On October 2, 2006 10:59 am, dustinharriman wrote:
> Dear Technologic Systems,
>
> The latest linux kernel that came out on Sept 20th, 2006 has several
> new features merged in that sound like they would greatly benefit
> users of your TS-7300's (and I have one).
>
> I'm wondering when Technologic Systems will release a new
> 2.6.18-kernel-based Debian pre-installed image I can dd to my SD card,
> so I can easily take advantage of these new kernel features.
> Shouldn't the TS-7300 go considerably faster once Maverickcrunch gets
> more thoroughly used by the kernel?
The kernel itself does not use MaverickCrunch. When people say the kernel
supports Crunch they mean the kernel swaps MaverickCrunch registers during
task switching. This means User tasks are free to use Crunch instructions and
their values will be preserved during multitasking.
So don't expect any speedup in the kernel because of this.
As a matter of fact it will even slow the kernel down. Since the kernel must
now save and reload sixteen 64-bit register, four 72-bit registers and a
32-bit control register each task swap. (There are ways to avoid this for
tasks that don't us Crunch, but I'm not sure if Linux implements this)
Even if you do get Crunch working you should only use it in statically linked
programs, with any libraries you link too compiled with the same compiler.
>
> Or, can you please post straightforward instructions explaining how I
> can upgrade my kernel on my existing install to 2.6.18. I already
> know how to hand-compile a kernel from scratch, I've done it dozens of
> times on i386's. I need some extra help wrt a TS-7300 due to it's
> "funky" boot process.
In general you use the existing TS-BOOTROM and RedBoot to boot your new kernel
from TFTP. This makes changes faster, and limits the chances of corrupting
your board. Once your happy everything works then you can flash the kernel.
>
> The info I would need is:
> -any patch file needed (to apply against the stock kernel to help the
> SD card boot)
> -a .config file (containing all kernel options used, which I see is
> regrettably missing from it's usual location in /boot in the currently
> provided Debian image distributed by Technologic Systems),
> -the make commands that will compile and install the kernel (and an
> alternative command to use if cross comiling on an i386 would be nice)
> -the command to build the initrd
> -the dd commands to install the kernel image and initrd into the
> special partitions on the SD card.
>
You might want to try to get the default kernel of the same version that TS
uses, (Maybe an old Cirrus Logic kernel, I think the TS one is based on that)
and make your own diff. This will show you what was changed.
You can also just search for "TS-72" "TS72" "Technologic Systems", etc... and
it will find most of their changes.
> To learn more about the new features for the cirrus ep93xx in linux
> kernel 2.6.18 please see:
> http://lists.debian.org/debian-arm/2006/07/msg00037.html
> ...where Lennert Buytenhek wrote:
>
> "I've slowly been rewriting the Cirrus ep93xx kernel port and feeding
> it into 2.6. Merged upstream right now we have support for the base
> CPU, GPIOs, on-chip watchdog, UARTs, RTC, USB, and Crunch. See:
>
> http://ep93xx.giantshoulderinc.com:8001/wiki/wiki/KernelStatus
>
> The TS-72xx boards are supported in 2.6 (I have a TS-7250 myself), but
> the TS-7300 isn't, which is mostly just because noone ever bothered.
> It shouldn't be too much work to have it supported. One caveat (IIRC)
> is that the TS-7300 needs a bit of binary only code linked to the
> kernel image to support the SD card slot, and this probably will only
> work with the 2.4.x kernel that the vendor supports. (Or someone
> would have to reverse engineer how the communication with the SD card
> works.)"
You won't be able to link the SD driver module (I haven't tried). This is the
problem with proprietary drivers. Unfortunately thats the only license the SD
association offers.
If I had a TS board with an SD reader on it. I'd reverse engineer the driver.
-Curtis.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Dustin Harriman
>
> My Blog: http://ca.blog.360.yahoo.com/dustinharriman
> RSS Feed:
> http://ca.blog.360.yahoo.com/rss-RkGSoVA1brWtXrVH9Gr5CzgVujwwGg--?cq=1
>
>
>
>
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