| .. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+ |
| .. Copyright (C) 2021 Arm Ltd. |
| |
| Allwinner SoC based boards |
| ========================== |
| For boards using an Allwinner ARM based SoC ("sunxi"), the U-Boot build |
| system generates a single integrated image file: ``u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin.`` |
| This file can be used on SD cards, eMMC devices, SPI flash and for the |
| USB-OTG based boot method (FEL). To build this file: |
| |
| * For 64-bit SoCs, build Trusted Firmware (TF-A, formerly known as ATF) first, |
| you will need its ``bl31.bin``. See below for more details. |
| * Optionally on 64-bit SoCs, build the `crust`_ management processor firmware, |
| you will need its ``scp.bin``. See below for more details. |
| * Build U-Boot:: |
| |
| $ export BL31=/path/to/bl31.bin # required for 64-bit SoCs |
| $ export SCP=/path/to/scp.bin # optional for some 64-bit SoCs |
| $ make <yourboardname>_defconfig |
| $ make |
| * Transfer to an (micro)SD card (see below for more details):: |
| |
| $ sudo dd if=u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin of=/dev/sdX bs=8k seek=1 |
| * Boot and enjoy! |
| |
| .. note:: |
| The traditional SD card location the Allwinner BootROM loads from is 8KB |
| (sector 16). This works fine with the old MBR partitioning scheme, which most |
| SD cards come formatted with. However this is in the middle of a potential |
| GPT partition table, which will become invalid in this step. Newer SoCs |
| (starting with the H3 from late 2014) also support booting from 128KB, which |
| is beyond even a GPT and thus a safer location. |
| |
| For more details, and alternative boot locations or installations, see below. |
| |
| Building Arm Trusted Firmware (TF-A) |
| ------------------------------------ |
| Boards using a 64-bit Soc (A64, H5, H6, H616, R329) require the BL31 stage of |
| the `Arm Trusted Firmware-A`_ firmware. This provides the reference |
| implementation of secure software for Armv8-A, offering PSCI and SMCCC |
| services. Allwinner support is fully mainlined. To build bl31.bin:: |
| |
| $ git clone https://git.trustedfirmware.org/TF-A/trusted-firmware-a.git |
| $ cd trusted-firmware-a |
| $ make CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu- PLAT=sun50i_a64 DEBUG=1 |
| $ export BL31=$(pwd)/build/sun50i_a64/debug/bl31.bin |
| |
| The target platform (``PLAT=``) for A64 and H5 SoCs is sun50i_a64, for the H6 |
| sun50i_h6, for the H616 sun50i_h616, and for the R329 sun50i_r329. Use:: |
| |
| $ find plat/allwinner -name platform.mk |
| |
| to find all supported platforms. TF-A's `docs/plat/allwinner.rst`_ contains |
| more information and lists some build options. |
| |
| Building the Crust management processor firmware |
| ------------------------------------------------ |
| For some SoCs and boards, the integrated OpenRISC management controller can |
| be used to provide power management services, foremost suspend to RAM. |
| There is a community supported Open Source implementation called `crust`_, |
| which runs on most SoCs featuring a management controller. |
| |
| This firmware part is optional, setting the SCP environment variable to |
| /dev/null avoids the warning message when building without one. |
| |
| To build crust's scp.bin, you need an OpenRISC (or1k) cross compiler, then:: |
| |
| $ git clone https://github.com/crust-firmware/crust.git |
| $ cd crust |
| $ make <yourboard>_defconfig |
| $ make CROSS_COMPILE=or1k-none-elf- scp |
| $ export SCP=$(pwd)/build/scp/scp.bin |
| |
| Find a list of supported board configurations in the `configs/`_ directory. |
| The `crust README`_ has more information about the building process, including |
| information about where to get OpenRISC cross compilers. |
| |
| Building the U-Boot image |
| ------------------------- |
| Find the U-Boot defconfig file for your board first. Those files live in |
| the ``configs/`` directory; you can grep for the stub name of the devicetree |
| file, if you know that, or for the SoC name to find the right version:: |
| |
| $ git grep -l MACH_SUN8I_H3 configs |
| $ git grep -l sun50i-h6-orangepi-3 configs |
| |
| The `linux-sunxi`_ wiki also lists the name of the defconfig file in the |
| respective board page. Then use this defconfig file to create the .config |
| file, and build the image:: |
| |
| $ make <yourboard>_defconfig |
| $ make |
| |
| For 64-bit boards, this requires either the BL31 environment variable to be |
| set (as shown above in the TF-A build example), or it to be supplied on the |
| build command line:: |
| |
| $ make BL31=/src/tf-a.git/build/sun50i_h616/debug/bl31.bin |
| |
| The same applies to the (optional) SCP firmware. |
| |
| The file containing everything you need is called ``u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin``, |
| you will find it in the root folder of your U-Boot (build) tree. Except for |
| raw NAND flash devices this very same file can be used for any boot source. |
| It will contain the SPL image, fitted with the proper signature recognised by |
| the BROM, and the required checksum. Also it will contain at least U-Boot |
| proper, either wrapped in the legacy U-Boot image format, or in a FIT image. |
| The board's devicetree is also included, either appended to the U-Boot proper |
| image, or contained in the FIT image. If required by the SoC, this FIT file will |
| also include the other firmware images. |
| |
| Installing U-Boot |
| ----------------- |
| |
| Installing on a (micro-) SD card |
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
| All Allwinner SoCs will try to find a boot image at sector 16 (8KB) of |
| an SD card, connected to the first MMC controller. To transfer the generated |
| image to an SD card, from any Linux device (including the board itself) with |
| an (micro-)SD card reader, type:: |
| |
| $ sudo dd if=u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin of=/dev/sdX bs=1k seek=8 |
| |
| ``/dev/sdx`` needs to be replaced with the block device name of the SD card |
| reader. On some machines this could be ``/dev/mmcblkX``. |
| Newer SoCs (starting from the H3 from 2014, and including all ARM64 SoCs), |
| also look at sector 256 (128KB) for the signature (after having checked the |
| 8KB location). Installing the firmware there has the advantage of not |
| overlapping with a GPT partition table. Simply replace the "``seek=8``" above |
| with "``seek=128``". |
| |
| You can also use an existing (mainline) U-Boot to write to the SD card. Load |
| the generated U-Boot image somewhere into DRAM (via ``ext4load``, ``fatload``, |
| or ``tftpboot``), then write to MMC device 0:: |
| |
| => fatload mmc 0:1 $kernel_addr_r u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin |
| => mmc dev 0 |
| => mmc write $kernel_addr_r 0x10 0x7f0 |
| |
| To use the alternative boot location on newer SoCs:: |
| |
| => mmc write $kernel_addr_r 0x100 0x700 |
| |
| Installing on eMMC (on-board flash memory) |
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
| Some boards have a soldered eMMC chip, some other boards have an eMMC socket |
| to receive an optional eMMC module. U-Boot can be installed to those chips, |
| to boot without an SD card inserted. The Boot-ROM can boot either from the |
| regular user data partition, or from one of the separate eMMC boot partitions. |
| U-Boot can be installed either from a running Linux instance on the device, |
| from a running (mainline) U-Boot, or via an adapter for the (removable) |
| eMMC module. |
| |
| Installing on an eMMC user data partition from Linux |
| ```````````````````````````````````````````````````` |
| If you have a running Linux instance on the device, and have somehow copied |
| over the image file to that device, you can write the image directly into the |
| eMMC device from there. |
| Find the name of the block device file first, it is one of the |
| ``/dev/mmcblk<X>`` devices. eMMC devices typically also list a |
| ``/dev/mmcblk<X>boot0`` partition (see below), this helps you to tell it apart |
| from the SD card device. |
| To install onto the user data partition:: |
| |
| $ sudo dd if=u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin of=/dev/dev/mmcblkX bs=1k seek=8 |
| |
| Similar to SD cards, the BROM in newer SoCs (H3 and above) also checks |
| sector 256 of an eMMC, so you can use "``seek=128``" as well. Having a GPT |
| on an eMMC device is much more likely than on an SD card, so you should |
| probably stick to the alternative location, or use one of the boot partitions. |
| |
| Installing on an eMMC boot partition from Linux |
| ``````````````````````````````````````````````` |
| In the following examples, ``/dev/mmcblkX`` needs to be replaced with the block |
| device name of the eMMC device. The eMMC device can be recognised by also |
| listing the boot partitions (``/dev/mmcblkXboot0``) in ``/proc/partitions``. |
| |
| To allow booting from one of the eMMC boot partitions, this one needs to be |
| enabled first. This only needs to be done once, as this setting is |
| persistent, even though the boot partition can be disabled or changed again |
| any time later:: |
| |
| # apt-get install mmc-utils |
| # mmc bootbus set single_hs x1 x4 /dev/mmcblkX |
| # mmc bootpart enable 1 1 /dev/mmcblkX |
| |
| The first "1" in the last command points to the boot partition number to be |
| used, typically devices offer two boot partitions. |
| |
| By default Linux disables write access to the boot partitions, to prevent |
| accidental overwrites. You need to disable the write protection (until the |
| next reboot), then can write the U-Boot image to the *first* sector of the |
| selected boot partition:: |
| |
| # echo 0 > /sys/block/mmcblkXboot0/force_ro |
| # dd if=u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin of=/dev/mmcblkXboot0 bs=1k |
| |
| Installing on an eMMC user data partition from U-Boot |
| ````````````````````````````````````````````````````` |
| You can also write the generated image file to an SD card, boot the device |
| from there, and burn the very same image to the eMMC device from U-Boot. |
| The following commands copy the image from the SD card to the eMMC device:: |
| |
| => mmc dev 0 |
| => mmc read $kernel_addr_r 0x10 0x7f0 |
| => mmc dev 1 |
| => mmc write $kernel_addr_r 0x10 0x7f0 |
| |
| You can also copy an image from the 8K offset of an SD card to the 128K |
| offset of the eMMC (or any combination), just change the "``0x10 0x7f0``" above |
| to "``0x100 0x700``", respectively. Of course the image file can be loaded via |
| any other loading method, including ``fatload``, ``ext4load``, ``tftpboot``. |
| |
| Installing on an eMMC boot partition from U-Boot |
| ```````````````````````````````````````````````` |
| The selected eMMC boot partition needs to be initially enabled first (same |
| as in Linux above), you can do this from U-Boot with:: |
| |
| => mmc dev 1 |
| => mmc bootbus 1 1 0 0 |
| => mmc partconf 1 1 1 1 |
| |
| The first "1" in both commands denotes the MMC device number. The second "1" |
| in the partconf command sets the required ``BOOT_ACK`` option, the last two "1"s |
| selects the active boot partition and the target for the next data access, |
| respectively. So for the next "``mmc write``" command to address one of the boot |
| partitions, the last number must either be "1" or "2", "0" would switch (back) |
| to the normal user data partition. |
| |
| Then load the ``u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin`` image file into DRAM, either by |
| reading directly from an SD card or eMMC user data partition, or from a |
| file system or TFTP (see above), and transfer it to the boot partition:: |
| |
| => tftpboot $kernel_addr_r u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin |
| => mmc write $kernel_addr_r 0 0x7f0 |
| |
| After that the device should boot from the selected boot partition, which takes |
| precedence over booting from the user data partition. |
| |
| Installing on SPI flash |
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
| Some devices have a SPI NOR flash chip soldered on the board. If it is |
| connected to the SPI0 pins on PortC, the BROM can also boot from there. |
| Typically the SPI flash has the lowest boot priority, so SD card and eMMC |
| devices will be considered first. |
| |
| Installing on SPI flash from Linux |
| `````````````````````````````````` |
| If the devicetree enables and describes the SPI flash device, you can access |
| the SPI flash content from Linux, using the `MTD utils`_:: |
| |
| # apt-get install mtd-utils |
| # mtdinfo |
| # mtd_debug erase /dev/mtdX 0 0xf0000 |
| # mtd_debug write /dev/mtdX 0 0xf0000 u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin |
| |
| ``/dev/mtdX`` needs to be replaced with the respective device name, as listed |
| in the output of ``mtdinfo``. |
| |
| Installing on SPI flash from U-Boot |
| ``````````````````````````````````` |
| If SPI flash driver and command support (``CONFIG_CMD_SF``) is enabled in the |
| U-Boot configuration, the image file can be installed via U-Boot as well:: |
| |
| => tftpboot $kernel_addr_r u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin |
| => sf probe |
| => sf erase 0 +0xf0000 |
| => sf write $kernel_addr_r 0 $filesize |
| |
| Installing on SPI flash via USB in FEL mode |
| ``````````````````````````````````````````` |
| If the device is in FEL mode (see below), the SPI flash can also be written to |
| with the sunxi-fel utility, via an USB(-OTG) cable from any USB host machine:: |
| |
| $ sunxi-fel spiflash-write 0 u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin |
| |
| Booting via the USB(-OTG) FEL mode |
| ---------------------------------- |
| If none of the boot locations checked by the BROM contains a medium or valid |
| signature, the BROM will enter the so-called FEL mode, in which it will |
| listen to commands from a host on the SoC's USB-OTG interface. Those commands |
| allow to read from and write to arbitrary memory locations, also to start |
| execution at any address, which allows to bootstrap a board solely via an |
| USB cable. Some boards feature a "FEL" or "U-Boot" button, which forces |
| FEL mode despite a valid boot location being present. The same can be achieved |
| via a `magic binary`_ on an SD card, which allows to enter FEL mode on any |
| board. |
| |
| To use FEL booting, let the board enter FEL mode, via any of the mentioned |
| methods (no boot media, FEL button, SD card with FEL binary), then connect |
| a USB cable to the board's USB OTG port. Some boards (Pine64, TV boxes) don't |
| have a separate OTG port. In this case mostly one of the USB-A ports is |
| connected to USB0, and can be used via a non-standard USB-A to USB-A cable. |
| |
| Typically there is no on-board indication of FEL mode, other than a new USB |
| device appearing on the connected host computer. The USB vendor/device ID |
| is 1f3a:efe8. Mostly this will identify as "sunxi SoC OTG connector in |
| FEL/flashing mode", but older distributions might still report "Onda |
| (unverified) V972 tablet in flashing mode". |
| |
| The `sunxi_fel`_ tool implements the proprietary BROM protocol, and allows to |
| bootstrap U-Boot by just providing our venerable u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin:: |
| |
| $ sudo apt-get install sunxi-tools |
| $ sunxi-fel uboot u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin |
| |
| Additional binaries like a kernel, an initial ramdisk or a boot script, can |
| also be uploaded via FEL, check the Wiki's `FEL page`_ for more details. |
| |
| .. _`Arm Trusted Firmware-A`: https://www.trustedfirmware.org/projects/tf-a/ |
| .. _`docs/plat/allwinner.rst`: https://trustedfirmware-a.readthedocs.io/en/latest/plat/allwinner.html |
| .. _`crust`: https://github.com/crust-firmware/crust |
| .. _`configs/`: https://github.com/crust-firmware/crust/tree/master/configs |
| .. _`crust README`: https://github.com/crust-firmware/crust/blob/master/README.md#building-the-firmware |
| .. _`linux-sunxi`: https://linux-sunxi.org |
| .. _`MTD utils`: http://www.linux-mtd.infradead.org/ |
| .. _`magic binary`: https://github.com/linux-sunxi/sunxi-tools/raw/master/bin/fel-sdboot.sunxi |
| .. _`sunxi_fel`: https://github.com/linux-sunxi/sunxi-tools |
| .. _`FEL page`: https://linux-sunxi.org/FEL/USBBoot |