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RAM-based Linux on AM3517EVM

Ron Olson
Intellectual 680 points

I want to run RAM-based Linux on an AM3517EVM board, starting with an SD card containing U-Boot and whatever Linux files I need.  From the time power is applied to the board, the SD card should be read-only.

I think this is how Puppy Linux works for X86 systems, where the file system is held in a read-only compressed squashfs file, and exploded into RAM at start-up.  Also, the various X86 Live CD distros must do something similar, since they also leave disk storage unaltered.

So, I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction to go about setting this up for our ARM based AM3517EVM board.  I realize that this may require builds from source for both U-Boot and Linux, and we're prepared for that, although the fewer changes we must make the better.

Thanks,
Ron

  • 0
    Guru 26430 points

    A lot of the TI EVM appear to be inherently RAM based. Especially the NAND based ones. Try perusing the TI wiki at:

    http://processors.wiki.ti.com

    Look for NAND based and MMC base Linux boot examples. The key u-boot command will be "fatload". The U-Boot example are generally of the form:

    init NAND or SD
    load kernel into RAM from NAND or SD
    load rootfs into RAM from NAND or SD
    boot kernel in RAM with rootfs in RAM

    If you plan to use the SD card after boot as an additional drive, that will add some complexity. It means having to use multiple partitions. One for the kernel/rootfs and another for the extra drive. The TI Wiki has quite few exampes of multiple partitions.

     

  • 0 in reply to Norman Wong
    Intellectual 680 points

    Norman,

    Thank you for your suggestions.  They give me some good direction to pursue.

    Ron