A.J.'s Notes

General Notes

##TODO: ###Beaglebone:

• Remove bloat from image (Do we need Apache?)
• Fix USB ethernet, login terminal, /boot sharing (What of these do we really need?

###Delphino:

• Figure out binary format better for loading
• Get a microsd that can be dedicated to the board
• Start up a basic bootloader that loads up files to ram, debugging from UART

Work Log

Day	Description
1-6-15	Setup Workstations
1-7-15	Beaglebone kernel
1-8-15	Delphino UART/DMA
1-9-15	Xenomai on the Beaglebone
1-11-15	Beaglebone Kernel
1-12-15	Beaglebone Xenomai
1-13-15	Delphino Bootloader

##1-14-15 ###Delphino Bootloader A:SW1 can be used to turn off UART. Look at it if UART breaks. The provided microSD code does not support SDXC. Should investigate if it supports SDHC or not. If it doesn't we'll have to use a microSD that's 2GB or less. Noticing that random characters are being dropped. I should be aware of this in the future. I plan on reversing the format more on Friday over the weekend so I'm going to start building the basic structure for the bootloader now.

##1-13-15 ###Delphino Bootloader I tested a few simple projects from both flash and ram. Because of how slow it takes to program to flash (>3 minutes for a 500kb file) and the fact that we only have about 4MB max of usable space on flash I decided a microSD card is the way to go.

I tested the built in microsd code and it worked without any issues at all.

##1-12-15 ###Beaglebone Xenomai I attempted to install a pre built Xenomai package from rcn-ee.net's package system, both v3.8.13-xenomai-r69 and v3.14.26-ti-xenomai-r44. Unfortunately the Beaglbone would no longer boot when using those kernels. I finally gave up on Xenomai for now, I'll probably want to look more at (this page)[https://eewiki.net/display/linuxonarm/BeagleBone+Black] and installing from source more cleanly than the hacks provided in the wiki.

Giving up on Xenomai I switched to the linux-rt image that at least mostly worked. Before when I got it I was doing apt-get update by doing apt-get dist-upgrade I was able to actually fix the USB to some degree. It shows up as a serial device though the /boot isn't mounted, usb ethernet doesn't work, and when connecting to the serial port we don't get a login terminal. These are all likely software issues and can be fixed.

###Delphino Bootloader Design While all this was going on I worked with the Delphino chip more. I began looking into designing the bootloader. I need to decide between using the on board flash and a microsd card. (Page 62 of this)[http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/sprs880b/sprs880b.pdf] provides valuable information needed for designing the bootloader.

##1-11-15 ##More Beaglebone Kernel Unbricked the Beaglebone and ended up re bricking it multiple times while attempting to install Xenomai from source. I downloaded a (pre built image)[https://rcn-ee.net/rootfs/2015-01-06/flasher/BBB-eMMC-flasher-debian-7.7-console-armhf-2015-01-06-2gb.img.xz] which had linux-rt as the kernel. While it worked it broke the usb capabilities meaning the only way to communicate with the device was via SSH. Since this works I'll likely use this if Xenomai ends up not working out.

##1-9-15 ###Xenomai on the Beaglebone Installation attempted again and failed. The problem appears to be that the build scripts are broken and generate files instead of directories. One of the problems being in /lib/modules/3.8.13-bone69 with the folders kernel build and source

Also of an annoyance the build script deleted most of the filesystem.

##1-8-15 ###Delphino UART/DMA I got the sample code for UART and DMA to work and tested doing both in a dual core setting. It's worth noting that the sample code for the UART does not entirely work as stated "Characters typed in one terminal should be echoed in the other and vice versa.". As it originally was only the data from the micro-USB (/dev/ttyACM0) to the mini-USB (/dev/ttyUSB0) was mirrored.

For DMA everything worked great after the pins were discovered, have a look at TMDSCNCD28377D_180cCARD_pinout_R1_1.pdf in F28377D Pinouts-Schematics.tar.gz for what pins are what.

##1-7-15 ###Beaglebone Kernel The current kernel on the Beaglebone, standard Linux, has latency issues and will not respond to interrupts fast enough. Two kernels were investigated linux-rt and Xenomai. Based on this article Xenomai meets our situation better. It additionally is easier to install since there are instructions for installation (also see this link)[http://brunosmartins.info/xenomai-on-the-beaglebone-black-in-14-easy-steps/]). Note: I did not finish compiling the kernel and will have to resume this work later on.

##1-6-15 ###Setup Workstations Installed Ubuntu, core development packages, and Code Composer. libudev0 doesn't exist in current repositories used a symlink from version 1: ln -sf /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libudev.so.1 /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libudev.so.0