Our ARM single board computers have specific BOOTROM firmwares which perform basic hardware initialization tasks and allow our computers to boot an operating system from different storage media.
For example, on power up, the TS-7200 board executes proprietary Technologic Systems boot-code, then immediately executes RedBoot. The TS-BOOTROM is stored in flash memory and is used to perform the first hardware configuration, such as the EP9301 initialization and TS-7200 hardware specifics, and to load the eCos/RedBoot system. The TS-BOOTROM serves as a reusable way of initializing and checking hardware so that it's not necessary to rewrite standard code for every desired OS. Some of the TS-BOOTROM configuration tasks include:
- initializes the processor
- turns off the watchdog timer
- configures the serial UART to 115200 bps
- initializes and tests SDRAM and FLASH
- loads and runs RedBoot from flash
There is an intermediate boot loader on the TS-7000 computers which use the NAND flash technology, named TS-NANDBOOT. For the TS-7200 series, this is required because the EP9302 processor can't handle NAND devices. The TS-NANDBOOT contains specific routines to read the NAND flash memory and load the TS-BOOTROM, allowing the computer to boot from NAND.
Technologic Systems also designed the TS-SDBOOT used in the TS-7300, TS-7400 and TS-7800. TS-SDBOOT allows the processor to read/write code to an SD Card right after power up, using the TS-SDCORE FPGA IP core. Using this improvement, our boards can be designed to fully boot from an SD Card.
The TS-7800 SBC uses a more sophisticated bootup firmware which allows booting from either a micro SD Card, full-size SD Card or from the on-board 2k-page NAND flash. It allows loading of Linux to a shell prompt in under 2 seconds. Technologic Systems is able to provide more functionalities to its proprietary BOOTROMs, should you need further support. For more information regarding custom firmware designs, contact Technologic Systems.
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