Re: 8260 console problems

In message [off-list ref] you wrote:

The code in the mbxboot directory is also used by (many) people
that flash the kernel and initrd into rom.  One of the nice things
about this code is you can boot an image over a network for testing,
and then flash the identical compressed bits when you get it working.

Yes, that's what we do with PPCBoot, too. You don't need the  mbxboot
stuff for this.

quoted

Is there a good, urgent reason to _change_ the current state?

When I get a chance to step back and take a breath from the recent
set of merges (yours are in the pipeline now :-), the bd_info stuff
is going to disappear and follow the new boot record method used by
other PPC booters.  That is the first major step to removing the whole
variety of different boot loaders.

Seems I'm missing a bit of information here. Which "new  boot  record
method"  are you talking about? Where are things like this discussed?
Is there any documentation available?

quoted

Right now the "kernel interface" is pretty well  defined  (starts  at
address  0,  r3: ptr to bd_info, r4: start of initrd or 0, r5: end of
initrd, r6: start of command line, r7: end of command line). What are
you going to change, and why?

No one but 8xx uses that calling convention anymore.  To standardize

Really? Isn't this still in use on 4xx, 8xx, and  PREP?  Ummm...  I'm
talking about 2.4.0 here; has this been changed sice?

new boot record method.  Regardless of how a board and boot rom store
and provide information, the code in the "boot" directory collects
this into a standard format and presents it to the kernel.

That's OK for all those boards that come with  any  usable  firmware;
some  others  will be using PPCBoot, and it is our intention that you
don't need any additional "glue" layer when booting with PPCBoot.

Wolfgang Denk

--
Software Engineering:  Embedded and Realtime Systems,  Embedded Linux
Phone: (+49)-8142-4596-87  Fax: (+49)-8142-4596-88  Email: wd@denx.de
Remember that Beethoven wrote his first symphony in C ...

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