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Configuration — Platform-specific Configuration Options

Overview

The STM32F429I-DISCO board platform HAL package is loaded automatically when eCos is configured for the stm32f429i_disco target. It should never be necessary to load this package explicitly. Unloading the package should only happen as a side effect of switching target hardware.

Startup

The STM32F429I-DISCO board platform HAL package supports five separate startup types:

ROM
This startup type can be used for finished (stand-alone) applications which will be programmed into internal flash at location 0x08000000. Data and BSS will be put into external SDRAM starting from 0x90000000. The application will be self-contained with no dependencies on services provided by other software. The program expects to boot from reset with ROM mapped at location zero. It will then transfer control to the 0x08000000 region. eCos startup code will perform all necessary hardware initialization.
ROMINT

This startup type can be used for finished applications which will be programmed into internal flash at location 0x08000000. Data and BSS will be put into internal SRAM starting from 0x20000288. Internal SRAM below this address is reserved for vector tables. The application will be self-contained with no dependencies on services provided by other software. The program expects to boot from reset with ROM mapped at location zero. It will then transfer control to the 0x08000000 region. eCos startup code will perform all necessary hardware initialization.

The off-chip SDRAM memory from 0x90000000 is available, but is not referenced by the eCos run-time so is available for application use if required.

JTAG

This is the startup type used to build applications that are loaded via the hardware debugger interface. The application will be self-contained with no dependencies on services provided by other software. The program expects to be loaded from 0x90000000 and entered at that address. eCos startup code will perform all necessary hardware initialization, though since the application is loaded via the hardware debugger interface the host debug environment is responsible for configuring the necessary I/O state to initialise the off-chip SDRAM.

This is the startup type normally used during application development, since the large SDRAM memory space allows for larger debug applications where compiler optimisation may be disable, and run-time assert checking enabled.

[Note]Note

Executing code from the SDRAM memory has a performance downside. It is significantly slower than execution from on-chip SRAM or flash. If performance is an issue then hardware debugging can be used for any of the startup types if required.

SRAM
This is a variation of the JTAG type that only uses internal memory. The application will be self-contained with no dependencies on services provided by other software. The program expects to be loaded from 0x20000288 and entered at that address. eCos startup code will perform all necessary hardware initialization. Unlike the JTAG startup no explicit hardware debugger configuration is needed, since the application (like the ROM and ROMINT startup types) will initialise the off-chip SDRAM memory.
RAM

For the ST-LINK/V2 enabled STM32F429I-DISCO platform this startup type is unlikely to be used. It is provided for completeness.

When the board has RedBoot (or a GDB stub ROM) programmed into internal Flash at location 0x08000000 then the arm-eabi-gdb debugger can communicate with the relevant UART or Ethernet connection to load and debug applications. An application is loaded into memory from 0x90008000. It is assumed that the hardware has already been initialized by RedBoot. By default the application will not be stand-alone, and will use the eCos virtual vectors mechanism to obtain services from RedBoot, including diagnostic output.

RedBoot and Virtual Vectors

If the application is intended to act as a ROM monitor, providing services for other applications, then the configuration option CYGSEM_HAL_ROM_MONITOR should be set. Typically this option is set only when building RedBoot.

If the application is supposed to make use of services provided by a ROM monitor, via the eCos virtual vector mechanism, then the configuration option CYGSEM_HAL_USE_ROM_MONITOR should be set. By default this option is enabled when building for a RAM startup, disabled otherwise. It can be manually disabled for a RAM startup, making the application self-contained, as a testing step before switching to ROM startup.

[Note]Note

Though, as previously discussed, since the option of hardware debugging is available as standard on the STM32F429I-DISCO platform it is unlikely that the RAM startup type would be used for development.

SPI Driver

An SPI bus driver is available for the STM32 in the package “ST STM32 SPI driver” (CYGPKG_DEVS_SPI_CORTEXM_STM32).

The only SPI device instantiated by default is for an L3GD20 MEMS device connected to SPI bus 5 with pin PC1 selected as the chip select. To disable the device support, the platform HAL contains an option “SPI devices” (CYGPKG_HAL_CORTEXM_STM32_STM32F429I_DISCO_SPI) which can be disabled. No other SPI devices are instantiated.

Consult the generic SPI driver API documentation in the eCosPro Reference Manual for further details on SPI support in eCosPro, along with the configuration options in the STM32 SPI device driver.

I²C Driver

The STM32 variant HAL provides the main I²C hardware driver itself, configured at CYGPKG_HAL_STM32_I2C. But the platform I²C support can also be configured separately at CYGPKG_HAL_CORTEXM_STM32_STM32F429I_DISCO_I2C. This ensures that the STMPE811 touch-panel device is instantiated and becomes available for applications from <cyg/io/i2c.h>, and also ensures the STM32's I²C bus 5 is enabled for it.

ADC Driver

The STM32 processor variant HAL provides an ADC driver. The STM32F429I-DISCO platform HAL enables the support for the devices ADC1, ADC2 and ADC3 and for configuration of the respective ADC device input channels.

Consult the generic ADC driver API documentation in the eCosPro Reference Manual for further details on ADC support in eCosPro, along with the configuration options in the STM32 ADC device driver.

Flash Driver

The STM32's on-chip Flash may be programmed and managed using the Flash driver located in the “STM32 Flash memory support” (CYGPKG_DEVS_FLASH_STM32) package. This driver is enabled automatically if the generic “Flash device drivers” (CYGPKG_IO_FLASH) package is included in the eCos configuration. The driver will configure itself automatically for the size and parameters of the specific STM32 variant present on the STM32F429I-DISCO board.

A number of aspects of Flash driver behaviour can be configured within that driver, such as program/erase parallelism and program burst size. Consult the driver for more details.