Bootloader u-boot

Robert Michel openmoko at robertmichel.de
Tue Nov 28 03:06:04 CET 2006


Salve!

According to Harld Welte, 
" Oh, and yes, the bootloader is u-boot (as the frequent reader of this
blog might have guessed). So that is GPL licensed, too."
http://gnumonks.org/~laforge/weblog/2006/11/08/
the bootloader of the Neo1973 will be u-boot.

From http://u-boot.sf.net is just one documentation link to
"The DENX U-Boot and Linux Guide (DULG) for TQM8xxL"
http://www.denx.de/wiki/DULG/Manual  
and FAQ
http://www.denx.de/wiki/DULG/Faq  
But also the mailinglist could be good for geting
to know how it works and u-boot is used.
http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_id=12898


Ok, I haven'd read this pages yet, so I doesn't know anything
about u-boot. In gereral would IMHO nice to have: 
- that during boot I could choose between different installations
  (one fall back with core functions)
- boot from usb stick
- boot suspended RAM from flash

Not for arm9 for a strong-arm exist this patch:
http://www.rpsys.net/openzaurus/patches/kexec-arm-r1.patch

Maybe an option could be to use the kexec patch wich allows
a boot chain:

u-boot would boot a small GNU/linux with kexec path,
allows:
- emergency phone calls
- USB stick access
- maybe booting from USB stick
- GSM data calls / GPRS 
- GUI
- backup/recover of the mobile
- choose between diferent installations
- mounting encrypted filesystem
- read suspended RAM from flash memory
- checking the hash for new data before/during or after
  coping it
and then boot another kernel.

Flashing devices with the need to run a tftp server
is not so enduser friendly as just the chance to
copy a new image to an USB-Stick and to flash the
device from this stick. Writing data to a USB-Stick
could you do with your Neo1973, in internet cafes
or university...
Yes internet cafes. When the neo has some public 
keys on it, the new images could be signed so an
unsecure internet wouldn't matter...

How to support testing new Neo enviroment from usb,
without the fear that this testing could compromise 
your system? When it use the same kernel and your 
system on the Neo1973 support linux-vserver, it could
be started as guest system from USB.

Again, feedback welcome to make things more clear
- what's neccessary to know about the boot process
- what will be possible
- what would be possible

So that we have some stuff, some links and ideas
to fill our wiki when it is there... ;)

Greetings,
rob









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