How to use Linux bootloader to load Windows CE kernel image?

Hello,

I would like to use blob bootloader to load the Windows CE kernel on a
PXA-255 based custom board. Blob has been ported/modified to work on
this custorm board. It works fine to boot Linux Image.

I would like to know whether I could use the same boot loader to boot
Windows CE without making much or no change in it.

Any pointers/suggestions would be of helpful.

Below is the configuration/feature of this custom board.

Processor Intel=AE PXA255 @ 200/300/400MHz
Memory FLASH 16MB
SDRAM 64 MB
Local Bus Expansion Through header (with suitable buffering)
Display Support On Board LCD header housing LCD control and data pins
to which LCD
could be interfaced
On Board Ports FFUART, USB Client, JTAG header, Irda

Ethernet support is not there on the board. And we do not have JTAG
emulator/debugger. We have JTAG port/cable and flashing software to
download bootloader, RAMDisk software and the Linux image.

Thanks and Regards
Arun

Yannick
Tue Jun 28 02:23:06 CDT 2005

You'll need to implement the specific boot process of CE, especially :

- Specific download protocol over ethernet (combination of BootP + TFTP)
- Specific binary file format handling of Windows CE kernel

probably the best thing to do for you is to go deep into the Eboot common
code to have a clear understanding of its behavior, and implement something
similar into your bootloader

BR
Yannick


--
----------------------------------------------------------------
Yannick Chamming's (eMVP)
ADENEO (ADESET)
Windows Embedded Manager
ychammings AT adeset DOT com>
http://www.adeset.com
Tél : +33 (0)4.72.18.57.77
Fax : +33 (0)4.72.18.57.78
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"Arun Prasad Velu" <arun_linux@yahoo.com> a écrit dans le message de news:
1119937046.895166.55110@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Hello,

I would like to use blob bootloader to load the Windows CE kernel on a
PXA-255 based custom board. Blob has been ported/modified to work on
this custorm board. It works fine to boot Linux Image.

I would like to know whether I could use the same boot loader to boot
Windows CE without making much or no change in it.

Any pointers/suggestions would be of helpful.

Below is the configuration/feature of this custom board.

Processor Intel® PXA255 @ 200/300/400MHz
Memory FLASH 16MB
SDRAM 64 MB
Local Bus Expansion Through header (with suitable buffering)
Display Support On Board LCD header housing LCD control and data pins
to which LCD
could be interfaced
On Board Ports FFUART, USB Client, JTAG header, Irda

Ethernet support is not there on the board. And we do not have JTAG
emulator/debugger. We have JTAG port/cable and flashing software to
download bootloader, RAMDisk software and the Linux image.

Thanks and Regards
Arun

Voidcoder
Wed Jun 29 00:15:42 CDT 2005

Do You want to implement a full feature replacement for EBOOT,
ie. connecting to PB, downloading the runtime image directly from
the PB IDE, etc etc. Or just a way to boot the compiled windows ce
image using Your current bootloader?

"Arun Prasad Velu" <arun_linux@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1119937046.895166.55110@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Hello,

I would like to use blob bootloader to load the Windows CE kernel on a
PXA-255 based custom board. Blob has been ported/modified to work on
this custorm board. It works fine to boot Linux Image.

I would like to know whether I could use the same boot loader to boot
Windows CE without making much or no change in it.

Any pointers/suggestions would be of helpful.

Below is the configuration/feature of this custom board.

Processor Intel® PXA255 @ 200/300/400MHz
Memory FLASH 16MB
SDRAM 64 MB
Local Bus Expansion Through header (with suitable buffering)
Display Support On Board LCD header housing LCD control and data pins
to which LCD
could be interfaced
On Board Ports FFUART, USB Client, JTAG header, Irda

Ethernet support is not there on the board. And we do not have JTAG
emulator/debugger. We have JTAG port/cable and flashing software to
download bootloader, RAMDisk software and the Linux image.

Thanks and Regards
Arun

Arun
Tue Jun 28 04:18:49 CDT 2005

We do not have ethernet port/support in our board. So I can not
directly use the Eboot. As of now, boot loader is getting downloaded
using JTAG interface thru JFlash utility (modified version of Intel's
utility).

In the current/Linux implementation, once the boot loader is up, kernel
could be downloaded using the Serial interface and the same could be
written to the Flash after reading from the SDRAM. The image getting
downloaded thru the Serial interface is directly written to the SDRAM.
Current boot loader is multi-stage one. First it get executed from the
Flash then it loads the second stage boot loader and the Linux Kernel
to the SDRAM.

My idea is to make use of the existing boot loader which already does
the chip, cache, Serial, SDRAM intialization and testing.

The boot loader also makes use of the "RAM disk" which in turn loads
the root file system for Linux.

I am not sure how this "RAM Disk" feature can be ported for WinCE boot
loader.

Regards
Arun

Arun
Tue Jun 28 04:22:30 CDT 2005

As of now, I would want *something* up and running. We may go for the
connecting to PB, downloading the runtime image from the PB, etc at a
*later* stage.

I would just want to be able to boot the compiled Windows CE image
using the current boot loader with less/no change.

If there is any other way of making the sytem up and running in a
faster (boot loader development/modification time) way, that would also
be fine.

Regards
Arun

Anthony
Tue Jun 28 04:25:01 CDT 2005

I remember (months ago) that somebody told on linux-arm-kernel newsgroup
that he managed to boot both linux and windowsce from U-Boot (I don't
remember wich platform they used).
Maybe you should browse those news and see if this is now implemented in
u-boot (or if there is a patch) and see how they manage that.

Hope this helps

--
----------------------------------------------------------------
Anthony Pellerin
ADENEO (ADESET)
Windows Embedded Consultant
<apellerin AT adeneo DOT adetelgroup DOT com>
http://www.adeneo.adetelgroup.com
Tél : +33 (0)4.72.18.57.77
Fax : +33 (0)4.72.18.57.78
----------------------------------------------------------------


"Arun Prasad Velu" <arun_linux@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1119937046.895166.55110@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Hello,

I would like to use blob bootloader to load the Windows CE kernel on a
PXA-255 based custom board. Blob has been ported/modified to work on
this custorm board. It works fine to boot Linux Image.

I would like to know whether I could use the same boot loader to boot
Windows CE without making much or no change in it.

Any pointers/suggestions would be of helpful.

Below is the configuration/feature of this custom board.

Processor Intel® PXA255 @ 200/300/400MHz
Memory FLASH 16MB
SDRAM 64 MB
Local Bus Expansion Through header (with suitable buffering)
Display Support On Board LCD header housing LCD control and data pins
to which LCD
could be interfaced
On Board Ports FFUART, USB Client, JTAG header, Irda

Ethernet support is not there on the board. And we do not have JTAG
emulator/debugger. We have JTAG port/cable and flashing software to
download bootloader, RAMDisk software and the Linux image.

Thanks and Regards
Arun

mobilevil
Tue Jun 28 05:22:27 CDT 2005

i implemented simple xmodem transfer and usb ethernet in eboot.
xmodem is easy. just put the nb0 file in ram. for usb you can dig into older
posts
you'd better have a reference board which works, (i forgot the name of the
intel 25x reference board?) so that you can copy the address of nk start
forget about flash, ram image is all you want now.

"Arun Prasad Velu" <arun_linux@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1119950550.601051.44130@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> As of now, I would want *something* up and running. We may go for the
> connecting to PB, downloading the runtime image from the PB, etc at a
> *later* stage.
>
> I would just want to be able to boot the compiled Windows CE image
> using the current boot loader with less/no change.
>
> If there is any other way of making the sytem up and running in a
> faster (boot loader development/modification time) way, that would also
> be fine.
>
> Regards
> Arun
>

Voidcoder
Wed Jun 29 02:44:41 CDT 2005

The easiest way to do it is to use rom image format
NB0. I do not remember the exact config.bib switches,
but there is a way to create rom images when running
makeimg. Well, in this case You only need to keep
somewhere (flash?) the "nk.nb0" file and copy
it to the right place in the RAM and jump to the entry
point address. Some of "non-ce" bootloaders can
do this trick without any modification.

Note, usually ROM image is something really huge
because it represents the whole os footprint
in the RAM. You may want to use *.BIN
files instead. This is aprox the same as with ROM
images except of Your bootloader must be able
to parse *.BIN format and load BIN sections
to RAM at location specified in the BIN itself.
Look at eboot sources for the refernce.

One point You have to think about is the
DRIVER_GLOBALS stuff. This is a sorta
of boot arguments passed to OS from
bootloader via shared memory (really dirty way though)
introduced in earlier versions of ce. Some OS
builds are still use this trick to receive the IP configuration
and other boot argumets from bootloader.

If Your bootloader intends to be a universal bootloader,
the DRIVER_GLOBALS stuff may create some problems
because there is no defined structure this area and location
address can not be retrieved from the BIN file itself
without special tricks while building the OS.


"Arun Prasad Velu" <arun_linux@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1119950550.601051.44130@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> As of now, I would want *something* up and running. We may go for the
> connecting to PB, downloading the runtime image from the PB, etc at a
> *later* stage.
>
> I would just want to be able to boot the compiled Windows CE image
> using the current boot loader with less/no change.
>
> If there is any other way of making the sytem up and running in a
> faster (boot loader development/modification time) way, that would also
> be fine.
>
> Regards
> Arun
>

Steve
Tue Jun 28 09:21:17 CDT 2005

You can do the same thing with CE. The .NB0 file is a byte for byte memory
image so you can send it down to the system the same as any other OS or
application.

--
Steve Maillet
EmbeddedFusion
www.EmbeddedFusion.com
smaillet at EmbeddedFusion dot com

Dave
Tue Jun 28 10:24:31 CDT 2005

Arun Prasad Velu wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I would like to use blob bootloader to load the Windows CE kernel on a
> PXA-255 based custom board. Blob has been ported/modified to work on
> this custorm board. It works fine to boot Linux Image.
>
> I would like to know whether I could use the same boot loader to boot
> Windows CE without making much or no change in it.
>
> Any pointers/suggestions would be of helpful.
>
> Below is the configuration/feature of this custom board.
>
> Processor Intel® PXA255 @ 200/300/400MHz
> Memory FLASH 16MB
> SDRAM 64 MB
> Local Bus Expansion Through header (with suitable buffering)
> Display Support On Board LCD header housing LCD control and data pins
> to which LCD
> could be interfaced
> On Board Ports FFUART, USB Client, JTAG header, Irda
>
> Ethernet support is not there on the board. And we do not have JTAG
> emulator/debugger. We have JTAG port/cable and flashing software to
> download bootloader, RAMDisk software and the Linux image.
>
> Thanks and Regards
> Arun
>
You might look at the Familiar linux distribution This has a bootloader
that can load their linux image and/or the Pocket PC image. It is
supported on different types of PDAs including iPAQs running on PXA255s
so may be close to what you need.
Their site is at: http://familiar.handhelds.org/

Arun
Wed Jul 13 13:25:33 CDT 2005

I would like to know whether

1. is it possible to give memory address to platform builder during the
download process?

2. is it possible to access flash from platform builder? If yes how to
do that?

Regards
Arun

Steve
Wed Jul 13 15:59:12 CDT 2005

1. is it possible to give memory address to platform builder during the
download process?
[ Kinda depends on what you mean by that. You specify the addresses in the
CONFIG.BIB file which is used to generate the NK.BIN file (or .NBx files for
direct ROM images) ]

2. is it possible to access flash from platform builder? If yes how to do
that?
[ Again this depends on what you mean... Platform builder runs on the
desktop so it has no direct access to flash on your device. However with a
bootloader you can download from PB and then write the image into flash. ]


--
Steve Maillet
EmbeddedFusion
www.EmbeddedFusion.com
smaillet at EmbeddedFusion dot com