2017-12-01 4:25 GMT+01:00 Robert Nelson <[email protected]>:

> On Thu, Nov 30, 2017 at 6:50 PM,  <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm just getting started on this great platform and I've got some
> questions
> > about capes/overlays on which I thought perhaps someone could share their
> > expertise.
> >
> > Most of the documentation you find online still refers to cape manager
> and
> > slots, which is slightly confusing for beginners. I did find this page
> [1]
> > and I understand (I think) that there is no longer a cape manager and
> that
> > u-boot does the loading of capes.
> >
> > So first questions:
> >
> > - Is this assumption correct?
>
> Yes,
>
> > - I do understand the concept of the device tree and loading overlays,
> > but... what is the difference between overlays, capes and virtual capes?
> > I've seen all mentioned in various places, but nowhere could I find a
> > description of each. I've also seen "manual overlays" mentioned. Do they
> all
> > actually refer to the same thing?
>
> Yes,
>
> > - How can one see which capes/overlays are loaded once the system has
> booted
> > up in the new uboot overlays world?
>
> Plug in a USB serial debug cable into the debug header, U-Boot is very
> verbose about what loads..
>

Perfect, thanks a lot for all the answers. I guess the U-Boot output is not
present in the kernel syslog as U-Boot loads the capes before the kernel
starts.

Quick questions on this, though:

- Are there any plans to make reading the currently loaded overlays from
userspace possible? E.g. similarly as they could be read before from the
'slots' file
- Reading
https://elinux.org/Beagleboard:BeagleBoneBlack_Debian#Where_did_the_slots_file_go.3F
is this still the plan of action and is Stage 2 thus now complete?

And regarding the loading of overlays:

- What is the difference between the *uboot_overlay_addr{0..7}* and the
*dtb_overlay* options in /boot/uEnv.txt? It seems they all can be used to
specify a custom overlay to load on top of the universal cape overlay?


>
>
> >
> > I'm starting to look at the PRUSS and how to use them, and I'm not sure
> > which overlays should be loaded to enable them, or if access to them is
> > already enabled by default. On /boot/uEnv.txt there seem to be a couple
> of
> > options, one of which is commented out. I notice the difference in the
> > naming ('*-RPROC-*', vs. *-UIO-* commented out), so I'm guessing that the
> > RPROC PRUSS overlay is loaded and the UIO one is not.
> >
> > But could someone elaborate a bit more on this?
> >
> > ###PRUSS OPTIONS
> > ###pru_rproc (4.4.x-ti kernel)
> > uboot_overlay_pru=/lib/firmware/AM335X-PRU-RPROC-4-4-TI-00A0.dtbo
> > ###pru_uio (4.4.x-ti & mainline/bone kernel)
> > #uboot_overlay_pru=/lib/firmware/AM335X-PRU-UIO-00A0.dtbo
>
> "uio" has been used since 3.8.x
>
> "pru_rproc" is TI's design, really only used with the "v4.4.x-ti" kernel.
>
> We try to eaisly allow you to swap betwen uio and pru_rproc
>

Thanks.

- To be clear, when you say 'really only used with the "v4.4.x-ti" kernel'
do you mean only with that particular kernel, or "v4.4.x-ti and later"? I'm
just trying to understand which cape I should best use and which procedure
(UIO vs. rproc) I should learn to start using the PRUSS.

I also just learnt recently that there seems to be a "TI kernel" and a
"Bone kernel". If I understand it correctly, the "TI kernel" is shipped by
default on the Debian images and has TI patches, whereas the "Bone kernel"
is effectively the mainline kernel.

- Is this correct?
- If so, what are their main differences?
- Are they both maintained, and where is each repo?

Regards.


>
> > Finally, on my /boot/uEnv.txt file I can see these lines, which I
> understand
> > are for older kernels. As a humble piece of feedback from a newcomer,
> these
> > make the file more confusing for options that no longer apply. Would it
> not
> > make sense to remove them for new images?
> >
> > ##Example v3.8.x
> > #cape_disable=capemgr.disable_partno=
> > #cape_enable=capemgr.enable_partno=
> >
> > ##Example v4.1.x
> > #cape_disable=bone_capemgr.disable_partno=
> > #cape_enable=bone_capemgr.enable_partno=
>
> Nope, as people still use 3.8.x and 4.1.x+ (pre u-boot overlays)..
>
> Regards,
>
> --
> Robert Nelson
> https://rcn-ee.com/
>

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