• State Resolved
  • Locked Locked
  • Replies 6 replies
  • Answers 1 answer
  • Subscribers 98 subscribers
  • Views 734 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Support feedback
Options
Options
Related

This thread has been locked.

If you have a related question, please click the "Ask a related question" button in the top right corner. The newly created question will be automatically linked to this question.

PSP upgrades and BIOS compatibility

E2E_display_name_Mike
Expert 1700 points
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: OMAP-L137

I am doing development work on the C6747 and use the PSP.  I recently downloaded the upgrade to PSP 01.30.00. 

I am confused by the description of the McASP module given in the "DSP/BIOS McASP Device Driver Architecture/Design Document" that is in the ../McASP/docs folder.

I discusses differences between the IOM driver (e.g. BIOS5) and IDriver (e.g. BIOS6).  But the code only contains IOM driver functions.  I guess this means I can't uses this PSP with BIOS6.  So when will there be a PSP release that is meant to be used with BIOS6?  We need to plan a project development and decide if we upgrade to a future PSP release so we can use BIOS6 or stay with BIOS 5.41 for the duration of the project.  What is TI's planned schedule release for PSP with BIOS6 compatibility?

thanks,

Mike

  • 0 in reply to Brad Griffis
    Expert 1700 points

    Thanks Brad.  I downloaded the package last night and will test it out over the next few days.  I'll post my results then.

    How does this release compare in functionality/features with C6747 01.30.00?  Specifically, I need to ensure the McASP module supports Burst Mode.  See my other post here:

    http://e2e.ti.com/support/dsp/tms320c6000_floating-point_dsps/f/115/p/12232/143066.aspx#143066

    btw, what improvement does IDriver offer vs. IOM?  It seems like mostly name changes?  Does it increase performance? Decrease code size?  Or make it compatible with RTSC?

     

    Mike

  • 0 in reply to E2E_display_name_Mike
    TI__Guru*** 125430 points

    Mike said:
    How does this release compare in functionality/features with C6747 01.30.00? 

    I haven't really looked.  Release notes, data sheets, and user guides are provided for both releases so I would expect all the info to be there.

    Mike said:
    btw, what improvement does IDriver offer vs. IOM?

    I guess it is fairly consistent with the rest of BIOS 6 in that it is a rewrite of the previous driver model, now using RTSC and also cleaning out some of the cruft.  For example, the SIO driver model built on top of an earlier model and they were preserving backwards compatibility.  Certainly there was some inefficiency in there (though minor in the grand scheme of things).  So that should all be a bit cleaner now.

    Other benefits:

    • Configurable along with BIOS and other RTSC content
    • Libraries managed by XDCPATH and getLibs().
    • Device and channel parameters can be configured via configuration script instead of static C data structures (in separate .c file)"
    • Ability to define “groups” of commands and errors.
    • Simple RTSC module, low dependence on BIOS and xdc runtime.
    • Easy hookup into system startup for device initialization.
    • Drivers can be ROM’ed
    • Software Diagnostics (Logs, Errors and Asserts). (optional, not forced by IDriver)

     

  • 0 in reply to Brad Griffis
    Expert 1700 points

    I spent some time looking at these drivers.  I think they will not be useful for us.  This means we'll need to stay with BIOS5 for some time longer.  Will this be a problem, using CCSv4 and BIOS 5.41 for our design?

     

    Here are the reasons:

    This version is actually older than PSP 01.30.00 for the C6747.   The release data is 6 months prior to 01.30.  The size of the libraries is MUCH larger.  We are trying to run our application all on-chip (e.g. C6747 L2 size = 256kbytes).  Any increase in driver size has a huge impact on us.  For PSP 01.20, we had to modify the source files and remove functionality we don't use to get  the drivers to all fit on-chip.  Doing this for the DA830 drivers would be even more difficult (and time consuming).

    What is TI's plan for releasing C674x PSPs in support of BIOS6?  Maybe at that time we can upgrade?  Will the libraries increase in size for BIOS6?  If the answer is yes, this seems contrary to the marketing of BIOS6 that it is more scalable and adaptable to end-user designs.

    thanks,

    Mike

  • 0 in reply to E2E_display_name_Mike
    TI__Guru*** 125430 points

    Mike said:
    Will this be a problem, using CCSv4 and BIOS 5.41 for our design?

    I would go so far as to say that CCSv4 with BIOS 5.4x is actually the "mainstream" way of using the device.  BIOS 6 is so new that you would not be able to get much help from me as I still always use BIOS 5!

    Mike said:
    What is TI's plan for releasing C674x PSPs in support of BIOS6?

    Usually the PSPs are device-focused, i.e. when we launch a new device we come out with a PSP to support it.  That said, I don't know if you'll see any more PSPs for these devices aside from some bug-fix releases.

    Perhaps some day we'll see a BIOS PSP that covers a huge span of devices (I'm pushing for it!), but for right now we tend to see a given release for a specific device.  I would guess that for some future device we'll have better BIOS 6 support.

  • 0 in reply to Brad Griffis
    Expert 1700 points

    Brad,

    Thanks for the prompt reply.  This is very helpful feedback for us!  We'll stick with BIOS5.  But I like the direction TI is going with BIOS6, I think it's just too new for us to adopt right now.

    Mike

    Brad Griffis said:

    Perhaps some day we'll see a BIOS PSP that covers a huge span of devices (I'm pushing for it!), but for right now we tend to see a given release for a specific device.

    My only concern with this is that the more general the package becomes (e.g. to support more devices), the larger it becomes (e.g. memory size).  I like the current package release where the package is for a small range of very similar devices and I only install the device I need (e.g. C6747 and omit C6748, OMAP-L137, etc.)

    Mike