ECE497 Project: Multiple Partitions via U-boot

Team members: Michael J. Yuhas, Jack Ma

Executive Summary
The goal of this project is to give the U-boot boot-loader the ability to mount different partitions on start-up. This would allow the user to dual-boot the beagle board by controlling the boot sequence with a user button or RS-232 link.

Currently we have discovered how to create mmc-cards with multiple partitions, and discovered a way to mount the different partitions as root during start-up using built in U-boot commands. Currently we are developing a command to allow the user to select the partitions from which to boot.

Plans for the duration of the project includes finishing development of the multiboot command and modification of the boot script to allow partition selection using the user button. We would also like to discover how to create a FAT boot partition from scratch. Finally, if time permits, we also intend to research booting from USB devices.

Installation Instructions
If you do not yet have git installed see the instruction on EBC Exercise 07.

Open a terminal on your host machine and pull our git repository:

host$ git clone git@github.com:albertlee5/project.git

To compile the code for our project you will have to source two shell scripts that set certain environmental variables:

host$ source ~/.oe/environment-oecore host$ source ~/.oe/crossCompileEnv.sh

Now you should be able to run make to compile U-boot.

host$ make

(Note, we are having trouble configuring the make settings).

Next copy the resulting MLO, uboot.img, and uboot.bin to the boot partition of your mmc-card and rename the corresponding existing files so they don't interfere at startup. The beagle should now boot with our modified bootloader.

User Instructions
Not yet available

Highlights
Not yet availble

Theory of Operation
The current plan of attack for our project is to write a script that will run automatically in U-boot, allowing the user to select between different partitions.

Conclusions
Not yet available.