sifive_fu540.md 6.3 KB

SiFive FU540 SoC Platform

The FU540-C000 is the world’s first 4+1 64-bit RISC-V SoC from SiFive. The HiFive Unleashed development platform is based on FU540-C000 and capable of running Linux.

To build platform specific library and firmwares, provide the PLATFORM=sifive/fu540 parameter to the top level make command.

Platform Options

As hart0 in the FU540 doesn’t have an MMU, only harts 1-4 boot by default. A hart mask i.e. FU540_ENABLED_HART_MASK compile time option is provided to select any other hart for booting. Please keep in mind that this is not platform wide option. It can only be specified for FU540 platform in following way.

make PLATFORM=sifive/fu540 FW_PAYLOAD_PATH=Image FU540_ENABLED_HART_MASK=0x02

This will let the board boot only hart1 instead of default 1-4.

Building SiFive Fu540 Platform

In order to boot SMP Linux in U-Boot, Linux kernel higher than v.5.1-rc1 and latest U-Boot(at least HEAD should ffb269ab30 or after) should be used.

Linux Kernel Payload

make PLATFORM=sifive/fu540 FW_PAYLOAD_PATH=<linux_build_directory>/arch/riscv/boot/Image

U-Boot Payload

The command-line example here assumes that U-Boot was compiled using sifive_fu540_defconfig configuration.

With SMP support enabled in U-Boot:

make PLATFORM=sifive/fu540 FW_PAYLOAD_PATH=<u-boot_build_dir>/u-boot.bin

Without SMP support enabled in U-Boot:

make PLATFORM=sifive/fu540 FW_PAYLOAD_PATH=<u-boot_build_dir>/u-boot.bin FU540_ENABLED_HART_MASK=0x02

Generate the uImage from Linux Image.

mkimage -A riscv -O linux -T kernel -C none -a 0x80200000 -e 0x80200000 -n Linux -d \
		<linux_build_directory>/arch/riscv/boot/Image \
		<linux_build_directory>/arch/riscv/boot/uImage

U-Boot & Linux Kernel as a single payload

A single monolithic image containing both U-Boot & Linux can also be used if network boot setup is not available.

  1. Generate the uImage from Linux Image.

    mkimage -A riscv -O linux -T kernel -C none -a 0x80200000 -e 0x80200000 -n Linux -d \
    		<linux_build_directory>/arch/riscv/boot/Image \
    		<linux_build_directory>/arch/riscv/boot/uImage
    
  2. Create a temporary image with u-boot.bin as the first payload. The command-line example here assumes that U-Boot was compiled using sifive_fu540_defconfig configuration.

    dd if=~/workspace/u-boot-riscv/u-boot.bin of=/tmp/temp.bin bs=1M
    
  3. Append the Linux Kernel image generated in step 1.

    dd if=<linux_build_directory>/arch/riscv/boot/uImage of=/tmp/temp.bin bs=1M seek=4
    
  4. Compile OpenSBI with temp.bin (generated in step 3) as payload.

    make PLATFORM=sifive/fu540 FW_PAYLOAD_PATH=/tmp/temp.bin
    

Flashing the OpenSBI firmware binary to storage media:

The first stage boot loader(FSBL) expects the storage media to have a GPT partition table. It tries to look for a partition with following GUID to load the next stage boot loader (OpenSBI in this case).

2E54B353-1271-4842-806F-E436D6AF6985

That’s why the generated firmware binary in above steps should be copied to the partition of the sdcard with above GUID.

dd if=build/platform/sifive/fu540/firmware/fw_payload.bin of=/dev/disk2s1 bs=1024

In my case, it is the first partition is disk2s1 that has been formatted with the above specified GUID.

In case of a brand new sdcard, it should be formatted with below partition tables as described here.

sgdisk --clear                                                               \
       --new=1:2048:67583  --change-name=1:bootloader --typecode=1:2E54B353-1271-4842-806F-E436D6AF6985   \
       --new=2:264192:     --change-name=2:root       --typecode=2:0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4 \
       $(DISK)

Booting SiFive Fu540 Platform

Linux Kernel Payload

As Linux kernel image is embedded in the OpenSBI firmware binary, HiFive Unleashed will directly boot into Linux directly after powered on.

U-Boot Payload

As U-Boot image is used as payload, HiFive Unleashed will boot into a U-Boot prompt. U-Boot tftp boot method can be used to load kernel image in U-Boot prompt. Here are the steps do a tftpboot.

  1. Set the mac address of the board.

    setenv ethaddr <mac address of the board>
    
  2. Set the ip address of the board.

    setenv ipaddr <ipaddr of the board>
    
  3. Set the tftpboot server IP.

    setenv serverip <ipaddr of the tftp server>
    
  4. Set the network gateway address.

    setenv gatewayip <ipaddress of the network gateway>
    
  5. Load the Linux kernel image from the tftp server.

    tftpboot ${kernel_addr_r} <uImage path in tftpboot directory>
    
  6. Load the ramdisk image from the tftp server. This is only required if ramdisk is loaded from tftp server. This step is optional, if rootfs is already part of the kernel or loaded from an external storage by kernel.

    tftpboot ${ramdisk_addr_r} <ramdisk path in tftpboot directory>
    
  7. Set the boot command-line arguments.

    setenv bootargs "root=<root partition> rw console=ttySIF0 earlycon=sbi"
    

N.B. root partition should point to

 ** /dev/ram ** - If a ramdisk is used
 ** root=/dev/mmcblk0pX ** - If a rootfs is already on some other partition of sdcard 
  1. Now boot into Linux.

    bootm ${kernel_addr_r} ${ramdisk_addr_r} ${fdtcontroladdr}
    
    

or (if ramdisk is not loaded from network)

bootm ${kernel_addr_r} - ${fdtcontroladdr}

U-Boot & Linux Kernel as a single payload

At U-Boot prompt execute the following boot command to boot Linux.

bootm ${kernel_addr_r} - ${fdtcontroladdr}

Booting SiFive Fu540 Platform with Microsemi Expansion board

Until the Linux kernel has in-tree support for device trees and mainline u-boot is fully supported on the HiFive Unleashed you can follow these steps to boot Linux with the Microsemi expansion board. This method should not be copied on future boards and is considered a temporary solution until we can use a more standardised boot flow.

To boot the Linux kernel with a device tree that has support for the Microsemi Expansion board you can include the following line when compiling the firmware:

FW_PAYLOAD_FDT="HiFiveUnleashed-MicroSemi-Expansion.dtb"