uClinux on Spartan 3

Take a look at developer.petalogix.com - there are quick start guides, complete documentation, tutorials and all sort of things to get you going.

If you take a look at the MSS file in some of the reference designs we provide (e.g. S3E-1600 or -500 boards), you'll see how the "OS" section defines which memory device to use, the IO peripherals and so on.

The auto-config.in file is generated during the EDK project build phase (libgen). Then there is a petalinux helper script called petalinux-copy-autoconfig that automatically copies it across from the EDK HW directory into the correct place in the uClinux SW tree.

One thing to note, Windows is not a supported environment for building Microblaze / uClinux systems. It may be one day, but for now you'll need a Linux box or virtual machine to build the embedded Linux software.

Regards,

Regards,

John

First of all, thanks for your reply (and sorry for my english, I'm an italian student...)

...but petalogix provide petalinux documentations, isn't it?

I've downloaded examples at this link:

I'm using Slack 11 machine to build uClinux, and Win XP SP2 machine with Xilinx tools to build Microblaze project. When I begin a project, I specify the repository path (edk_user_repository) that I've downloaded there:

(BSP uClinux package) Then I build my Microblaze (for my Spartan 3 XC3S1000) e then I specify in "Software Platform Settings" the uClinux OS. Then I launch the libgen, and always I obtain this error message:

"ERROR:MDT - ERROR FROM TCL:- uclinux () - ERROR :: No MAIN_MEMORY peripheral or START/SIZE parameters specified while executing "error "ERROR :: ${msg}"" (procedure "do_manual_memory_setup" line 14) invoked from within "do_manual_memory_setup $config_file $os_handle $param_prefix $config_prefix" (procedure "do_memory_setup" line 14) invoked from within "do_memory_setup $config_file $os_handle "MAIN_MEMORY" CONFIG_XILINX_ERAM" (procedure "::sw_uclinux_v1_00_d::generate" line 22) invoked from within "::sw_uclinux_v1_00_d::generate 42422920"

Copying Library Files ...

ERROR:MDT - Error while running "generate" for processor microblaze_0...

make: *** [microblaze_0/lib/libxil.a] Error 2

Done!"

What does it means? Thank you very much

Regards

Yes - and PetaLinux is how we advise people to get started now. It includes Linux source tree, compiler tool chains, reference designs and helper scripts - basically all in one rather than getting bits and pieces from all over the place.

That should be fine - make sure you do a dos2unix conversion on the auto-config.in file when you copy it from Windows -> Linux.

A typical MSS OS section will look like this:

BEGIN OS PARAMETER OS_NAME = uclinux PARAMETER OS_VER = 1.00.d PARAMETER PROC_INSTANCE = microblaze_0 PARAMETER stdout = RS232_Uart PARAMETER stdin = RS232_Uart PARAMETER LMB_MEMORY = ilmb_cntlr PARAMETER MAIN_MEMORY = DDR_SDRAM_32Mx64 PARAMETER main_memory_bank = 0 END

You must substitute the instance name of your DDR/SDRAM controller into the "MAIN_MEMORY=" line, and similarly for the stdout/stdin selections.

The error message you received suggests that you have not specified the MAIN_MEMORY paramter in your MSS file.

You can use the XPS GUI to specifiy all of this - once you have chosen the uClinux BSP, then you move to the next tab to customise it. It will present options to you for setting the main_memory peripheral and so on.

I hope this helps,

Regards,

John

Ok, many thanks, in XPS I've set main memory on SRAM_256Kx32, main memory bank on 0, and flash memory on none (I'm using spartan 3 XC3S1000). Is it correct? Flash memory should be none? XC3S1000 has XCF04S (4 Mbit) configuration PROM. But I'm unable to set it in Software Platform Settings... Although this, now XPS has generated auto-config.in, I've set it in UNIX format, and put it in uclinux-auto folder. Make dep ends with no error, but make ends with /fs/binfmt_flat.c error in function decompress_exec... I don't know why... Do you know what kind of problem is this?

Many thanks

Regards

1M of SRAM won't be sufficient for a simple kernel bringup. It can be done if you execute the kernel from flash and other little tricks, but I wouldn't recommend it for a first attempt.

But otherwise, in principle your settings sound correct.

That's correct, it is intended for access to conventional parallel flash on the board, accessed via an opb_emc memory controller.

If you post the error output from the compiler I might be able to help.

I suggest you purchase one of the S3E-50 or -160 starter kits to get a platform that will happily run embedded Linux on the MicroBlaze. These boards have plenty of memory and were more or less designed with MicroBlaze/Linux in mind.

Also, I suggest you subscribe to the microblaze-uclinux mailing list - there's a greater concentration of people able to assist there than here on comp.arch.fpga. Details here:

Regards,

John

the compiler I might be able to help.

Ok, as soon as it possible, I'll post it.

S3 Starter board isn't mine, I'm using it in University Lab. But we have also XUPV2P, that run very well uclinux, but my work it's to port uclinux on S3... Do you think is it possible?

I'm already subscribed :-)

Many thanks

Regards

Sure, it's possible, but as I said your 1M memory limit will be challenging. Kernel boot from flash is supported in the kernel and petalinux distribution - once you have selected your vendor/platform combo, in "Kernel settings -> Processor options", choose "ROM" for the memory model, instead of RAM.

You'll need to enter the start address and size of the flash region that will host the kernel image. The kernel link script will be automatically adjusted to link it from the correct address.

To boot the board you'll have to write the image into the flash memory. You can use the EDK's flash_writer XMD/TCL scripts for this.

Finally, to boot the board just use PetaLinux's fs-boot or some trivial bootloader to jump to the correct start address in flash.

Having to write the kernel inrto flash each time you rebuild might get painful, but it's possible.

Regards,

John