See the top level README for information on where to find documentation
for the raspberry pi and the ARM processor inside. Also find information
on how to load and run these programs.
This example is for the pi zero, see other directories for other flavors
of raspberry pi.
This is a very simple bootloader. Instead of the sd dance (see
top level README), this makes life a bit simpler and greatly reduces
physical wear and tear on the sd card socket. Do the sd card dance one
more time with this kernel.img. Get some sort of serial solution to
connect a dumb termial program with the ability to download raw/ascii
files.
The pi zero does not come with pins, you will want/need some way to
make the serial connection, if you can solder and get some header
pins great. If not there are other ways, some pins can be shoved in
rather than soldered. Or balanced if nothing else (stick them in and
lean them to the side so they touch), just dont short anything out.
On the sd card end of the board the P1 connector pins are like this,
same as other raspberry pi boards, but span the whole length of the
board rather than orentied more toward one corner than another.
|SD | 12
|CARD| 34
56
78
9.
..
..
The pins we care about
2
4
6
8 TX out
10 RX in
The pi TX goes to the uart RX and the pi RX to the uart TX.
Here are some examples of 3.3V level uarts, you need 3.3V level not 5V
definitely not RS232C
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9873
https://www.adafruit.com/products/954
You can find these on ebay from china for a buck or two each with a
jumper to select between 3.3V and 5V.
This bootloader receives intel hex formatted files.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_HEX
arm-none-eabi-objcopy myprogram.elf -O ihex myprogram.hex
Using minicom you download by selecting ascii instead of xmodem
or kermit or whatever. This just sends the file as is. If using
some other terminal emulator you have to just figure it out.
Minicom spawns other programs to do the downloads so there is or
can be a dead period after downloading before minicom receives data
so to deal with that once downloaded you press the letter g to go or
run the program. This way you or at least I dont lose any characters
from the downloaded program (in the past I would automatically start
the program, with xmodem that is an option with just ascii data
it is not so much).
I normally do not deliver binaries. In this case I have included all
of the build files so that you can at least get started without having
to build the bootloader. Backup whatever kernel.img file you are using
and replace with the kernel.img file in this repo (on your sd card) to
use this program. If you have a config.txt on the sd card, rename it.
There are a pair of holes on the board labelled RUN. If you are able
to solder or find other solutions (there are pins that can be pushed
into holes like this), you can put a momentary switch that when closed
will reset the board, and released allow it to boot again. Then you
can use this bootloader again. Much easier than power cycling the
board every time (turning the power off, then on by unplugging
the usb).
