2009R1 u-boot-2008.10 Release Notes

August 25th 2009

• Update to upstream version 2008.10
• New processor support
  • BF512/BF514/BF516/BF518
• New board support
  • bf518f-ezbrd
  • BlackStamp
  • cm-bf527
  • tcm-bf537
• New SPI Flash subsystem (replaces eeprom/SPI)
• New driver support
  • on-chip ATAPI controller
  • on-chip SDIO controller
  • on-chip USB controller
• Booting Linux kernel ELF images does not pass command line (boote) -- use bootable u-boot images instead (bootm)
• POST support is broken

While we would love to test every environment out there that you may use, we'll document the platforms we actively develop and test on. Refer to the documentation for setting up your system.

Development is actively done with:

• Toolchain: Blackfin Toolchain (GCC-4.1.2)
• Build Platform: Gentoo
• Target board: BF537-STAMP and BF548-EZKIT boards

Testing is actively done with the same software on SUSE systems, but for all supported boards.

File names generally take the form u-boot-<board>-<boot mode>-<version>.filetype.

Each board has one tarball which contains all of the release images for that board. For information on which file to use, see the binaries and boot modes pages. Additionally, a u-boot.elf and init.elf file are included to facilitate booting via JTAG.

All files are raw binary. That means you use them as is. They are most certainly not in the hex or srec format. Alternative file formats are no longer provided as part of the release. If you really need such a file, you will need to convert it yourself.

SVN Changelog

• Update to upstream version 2008.10

• New processor support:
  • BF51x (BF512/BF514/BF516/BF518)

• New boards support:
  • bf518f-ezbrd
  • BlackStamp
  • cm-bf527
  • tcm-bf537

• New driver support:
  • on-chip ATAPI controller
  • on-chip SDIO controller
  • on-chip SPI controller
    • support sspi command
  • MMC over SPI
  • on-chip USB controller

• New SPI Flash subsystem (replaces eeprom/SPI)
  • Atmel flashes (AT45DBxxxx)
  • Spansion flashes (S25FLxxxx)
  • SST flashes (SST25WFxxx)
  • ST Micro flashes (M25Pxx)
  • Winbond flashes (W25Xxx)

• increase bf533-stamp clocks to 497 CCLK and 99 SCLK

• support resuming from suspend to RAM

• add support for status leds in general
  • implement for bf533-stamp
  • implement for bf526-ezbrd

• cleanup PORT I/O flag handling with bf533-stamp CPLD

• support anomalies related to processor reset (like bootrom)

• add support for BF53x/BF56x LDRs to the bootldr command

• reprogram the clocks even when using go on external memory by putting it into self refresh

• unmask the IVG5 (hardware error) all the time

• pass RETX to the kernel so it can be decoded

• set initial stack properly according to the Blackfin ABI

• add sanity checks for DMA memcpy and scratchpad

• optimize DMA memcpy to automatically use 8/16/32 bit copies

• disable DHCP autoloading for all ADI boards

• support building with the serial driver disabled

• add driver for console over JTAG (and as a replacement for the serial console)

• fix portmuxing with Blackfin MAC driver and RMII vs MII

• add support for reading SPI flashes with DMA (faster than PIO)

• fix core interrupt register display in dump output

• add gpio command to the cm-bf527 board

• fix stack smashing in CFI flash code when flash not found

• make it easy to disable parallel flash with all ADI boards

• add support for writing/dumping OTP

• only init the RTC when actually used to speed up boot times nicely

• cleanup cache handling (write back / cplb replacement)

• cleanup and standardize ethaddr handling with environment and network drivers

• cleanup Blackfin MAC driver
  • strict aliasing problems found with gcc-4.3+
  • support different phy addresses / speeds
  • support mii command
  • fix MII bus speed programming (base it upon SCLK)

• optimize away LDR jump block for all parts when possible by booting via EVT1

• build with -f{function,data}-sections and link with --gc-sections for optimized output

• fix building out of tree for all Blackfin boards

• cache clock values to speed things up and avoid math calculations

• load ELF images via program headers rather than section headers

• rewrite cache functions to improve speed greatly

• pass clkin_hz to the kernel by default for complete u-boot clock handling

• support booting over UART with any baud rate

• support fast SPI booting with bootrom

• display compiled boot mode during status

• fix/update processor headers

• make nboot skip bad blocks by default

• speed up UART by using hardware FIFO

• fix timer reset handling on edge case

• support writing YAFFS2 NAND images

• handle anomaly 05000171 (wakeup registers)

• handle anomaly 05000242 (PLL bits not reset)

• handle anomaly 05000362 (invalid memory setting combo)

Please refer to the Das U-Boot section of the Blackfin documentation wiki for more information:
http://docs.blackfin.uclinux.org/doku.php?id=bootloaders:u-boot