1. Home
  2. Field-Programmable Gate Arrays
  3. xilmfs on flash

xilmfs on flash

Hello all,

I am using Xilinx fpga in my project. The board is ML403 and it contains an 8MB flash. I need to store few data files onto the flash and read these files during the execution of my program on powerpc. i have to use xilmfs as the filesystem on the flash and therefore i created a mfs image of the files by using mfsgen utility according to the xilinx reference manuals (oslib_rm, ps_ug).

for downloading this mfs image, the manual says "Load this image file into memory at a suitable address, such as

0x10000000. You can use XMD to download data, or you can use another tool to copy this data to memory."

i tried to download using XMD command: dow -data image.mfs 0x22000000 where dow : command -data : option to indicate data file and not executable image.mfs : mfs filesystem image 0x22000000 : flash memory starting address in my design where the mfs image has to be downloaded.

in the design, i have included the flash drive on the hardware side and enabled the xilmfs libary with the parameters set appropriately. i.e., baseaddress = 0x22000000, init_type = rom_image and size = 15960 bytes

in the code #include "mfs_config.h"

main() { .... mfs_init_fs(MFS_NUMBYTES, MFS_BASE_ADDRESS, MFSINIT_ROM_IMAGE);

mnt1 = mfs_file_open("1_1_0.mnt", MFS_MODE_READ); xil_printf("\n%d\n",mnt1); // receiving -1 for mnt1 : the file opening was unsuccessful.

... }

and still not able to open the file and read from it.

i have crosschecked all the steps suggested in the manual many times but found that i have done everything according to the manuals.

(i also tried to load the flash with the image.mfs using "Program Flash Memory" option in the Menu but with no change in the result)

Any help in resolving the problem is deeply appreciated.

Thanks in advance, Rajashekar

Reply to
rajashekar_798
Loading thread data ...

I used xilmfs once...

Did you use the mfsgen utility to make your file system? If so you probably need to use mfs_init_genimage instead of mfs_init_fs. Essentially they vary by adjusting some pointer a byte or two (or four or whatever). I used mfsgen and then downloaded like you mentioned and then did this in my main:

/* Set up the file system and cd to correct dir */ mfs_init_genimage(53200, (char *) MFS_BASE_ADDRESS, MFS_INIT_TYPE); xilmfs_result = mfs_change_dir("my_fs"); xilmfs_result = mfs_get_current_dir_name(dirname); if(xilmfs_result == 0) { printf("Couldn't get current_dir_name.\r\n"); printf("Exiting...\n"); exit(1); }

I don't recall if the 53200 is the value I got directly from mfsgen or not... maybe have to adjust it a little? Like it could have been 53204 or something (again with the pointer adjustment). Sorry if I am a little vague, it was a while ago that I set this up. The moral of this story is try mfs_init_genimage.

Joey

Reply to
Joseph

hi joey, thank you for your response.

i tried using mfs_init_genimage as you suggested. and am able to change to the directory and also able to read the name of the directory using mfs_get_current_dir_name funtion. but when i try to open the file i am not able to. i used the mfs_ls() funtion to get the directory contents but am getting a lot of garbage like

... mnt 0 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 .. 00000000 00 . 00000000 0000 mnt 00000000 .. 00000000 00000000 . 00000 00000000 .....

but the image of the filesystem generated using mfsgen on my host system is proper which i checked using the command below in the XMD: $ mfsgen -tfv image.mfs mfsgen Xilinx EDK 7.1.2 EDK_H.12.5.1 Copyright (c) 2004 Xilinx, Inc. All rights reserved.

Directory mnt 4

1_1_0.mnt 3072 1_1_0d.mnt 3072 cd.. mfsgen done!

any suggestions/ideas where i might be going wrong.

Thank you, Rajashekar

Joseph wrote:

Reply to
rajashekar_798

When you say "when i try to open the file i am not able to", what happens? How are you opening the files? What flags are you using to generate image.mfs? It may be necessary to use the -s flag (see Answer Record:19867 on the xilinx site). That flag switches the endianess.

Are you using a PPC or microblaze? My only experience is with the PPC.

One more thing to try is sticking a small (few chars) txt file in your file system and see if you can peek at it with XMD to see the correct values.

Let me know how it goes... I know it took me a while to get my file system working like I wanted it to.

Joey

Reply to
Joseph

hi joey,

the function returns -1 indicating failure to open the file.

using the mfs_file_open("src.mnt", MFS_MODE_READ);

$ mfsgen -cvbfs imagemnt.mfs 30 mnt mfsgen Xilinx EDK 7.1.2 EDK_H.12.5.1 Copyright (c) 2004 Xilinx, Inc. All rights reserved.

mnt: des.mnt 3072 src.mnt 3072 MFS block usage (used / free / total) =3D 14 / 16 / 30 Size of memory is 15960 bytes Block size is 532 mfsgen done!

PPC

created dow.txt with the content "dow TestApp_Memory/executable.elf"

then created the imagefile as below $ mfsgen -cvbfs dummy.mfs 30 mnt mfsgen Xilinx EDK 7.1.2 EDK_H.12.5.1 Copyright (c) 2004 Xilinx, Inc. All rights reserved. mnt: dow.txt 35 MFS block usage (used / free / total) =3D 3 / 27 / 30 Size of memory is 15960 bytes Block size is 532 mfsgen done! and then downloaded the image dow -data dummy.mfs 0x22000000

and then read back the value at 0x22000000 thru XMD as below XMD% mrd 0x22000000 35 b

22000000: 4D M 22000001: 46 F 22000002: 53 S 22000003: 32 2 22000004: 00 22000005: 00 22000006: 00 22000007: 00 22000008: 02 =E2=98=BB 22000009: 00 2200000A: 00 2200000B: 00 2200000C: 00 2200000D: 00 2200000E: 00 2200000F: 00 22000010: 00 22000011: 00 22000012: 00 22000013: 00 22000014: 00 22000015: 00 22000016: 00 22000017: 00 22000018: 03 =E2=99=A5 22000019: 00 2200001A: 00 2200001B: 00 2200001C: 2E . 2200001D: 2E . 2200001E: 00 2200001F: 00 22000020: 00 22000021: 00 22000022: 00 the contents doesn't map to the contents of the file dow.txt

thanx for your patience and help. Rajashekar

Joseph wrote:

Reply to
rajashekar_798

Well Raj,

I don't know what else to say. For the little text file, I would try and make a really small image with just the text file so you can examine the entire memory range where the file lives. The actual text can be buried pretty deep.

Looking at your code from above vs mine:

mfs_init_fs(MFS_NUMBYTES, MFS_BASE_ADDRESS, MFSINIT_ROM_IMAGE); mnt1 = mfs_file_open("1_1_0.mnt", MFS_MODE_READ); xil_printf("\n%d\n",mnt1); // receiving -1 for mnt1 : the file opening was unsuccessful

___________________

mfs_init_genimage(53200, (char *) MFS_BASE_ADDRESS, MFS_INIT_TYPE); xilmfs_result = mfs_change_dir("my_fs"); xilmfs_result = mfs_get_current_ dir_name(dirname);

There are clearly some differences for you to investigate (if you haven't already). First what is difference between mfs_init_fs and mfs_init_genimage (I am not sure, don't have documentation open)? And did you ever do an mfs_change_dir before trying to open a file within it? You need to do so. That is why I do an mfs_get_current_dir_name to see if I am in the correct directory. I don't remember even how/what these functions do at the nuts and bolts level, but I do know that my system did eventually work, so I know these functions do the trick.

OK, looked it up: mfs_init_fs: Initialize the memory file system. This function must be called before any file system operation. Use mfs_init_genimage instead of this function if the filesystem is being initialized with an image generated by mfsgen.

I remember that this has to do with the actual pointer to the file system, it needs to be adjusted properly. Try that with the correct 'cd' call before opening a file.

Keep me posted! Good luck! Joey

Reply to
Joseph

hi joey,

as you suggested in your first message i tried the following and didnot get positive result (i have mentioned about this in my 2nd message)

mfs_init_genimage(MFS_NUMBYTES, (char *) MFS_BASE_ADDRESS, MFSINIT_ROM_IMAGE); xilmfs_result = mfs_change_dir("mnt"); xilmfs_result = mfs_get_current_dir_name(dirname); if(xilmfs_result == 0) { xil_printf("Couldn't get current_dir_name.\r\n"); xil_printf("Exiting...\n"); exit(1); } xil_printf("\n %s \n",dirname);

regarding the filesystem size for the small file you have made a good point and i will try that and get back to you

thank you, rajashekar

Reply to
rajashekar_798

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.