I had the same problem where an uninitialized segment was zeroed. For
proprietary reasons it was best to have that segment have a different name
so I used the following in my code:
#define _arbname__ __attribute__ ((section (".arbitraryname")))
int _arbname__ my_array[SIZE_OF_INFO_SEG_A/2];
Then I gave the linker the appropriate command line flags for my segment.
something like this:
msp430-gcc -mmcu=msp430x449 --section-start \
.arbitraryname=$(begin_of_info_seg_A) [my_objects.o] -o foo.elf
I didn't want .arbitraryname to be zeroed every time I loaded it into the
program so I did something like this.
msp430-objcopy -R .infomem -R .arbitraryname foo.elf
This will remove the segments from the binary but my_array[] will still
point to that area in memory. Objcopy complains to me sometimes about how I
may not want this but I do so it ignore it. Also you may want the -I and -O
flags if you are inputting or outputting different file types.
I hope this helps. :)
-Chris Takahashi
-----Original Message-----
From: Vladimir Voroncov [mailto:vladi...@design2000.com.au]
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2003 7:33 PM
To: mspgcc-users@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: [Mspgcc-users] NV data area creation
Hi all
First to answer my own querry from 21/7/2K3 regarding the problem with
MSP430-insight.exe stoped working.
To cut the long story short...there was an alledged missmatch between XP,
cygwin and mspgcc-20030506.exe ( cygwin1.dll wasn't the issue.....).
Brute solution in my case was to remove the whole cygwin and than install
20030506 exe clean. Insight.exe GUI worked ( and still works) as intended.
(Didn't have time to find exactly what the problem is.....)
New "problem":
Looks like my application ( with x449) will need a possibly large address
translation table which is changing dynamicaly ( reguired to work with
Samsung NAND-Flash and his bad blocks..) and should be retained between code
reloads.
I am aware of __attribute__ ((section(".noinit"))) but will like to avoid
copying into RAM because of size reasons.
I was also experimenting with __attribute__ ((section (".arbitrary name")))
and locating that into Information Memory segment A ( 0x1080) for example.
That was loaded with CSPY and Erase Only Main mem ( not the Info mem) before
download option. It looks like that puts zeros into area of choice ( or
initial value if provided in the code...) on every reload instead of
retaining the area intact?
Looks like I need to modify the Linker Script (msp430x449.x..etc..) and /or
make my own loader but I am not shore on details ( reading the docs at the
moment...).
Any advice / hint / recomendation on how to have NV area in the FLASH
without RAM usage which is fully accesible from the code and retainable
between code reloads is highly appreciated at this point !!!!!!
Thanks & Regards
Vladimir Voroncov
System/Software Engineer
Design2000 Pty. Ltd.
9-11 Rose Street PO Box 7020
Upper Ferntree Gully
Melbourne Victoria 3156
Australia
Phone: -61-(0)3-9758-5933
Fax: -61-(0)3-9758-7279
Mobile: 0407-766-569
Email: vladi...@design2000.com.au
