That would make the FPGA the most expensive ROM in the world!
-Curtis.
On May 31, 2006 10:03 pm, Yan Seiner wrote:
> --- In "Jesse Off" <> wrote:
> >
> > Currently, our MBR code (Only 446 bytes available after partition
> > table) loads in a kernel and an initrd from dedicated partitions on
> > the SD card and starts Linux. The initrd contains the FPGA bitstream
> > and the Linux driver modules for SD. These are loaded (along with
> > modules for the ethernet and serial ports) and then the initrd does a
> > pivot_root to the SD EXT2 filesystem and then frees the initrd. There
> > is no onboard flash on the TS-7300-- only SD.
>
> Jesse and Co.:
>
> I've been going through the archives regarding the TS7300 and this
> caught my eye.
>
> In my work with webcams, I came across the kernel maintainers'
> decision to eliminate binary blobs from kernel drivers. See for
> example
> <http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0408.3/1458.html> and
> follwoing, and <http://www.smcc.demon.nl/webcam/>.
>
> So... what follows is purely conceptual; I have no idea if it is
> possible and if possible if practical.
>
> Would it be possible to write the proprietary portion of the SD code
> into the FPGA, and then use a GPL kernel module to access the SD card
> via the FPGA using a published API?
>
> The kernel could boot using GPL MMC code off the SD card. Once the
> kernel is booted, it would use the FPGA SD interface. The boot
> process may be slower but it would be unencumbered by binary blobs.
>
> If this is possible, it would create a kernel-version independent way
> of accessing the SD card.
>
> Dumb? Possible? I have no idea. But I would like to run a 2.6
> kernel on the 7300....
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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