Use BOOTP for network configuration: false
Gateway IP address: 10.42.98.230
Local IP address: 10.42.103.53
Local IP address mask: 255.255.0.0
Default server IP address: 10.42.98.230
Board specifics: 0
Console baud rate: 115200
Set eth0 network hardware address [MAC]: true
eth0 network hardware address [MAC]: 0x00:0x01:0x02:0x03:0x03:0x04
GDB connection port: 9000
Force console for special debug messages: false
Network debug at boot time: false
Update RedBoot non-volatile configuration - continue (y/n)?
Type "y" to accept the new configuration, RedBoot will write the new
configuration to the flash.
Once the above setup is complete, you can run the load command at the RedBoot prompt to download the image
load -r -b 0x00100000 /images/ifs-mx21.binRedBoot will display the follow message and start downloading the boot image:
Using default protocol (TFTP)If the image is successfully loaded, you will see the following message from the RedBoot prompt:
Raw file loaded 0x00100000-0x0020b29f, assumed entry at 0x00100000Type:
run 0x00100000
You should now see the QNX Neutrino welcome message on your terminal screen:
Welcome to Neutrino on the i.MX21ADS (ARM 926 core) Board
You can test the OS simply by executing any shell builtin command or any command residing within the OS image (e.g. ls). Once the initial image is running, you can update the OS image using the network and flash drivers. For sample command lines, please see the "Summary of driver commands" section.
At some point, you may wish to replace the Redboot bootloader with the native QNX IPL code. This may be desirable once you've tweaked the OS image exactly the way you want it, and you want the board to boot the image automatically, immediately on power up.
To replace the Redboot bootloader:
1.Modify your buildfile to generate a binary image.
2.Run the mkimage script, inside the /images directory of the BSP. The output file from this script is a combined IPL/OS image called ipl-ifs-mx21.bin. You'll download this file to the board's memory using the bootloader, and then burn the image into the board's flash. The IPL is padded to 4K because if the IPL is scanning for an OS image in flash, it begins scanning at offset 4K in the flash.
The mkimage script:
Here is the mkimage script:
#!/bin/sh
#
# Generate a binary image from IPL code for the i.MX21ads
#
# board and combine with the binary OS image
set -v
# Convert IPL into BINARY format
$\{QNX_HOST\}/usr/bin/ntosh-objcopy -Obinary ../install/armle/boot/sys/ipl-mx21ads ipl-tmp-mx21.bin
# Pad BINARY IPL
mkrec -r -ffull -s0x1000 ipl-tmp-mx21.bin > ipl-mx21-pad.bin
#Cleaning up temporary files
rm ipl-tmp-mx21.bin
#Combine the BINARY IPL with the BINARY OS Image
cat ipl-mx21-pad.bin ifs-mx21.bin > ipl-ifs-mx21.bin
#Cleaning up temporary files
rm ipl-mx21-pad.bin
echo "done!!!!!!!"
Instead of starting the image, we'll now transfer the bootable flash image (IPL/OS) to the board. The bootloader can convert to binary format the last image it downloaded and then write it to flash. 3.Boot the board as described above, using Redboot to TFTP-download the ifs-mx21.bin boot image.
4.If it's not already started, start the network driver as follows, substituting your own IP address for x.x.x.x:
io-pkt-v4 -dcrys8900 ioport=0xcc000300,irq=203,mac=00e02991234e -pttcpip if=en0:x.x.x.x
5.Start fs-nfs2, establishing an NFS connection to the host machine where your ipl_mx21.bin image resides:
fs-nfs2 x.x.x.x:/mount_dir/nfs
Ensure that you can "see" the ipl-ifs-mx21.bin file over the NFS connection, because in the next step, the bootloader will be erased. If the programming of the combined IPL and OS image fails or is interrupted, it will be necessary to reprogram Redboot using the HAB toolkit.
6.Start the flash filesystem driver and erase the first 4MB of flash as follows (erase a larger area if the size of your combined image exceeds 1MB):
devf-mx31ads -s0xc8000000,32M
flashctl -p/dev/fs0 -o 0M -l 4M -ve
7.Copy ipl-ifs-mx21.bin to the flash, as follows:
dd if=/nfs/ipl-ifs-mx21.bin of=/dev/fs0 bs=1k seek=0k
When the copy is complete, you can reboot; it should now boot from the native QNX IPL. You should see output as follows:
QNX Neutrino IPL for M9328MX21ADS
Commands:
d: download image to RAM
f: scan flash for image
ipl>
8.Enter f or F, and the board will boot from the OS image in flash. You'll see output similar to the following: Scanning flash at 0xc8001000
found image @ 0xc8001000
Jumping to startup @ 0xc0101c00
Welcome to QNX Neutrino on the Freescale MX21ADS (ARM 926 core) Board
#
If desired, the IPL code can be modified to eliminate the prompt and automatically boot from the flash without user intervention. To do this, modify the <main.c> file of the IPL source, located under:
$BSP_PATH/src/hardware/ipl/boards/mx21ads/
You can now test the OS, simply by executing any shell builtin command or any command residing within the OS image (e.g. ls).
Memory layout
The driver command lines below are specific to the Freescale i.MX21 ADS board. See the online docs for each driver for additional command-line options and other details.
Some of the following drivers are commented out in the default buildfile. To use the drivers in the target hardware, you'll need to uncomment them in your buildfile, rebuild the image, and load the image into the board.
startup-mx21ads [startup-options]
Required libraries: NOTE:
devc-sermx1 -e -F -b115200 -c44333333 0x1000a000,20 0x1000b000,19Required libraries:
devf-mx31ads -s0xc8000000, 32MRequired libraries:
fs-etfs-mx21ads -r4096 -e -m /fs/etfs
fs-etfs-mx21ads -r4096 -m /fs/etfs
Required libraries: io-pkt-v4 -dcrys8900 ioport=0xcc000300,irq=203,mac=00e02991234e -ptcpip
ifconfig en0 x.x.x.x.
Required libraries:
io-usb -d tdi-mx21 ioport=0x10024000,irq=55,verbose=4
Required libraries: i2c-mx21Required libraries:
spi-master -d mx21 base=0x1000F000,irq=15,period=32K=2Required libraries:
io-graphics -dimx21 xres=240,yres=320,bitpp=16,photon,mode_opts=/usr/photon/config/imx21.conf -pphotonRequired libraries:
The graphics driver requires a configuration file that describes the graphics memory interface settings. The rebuilt/usr/photon/config/imx21.conf file should contain the configuration for a 240x320 resolution.
2.Transfer the OS image to the target memory and burn it into flash:
RedBoot is located at the first megabyte offset in flash (i.e. 0xC8000000). The last 128KB are reserved for RedBoot's configuration data. In the following example we will store a QNX boot image of up to 3MB immediately after RedBoot (at the offset: 0xC8100000).
From the RedBoot prompt, type the following commands:
Transfer the OS image to RAM
RedBoot> load -r -b 0x00100000 /full_path_to_image/ifs-mx21.bin
Erase the flash from the offset 1 MB to the offset 4 MB:
RedBoot> fis erase -f 0xc8100000 -l 0x00300000
In this example, we assume that the OS image size is smaller than 3 MB.Copy the OS image from RAM (0x00100000) to flash (0xa0100000):
RedBoot> fis write -f 0xc8100000 -b 0x00100000 -l 0x00300000Now you can load OS image directly from flash:
RedBoot> mcopy -s 0xc8100000 -d 0x00100000 -l 0x00300000
RedBoot> run 0x00100000
Welcome to Neutrino on the i.MX21ADS (ARM 926 core) Board
#
1.Enter the following command to start the NOR flash filesystem driver:
devf-mx31ads2.To prepare the area for the partition, enter the following command: Because the rom monitor and the QNX boot image are in the flash, you may not want to erase them. Use the -l (length) and -o (offset) options to avoid these areas. Assuming that the OS image has a maximum size of 3 MB and we want to create a 16M partition:
flashctl -p/dev/fs0 -o4M -l16M -ve3.Format the partition:
flashctl -p/dev/fs0p0 -o4M -l16M -vf4.Slay, then restart the driver:
slay devf-mx31ads
devf-mx31ads
In this example, you have a 16 MB flash partition starting at the end of the OS image (4 MB offset). You should now have a /fs0p1 directory which you can copy files to.