HP Forum Archive 20

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SAM-BA protocols and operating principles Message #1 Posted by Andrés C. Rodríguez (Argentina) on 27 Oct 2011, 10:57 a.m. I would like to know if there are available documents describing the protocol implemented by SAM-BA when flashing devices like 20B / 30B. Details about messages and its answers, message sizes, acknowledgement of messages, command sequences, retries, timeouts, checksums, etc. should appear on such documents; along with a description of typical interchanges between SAM-BA and the devices. Best regards, and thanks in advance. Edited: 27 Oct 2011, 10:57 a.m.

Re: SAM-BA protocols and operating principles Message #2 Posted by Marcus von Cube, Germany on 27 Oct 2011, 11:25 a.m., in response to message #1 by Andrés C. Rodríguez (Argentina) I don't know what goes on once SAM-BA has downloaded a small program to the chip to which it then talks for flashing. The basic set-up commands are described in the Atmel AT91SAM7L128 Manual. I found it on the Atmel site for free download. The basic protocol allows reading and writing memory on the chip. MySamba implements X modem if I recall correctly. It downloads a small ARM assembly language program which I present here in disassembled form: 200B40 47784770 Undefined instruction ; [undefined instr] 200B44 E3A00601 MOV r0, #1<<20 200B48 E3A01C02 MOV r1, #1<<9 200B4C E3E030EB MVN r3, #&EB 200B50 E3C33C0D BIC r3, r3, #&D00 200B54 E3E0709B MVN r7, #&9B 200B58 E3A02043 MOV r2, #67 200B5C E5934000 LDR r4, [r3, #0] 200B60 E3140002 TST r4, #2 200B64 0AFFFFFC BEQ &00200B5C 200B68 E5832008 STR r2, [r3, #8] 200B6C E3A04000 MOV r4, #0 200B70 E3A02040 MOV r2, #64 200B74 E5936000 LDR r6, [r3, #0] 200B78 E3160001 TST r6, #1 200B7C 0AFFFFFC BEQ &00200B74 200B80 E5935004 LDR r5, [r3, #4] 200B84 E0244005 EOR r4, r4, r5 200B88 E5936000 LDR r6, [r3, #0] 200B8C E3160001 TST r6, #1 200B90 0AFFFFFC BEQ &00200B88 200B94 E5936004 LDR r6, [r3, #4] 200B98 E0244006 EOR r4, r4, r6 200B9C E0855406 ADD r5, r5, r6, LSL #8 200BA0 E5936000 LDR r6, [r3, #0] 200BA4 E3160001 TST r6, #1 200BA8 0AFFFFFC BEQ &00200BA0 200BAC E5936004 LDR r6, [r3, #4] 200BB0 E0244006 EOR r4, r4, r6 200BB4 E0855806 ADD r5, r5, r6, LSL #16 200BB8 E5936000 LDR r6, [r3, #0] 200BBC E3160001 TST r6, #1 200BC0 0AFFFFFC BEQ &00200BB8 200BC4 E5936004 LDR r6, [r3, #4] 200BC8 E0244006 EOR r4, r4, r6 200BCC E0855C06 ADD r5, r5, r6, LSL #24 200BD0 E4805004 STR r5, [r0], #4 200BD4 E2522001 SUBS r2, r2, #1 200BD8 1AFFFFE5 BNE &00200B74 200BDC E5932000 LDR r2, [r3, #0] 200BE0 E3120001 TST r2, #1 200BE4 0AFFFFFC BEQ &00200BDC 200BE8 E5932004 LDR r2, [r3, #4] 200BEC E1520004 CMP r2, r4 200BF0 12400C01 SUBNE r0, r0, #&100 200BF4 13A02058 MOVNE r2, #88 200BF8 1AFFFFD7 BNE &00200B5C 200BFC E3A02CFF MOV r2, #&FF00 200C00 E382280F ORR r2, r2, #&F0000 200C04 E0022000 AND r2, r2, r0 200C08 E2422C01 SUB r2, r2, #&100 200C0C E2822001 ADD r2, r2, #1 200C10 E382245A ORR r2, r2, #&5A000000 200C14 E5872000 STR r2, [r7, #0] 200C18 E5972004 LDR r2, [r7, #4] 200C1C E3120001 TST r2, #1 200C20 0AFFFFFC BEQ &00200C18 200C24 E3A02059 MOV r2, #89 200C28 E2511001 SUBS r1, r1, #1 200C2C 1AFFFFCA BNE &00200B5C 200C30 E3A0045A MOV r0, #&5A000000 200C34 E2800C01 ADD r0, r0, #&100 200C38 E280000B ADD r0, r0, #11 200C3C E5870000 STR r0, [r7, #0] 200C40 E5972004 LDR r2, [r7, #4] 200C44 E3120001 TST r2, #1 200C48 0AFFFFFC BEQ &00200C40 200C4C E5972004 LDR r2, [r7, #4] 200C50 E3120001 TST r2, #1 200C54 0AFFFFFC BEQ &00200C4C 200C58 E3E000FF MVN r0, #&FF 200C5C E3C00C02 BIC r0, r0, #1<<9 200C60 E3A0100D MOV r1, #13 200C64 E38114A5 ORR r1, r1, #&A5000000 200C68 E5801000 STR r1, [r0, #0] 200C6C EAFFFFFE B &00200C6C This program receives the data in 256 byte chunks and does the actual flashing. It assumes a 128KB size download before it toggles the boot bit and resets the calculator. This should be modified for shorter files. My MySamba modification is a work-around: It toggles the bit before the download. That is the reason why you need to do a reset after flashing.

Re: SAM-BA protocols and operating principles Message #3 Posted by Andrés C. Rodríguez (Argentina) on 27 Oct 2011, 11:43 a.m., in response to message #2 by Marcus von Cube, Germany Marcus, thank you. I'll take a look at all this and will comment later (I hope).

Re: SAM-BA protocols and operating principles Message #4 Posted by sylvandb on 28 Oct 2011, 10:35 p.m., in response to message #3 by Andrés C. Rodríguez (Argentina) Quote: Marcus, thank you. I'll take a look at all this and will comment later (I hope). I know I have no standing to make a request, so I'll make some observations... MySamba is written in Delphi (a Pascal variant). The code was offered and (as far as I know) Marcus was the only one to do anything with it. C/C++ is far more popular and so is supported on more platforms. Python is another choice, one often possible to write true cross-platform code and where performance is surprisingly good. With popular languages like C and Python the pool of potential contributors is much larger. I really like the *ix philosophy of a small commandline program that does one thing well, and provides a way for a GUI to wrap it later if desired. That's my thoughts. :)

Re: SAM-BA protocols and operating principles Message #5 Posted by Marcus von Cube, Germany on 29 Oct 2011, 6:30 a.m., in response to message #4 by sylvandb It was easier for me to just extend on the capabilities of Cyrille's work than to reinvent it. Otherwise I'm with you. Something that could be started from the Makefile would be great.

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