Use boot Flash just like an SD card
Rayman
Posts: 15,213
Here are some instructions and example code for how to test the use the spare space on your boot flash like an SD card.
This is with the regular FSRW sd-card interface, but with a special, low-level driver.
Note: For the P2-ES board, you need to have the "Flash" jumper in the "ON" position for this to work...
The boot flash chip on P2-ES board is 16 MB, but 1 MB needed for booting, leaving 15 MB free for use storing files.
The posts below outline some steps for testing this out.
These files compile with the latest FastSpin, version 4.1.7. But, there are also binary versions that can be loaded without compiling first.
Known Limitations:
1. FSRW only accesses the root directory and all files have to be there.
2. Current low level driver is in Spin and therefore not as fast as could be if were in assembly, but still can load VGA bitmap image 4 seconds.
This is with the regular FSRW sd-card interface, but with a special, low-level driver.
Note: For the P2-ES board, you need to have the "Flash" jumper in the "ON" position for this to work...
The boot flash chip on P2-ES board is 16 MB, but 1 MB needed for booting, leaving 15 MB free for use storing files.
The posts below outline some steps for testing this out.
These files compile with the latest FastSpin, version 4.1.7. But, there are also binary versions that can be loaded without compiling first.
Known Limitations:
1. FSRW only accesses the root directory and all files have to be there.
2. Current low level driver is in Spin and therefore not as fast as could be if were in assembly, but still can load VGA bitmap image 4 seconds.
Comments
Warning: This will completely erase the flash chip.
Maybe I didn't have to do this, but this is easier...
Use the attached binary or compile the source to erase and then reprogram the flash chip.
After this it will seem to FSRW to be a blank disk, except for one small text file.
Note: It takes about a minute to format, so be patient...
Use a serial terminal to see the output, should look like this:
3 2 1 First Partition at sector # 133 Sector Size [B] = 512 Old Cluster Size [B]= 32768 Old sectors/cluster = 64 New sectors/cluster = 4 New Cluster Size [B]= 2048 Old total sectors = 3868539 New total sectors = 30843 #reserved sectors = 6 #root entries = 512 Sectors per fat = 237 FAT#1 sector start = 139 sectors/fat = 237 root dir sector = 613 #rootentries = 512 root dir end sector = 645 data region start sector= 637 filesize= 46 data first sector = 657 Flash responded with correct JEDEC: 00EF7018 Erasing Entire Flash. Please Wait, this will take about a minute to complete Writing copied sectors to flash. Copy complete.After formatting, see if you can open the text file and display it.
Output in serial terminal should look like this:
3 2 1 Attempting to Mount SD, result = 0 Trying to open file test.txt, result = 0 filesize = 46 file content =This is a test file for FSRW on P2 boot flash.This code writes one small text file and then one big VGA bitmap file to flash and then displays directory content.
It takes a few seconds to write and you should see four of the P2-ES board leds lit up while it works...
Output on serial terminal should look like this:
3 2 1 Trying to mount, result = 0 Trying to open file test.txt, result = 0 filesize = 46 file content =This is a test file for FSRW on P2 boot flash. Trying to open file test.txt, result = 0 filesize = 46 file content =This is a test file for FSRW on P2 boot flash. Trying to open new file test2.txt for writing, result = 0 Preparing to write this many bytes to flash: 56 Writing new data to flash, result = 56 Trying to re-open new file test2.txt for reading, result = 0 filesize = 56 file content =This is a test of writing to a file using FSRW on Flash Trying to open new file, bitmap2.bmp, for writing, result = 0 Preparing to write this many bytes to flash: 308279 Writing new data to flash, result = 308279 SD Root Directory: TEST.TXT TEST2.TXT BITMAP2.BMP End of SD Root Directory. All done...Note: You will need the A/V accessory attached to P0..P7 with a VGA monitor connected to see the bitmap.
This example loads a bitmap file from flash and then shows it over VGA.
It takes just a couple seconds to read it in.
You can see 3 of the P2-ES board LEDS lighting up while reading.
Output on serial terminal should look like this:
3 2 1 Trying to mount, result = 0 SD Root Directory: TEST.TXT TEST2.TXT BITMAP2.BMP End of SD Root Directory. Trying to open big file bitmap2.bmp for reading, result = 0 filesize = 308279 Reading in file Closing big file. All done, showing bitmap now.ÿOutput on VGA monitor should be as shown below.
Could save you from needing an SD card or other storage for your application.
Just don't use it as a data logger. You could write a new file every hour, no problem. But, writing every minute might lead to wear out as it's only spec'd at 100,000 write cycles per sector.
You can read as much as you like. That doesn't cause any wear...
Mike
Not really sure though. But, RAM is only 512 kB and Chip suggested reserving the lower 1 MB.
But, perhaps I can keep the FAT and directory info on the onboard flash instead of on the hyperflash
Think can just steal 512 kB back from the flash drive...
HyperFlash could even contain multiple volumes (some FAT, some LittleFs etc), but that needs a workable partitioning scheme which only adds complexity. I doubt we get any agreement there.
I get that FAT's good for now because it's what's already implemented, but would it still have any advantage for non-removable flash devices if someone got LittleFS to work on the P2 with the same interface with a reasonable memory footprint?
Probably not apart from familiarity perhaps and Spin2 just being smaller than the C. I wonder how much room it would take if LittleFs could somehow be converted into SPIN2 or PASM to shrink it and make it more portable across tools. For people already using C it may be a no-brainer to just try to use LittleFs directly though we don't yet have a gauge of how big it is unless somehow has already compiled it with P2GCC perhaps. LittleFs seems to be around 5800 lines of source code in C (headers+implementation).
That will allow long filenames and directory support on the flash.
Then, could have simultaneous access to host, uSD, and flash file systems...
Also, I think FatFs has code to format drives. That could make this process a lot simpler.
What about just using SPIFFS. It's not as if were going to attach this to my PC or anything. It maybe simpler to port.
Mike
But, I've already got FatFs working, thanks to @ersmith. It should be very easy to adapt to use flash...
If I thought I might need wear levelling, that would be worth exploring though...
I know that doing FatFs is already there but in the case of the flash, using SPIFFS makes it possible to point it at an address and also preload that area with files if need be. FatFs wants to use the hole card which leads to issues with using it to save programs.
Mike
But, I'm mostly interested in reading from it.
Preloading is an interesting idea though. Perhaps one could load the files needed onto a freshly formatted uSD and then copy it's image to the flash.
That is what I did earlier in this thread, but with an empty drive...
I've been thinking for a while about doing something like that, but inside of SD files, like a nested filesystem. Would allow bundling application binaries + data files + metadata all into one file.
That is precisely what i've done with CPM. There are 8 x 8MB files which represent 8 HDDs in CPM. They must be contiguous files and all I do is locate the filename and its' first data sector for each HDD file when starting CPM. The each file is accessed by physical sector address on the SD card. My PASM SD Driver supports physical sector access. All higher level access is done via spin now although there is PASM code to initialise and locate the file too.
Well, imagine that, but instead of CPM files it's a _BOOT_P2.BIX (or a P1 equivalent), a manifest of sorts and whatever other files are needed. The manifest would contain info about the program, like what board it's compiled for. Or maybe allow giving addresses where the loader is to fill in the pin numbers, making the package portable.
That's the idea, anyways.
It combines all the files you drop into it into a single output file and gives you a list of offsets to all the files.
Only minor issue is that it reserves the first 4k for EVE's own use. But, you can just skip over writing that as you don't want to mess with P2 boot code anyway...