• New Bits - DSP Link 1.65.02.09

    We released another minor update to DSP Link 1.65 last week.  There is some improved support for recovering when an application crashes, as well as a couple bug fixes.

    Please review the "What's New" section in the release notes for the change log for this, and previous releases.

    This release is appropriate for DVSDK environments, and is not applicable for EZSDK…

  • New Bits - CE 3.23 and Friends

    We just rolled out a new suite of CE and Friends over the last few days.  This includes updates to Codec Engine, Framework Components, SysLink, Linux Utils, OSAL, and the XDAIS products.  And we also introduced a new member of the family - IPC Utils.

    [ The new guy's name is subject to change - we needed something on the birth certificate, but we admittedly didn't give it enough thought. ]

    The scope of the IPC…

  • RingIO Users Guide posted

    I have finally got around to put up the users guide for the RingIO module on the wiki:

    http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/RingIO_Users_Guide

    It discusses RingIO from a design standpoint, and is an updated version of what used to be in DSPLINK (for those of you who remember that product). This should help fill the gap between the information provided in the SysLink User Guide and API guide. Happy reading!

    Vinc…

  • New Bits - SysLink 2.10.06.28

    A new release of SysLink is available.  This is a patch release for the 2.10 stream, with several good bug fixes.

    Please review the "What's New" section in the Release Notes for the full change log.

    Chris

  • Using CCS for Linux Debugging

    For sometime now, I've heavily relied on print statements to debug my Linux user code when developing.  With Code Composer Studio (CCS) v5 supported on a Linux host, I decided to take a look at how to leverage the IDE to debug my Linux user level code.  To my surprise (well not much since it's Eclipse based),  CCS leverages the GNU Debugger (GDB) remote capabilities to allow for Linux debugging on TI devices.  The…

  • Rebuilding SysLink samples in CCS v5.1

    Other Parts Discussed in Post: SYSBIOS

    Seeing that this has become an award-winning blog, I feel I shouldn't let Chris bask in the glory all by himself. So here's my attempt at a first post that will hopefully propel me to stardom (everything starts with a dream, right?).

    Over the holidays, while everyone was busy with Christmas trees and Santa Claus, I was looking through the E2E forums in our practically vacant…

  • You like me! You really like me!

    I found out today that I'm the proud co-winner of the 2011 EP Community Fan Vote for Blog of the year. I also want to congratulate the Multicore Mix Blog on sharing this with me. I'll take the statue on odd weeks, you can have it on even weeks, k?

    To me, blogs are just one more way to get closer to the customer. It helps communicate that TI is more than just a big brown building that bakes sand, we're people…

  • New Bits - DSP Link 1.65.01.06

    A minor update to DSP Link 1.65 is now available.  It addresses a few reported issues and updates it for use with newer Linux kernels.

    Please review the "What's New" section in the release notes for the change log for this, and previous releases.

    Note that this release is appropriate for DVSDK environments (and I think the upcoming DVSDK 4.x releases will include…

  • Getting the D[a]M[n] Timer Config Right on TI81XX

    There have been several reports lately of the DSP hanging on DM81XX and C6A81XX devices.  Sometimes it's a SysLink sample that doesn't run, a SYS/BIOS-only app who's timeouts are taking too long/short, or an existing app that worked fine, but fails when updating to a new EZSDK, Linux, or SYS/BIOS release.  In many of these instances, the issue is the result of a dmtimer misconfiguration - in the DSP-side SYS…

  • New Bits - Linux Utils 2.x and LPM 1.x Updates

    Minor updates for Linux Utils and LPM (Local Power Manager)  are now available.  The Linux Utils update works around an issue we're seeing in recent kernels, and the LPM update finally brings it up to 2.6.37 and newer kernels.
    Please review the "What's New" section in the release notes for the change log for this, and…
  • New Bits - SysLink 2.00.05.85

    A new release of SysLink is available.  This is a minor release which fixes a few minor bugs.
    Please review the "What's New" section in the release notes for the change log for this, and previous releases.

    Chris

  • I'll try to be better... really...

    Just realized I've only posted here once in the last year(!).  I'll justify it by saying "we've been really busy"...  you buy it?  Nah, mom doesn't either when I forget to call.

    FWIW, it's true.  The team's been adding support for the DM814X and DM816X devices - and more.  But the big distraction... er... "news" is that SysLink, the center of our heterogenous multicore SW stack…

  • New Bits - XDAIS 7.21.00.02

    A new release of XDAIS is available.  This is a minor release which fixes a few bugs in the examples and wizards.
    Please review the "What's New" section in the release notes for the change log for this, and previous releases.

    Chris

  • Finer Details - Physically Contiguous Memory

    Physically contiguous memory is important in embedded systems.  Often, DMA engines, DSPs, and other hardware peripherals don't go through MMUs, and therefore must operate on memory that's physically contiguous.

    We introduced CMEM to help manage this memory.  (CMEM API Reference Guide)  CMEM has a few key features:

    1. Actually manage memory.  That is, support allocate/free APIs and the provide the bookkeeping necessary…
  • My 2 Cents - The EZ SDK for C6A816x

    TI announced the new C6A8168 processor today, as well as the EZ SDK Software environment we're providing to help developers use it.  Just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?  :P

    While that's great news, I've been approached a few times today with some concerned and confused looks, and since there's not yet much info in the release notes or wiki on it (yet!), I thought it'd be worth doing a quick SW overview from…

  • New Bits - CE 2.26.01 and Friends

    A new release of Codec Engine and XDAIS are available.  This is a minor release which fixes a few bugs in the examples and wizards.

    Notable changes:
    • fixed Runtime Config examples on OMAP3 and DM6446 when used without cetools (CE)
    All components are available at the SDO Target Content download site:
    http://software-dl.ti.com/dsps/dsps_public_sw/sdo_sb/targetcontent/index.html

    This update includes the following…
  • New Bits - Codec Engine 2.26

    A new release of Codec Engine is now available - 2.26.00.08.  This release introduces updates to the GenCodecPkg and GenServer wizards, as well as a pretty cool new feature - Runtime Config!  The XDC config step you know and love(?) is now optionalThere's a new article we put together to describe the Runtime Config feature in all its gory detail.

    Internally, we initially called this feature "no config", but that…
  • New bits - Linux Utils 2.25.05.11

    A new patch release of Linux Utils is available - 2.25.05.11.  This release includes a bug fix for the recently introduced "fallback to heap allocation if no pools are available" feature.

    The update is available here:
    Please review the "What's New" section in the release notes for the change log for this, and previous releases.

    Reminder…
  • Mickey? Really?

    It's been around a while, but still a good overview.

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  • Tools and Tips - How remote algorithm stacks are allocated

    Another post inspired by some customer support issues this week...

    The reported issue was that they were able to successfully create 7 instances of their remote JPEG Encoding algorithm, but attempts to create instance #8 failed.  The reported CE_DEBUG-generated trace log contained this subtle (but revealing!) set of lines:

    [DSP] @26,301,689tk: [+4 T:0x8f078b44] OT - Thread_create > name: "jpegenc#8", pri:…

  • Codec Engine - it's not just for codecs!

    A recent customer visit refreshed this topic in my head, so I thought I'd write a little about it...

    A common misunderstanding is that 'Codec Engine' is only applicable for codecs - it's not.  Given the product name, it's not an unreasonable assumption, but it's still technically incorrect.  Codec Engine is a misnomer - a better name might be "XDAIS Algorithm Engine", but it doesn't quite roll of…

  • New bits - CE 2.25.05.16 and friends

    A new set of Codec Engine and Friends are available.  This release includes a few enhancements and minor bug fixes.  It also includes some ease-of-use updates for the wizards.

    Notable changes:
    • Added per-codec config flag for providing ARM-side cached/noncached memory (CE)
    • Fixed a few issues in GenServer (CE)
    • Added CMEM support for Linux 2.6.34's new cache APIs (LU)
    • Added CMEM support to allocate from…
  • Tools and Tips - CE_CHECK

    XDM isn't the easiest interface to work with.  There are complex buffer descriptors (with arrays of single buffer descriptors!), resizable structures, structs that are read-only/write-only, depending on whether you're an application or an algorithm/codec, and lots of ways to make mistakes, both on the app side and on the codec side.  We try to catch usage errors and return meaningful errors when we can find them…

  • Is this thing on...?

    Hello World!

    For a while, I've intended to get a blog started and I guess I finally greased the right palms to make it happen.

    The goal behind this blog is to provide even more accessibility to me and the internal dev team(s), as well as give us an extra channel to spill information about what we've been working on, issues we're finding (and hopefully solving!), and other tips and tricks related to working with…