Generic Nios II Booting Methods User Guide

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ID 683820
Date 5/24/2016
Public
Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
1. Generic Nios II Booting Methods User Guide 2. Document Revision History for Generic Nios II Booting Methods
1. Generic Nios II Booting Methods User Guide x
1.1. Overview 1.2. Prerequisites 1.3. Acronym 1.4. Nios II Processor Boot Copier 1.5. Nios II Processor Booting Methods 1.6. Nios II Booting Elements 1.7. Nios II Programming Solutions
1.4. Nios II Processor Boot Copier x
1.4.1. Memcpy-Based Boot Copier 1.4.2. EPCS Controller-Based Boot Copier
1.5. Nios II Processor Booting Methods x
1.5.1. Nios II Booting General Flow 1.5.2. Summary of Nios II Processor Vector Configurations and BSP Settings 1.5.3. Nios II Processor Application Execute-In-Place from CFI Flash 1.5.4. Nios II Processor Application Copied from CFI Flash to RAM Using Boot Copier 1.5.5. Nios II Processor Application Copied from EPCS Flash to RAM Using Boot Copier
1.6. Nios II Booting Elements x
1.6.1. Nios II SBT Makefile 'mem_init_generate' Target 1.6.2. Convert Programming Files Option 1.6.3. Elf2flash Utility
1.7. Nios II Programming Solutions x
1.7.1. Recommended Programming Solution
1. Generic Nios II Booting Methods User Guide
2. Document Revision History for Generic Nios II Booting Methods

1.6.3. Elf2flash Utility

The elf2flash utility generates SREC image (*.flash extension) by extracting ELF loadable sections. The SREC image can then be programmed into flash devices supported by Nios II Flash Programmer.

For CFI flash devices, both the optional CFI bootcopier and ELF loadable sections are stored in the device. When the CFI bootcopier is not used, the SREC image only contains loadable section data. When the CFI bootcopier is used, the SREC image contains a CFI bootcopier and the ELF payload, where the bootcopier is precompiled to assume the payload is linked immediately after it.

For EPCS/EPCQ flash devices, only the ELF payload is stored in the device. EPCS bootcopier is always required, but is stored within the EPCS controller boot ROM initialized after POF configuration, and thus the SREC image only contains the ELF payload.

When either CFI and EPCS bootcopier is used, elf2flash extracts ELF loadable sections as the bootcopier’s payload in the form of payload header (4 bytes load address + 4 bytes section size) and payload data (n-bytes section data) for each loadable sections .Elf2flash also generates a last, extra section for storing the .text section load address to allow bootcopier to transfer control to the program.

This elf2flash utility is an important element for Nios II Flash Programming flow method.

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