Linux for PowerPC Embedded Systems HOWTO

Graham Stoney

1. Introduction

• 1.1 Copyright
• 1.2 Updates
• 1.3 Credits

2. Resources

• 2.1 Home Page
• 2.2 FTP site
• 2.3 Mailing List
• 2.4 Home of the linux/ppc port
• 2.5 PowerPC Programming
• 2.6 Usenet Groups
• 2.7 Other Useful Resources

3. Target Hardware

• 3.1 CPU
• 3.2 RAM and ROM space
• 3.3 Commercially available boards

4. Host Development Platform

• 4.1 PowerPC
• 4.2 x86

5. Compiler Toolset

• 5.1 Building the toolchain
• 5.2 gcc
• 5.3 binutils
• 5.4 Precompiled/Prepackaged Kits

6. Programming the Target

• 6.1 BDM/JTAG Downloading
• 6.2 TFTP
• 6.3 Flash/EPROM Programmers

7. Boot Sequence

8. ROM Monitor

• 8.1 PPCBOOT
• 8.2 LiMon
• 8.3 PMON/2000
• 8.4 PPCForth
• 8.5 DINK32
• 8.6 8xxROM
• 8.7 FADSROM

9. Boot Loader

• 9.1 bugboot
• 9.2 mbxboot

10. Kernel

• 10.1 Series
• 10.2 Memory Map
• 10.3 Porting
• 10.4 Patches
• 10.5 Contributing
• 10.6 Submitting Patches
• 10.7 Coding Style

11. Device Drivers

• 11.1 Examples
• 11.2 Flash memory
• 11.3 PCMCIA Cards
• 11.4 IDE/ATA Disk Drives
• 11.5 PCI Bridge
• 11.6 Watchdog
• 11.7 USB for MPC850/823
• 11.8 A/D and D/A
• 11.9 VME
• 11.10 HDLC/PPP

12. Runtime Library

• 12.1 glibc
• 12.2 sglibc
• 12.3 libc5
• 12.4 dietlibc
• 12.5 newlib

13. Root File System

• 13.1 NFS Mounted
• 13.2 Initial Ramdisk: initrd
• 13.3 ROMFS Flash File System
• 13.4 cramfs
• 13.5 ramfs
• 13.6 Journaling Flash File System

14. Floating Point

• 14.1 Software
• 14.2 Hardware
• 14.3 Mixed

15. Real Time Response

• 15.1 Soft
• 15.2 Hard

16. Threads

17. Applications

• 17.1 Standard GNU tools
• 17.2 Standalone Shell
• 17.3 BusyBox
• 17.4 Web Servers
• 17.5 Graphical User Interface
• 17.6 Java Virtual Machine

18. Debugging

• 18.1 BDM
• 18.2 Serial Console
• 18.3 GDB
• 18.4 Kernel
• 18.5 Oops Messages
• 18.6 printk

19. Performance

• 19.1 CPU core
• 19.2 Profiling
• 19.3 IDMA
• 19.4 Network
• 19.5 Optimisation

20. Common Mistakes and Problems

• 20.1 Changing KERNELBASE/KERNELLOAD
• 20.2 Leaving the Watchdog enabled
• 20.3 Mixing code compiled for software and hardware floating point
• 20.4 Using an unmodified glibc
• 20.5 "Kernel Mode Software FPU Emulation" panic
• 20.6 NFS gives "neighbour table overflow"

21. Alternatives

• 21.1 eCos - Embedded Configurable Operating System
• 21.2 RTEMs - Real Time Executive for Multiprocessor Systems
• 21.3 Small FreeBSD

22. Glossary

• 22.1 ABI - Application Binary Interface
• 22.2 BDM - Background Debug Mode
• 22.3 CPM - Communications Processor Module
• 22.4 CPU - Central Processor Unit
• 22.5 DMA - Direct Memory Access
• 22.6 EABI - Embedded Application Binary Interface
• 22.7 FEC - Fast Ethernet Controller
• 22.8 IDMA - Independent DMA
• 22.9 MII - Media Independent Interface
• 22.10 MMU - Memory Management Unit
• 22.11 PHY - Physical Interface
• 22.12 SCC - Serial Communications Controller
• 22.13 SDMA - Serial DMA
• 22.14 SIU - System Interface Unit
• 22.15 SMC - Serial Management Controller
• 22.16 UART - Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter
• 22.17 UPM - User Programmable Machine