Overview

This is the Linux BSP (Board Support Package) for the Embedded Artists LPC4357 Development Kit.

The BSP provides a software development environment for evaluation and development of Linux (uClinux) on the Cortex-M4 processor core of the LPC4357 microcontroller using the Embedded Artists LPC4357 Dev Kit as a hardware platform.

Supported Features

The following list summarizes the features and capabilities of this release of the Embedded Artists LPC4357 Dev Kit BSP:

• U-Boot firmware:
  • U-Boot v2010.03;
  • Target initialization from power-on / reset;
  • Runs from the internal eNVM and internal SRAM (no external memory required for standalone operation);
  • Serial console;
  • Ethernet driver for loading images to the target;
  • Device driver for on-chip Flash and self-upgrade capability;
  • Device driver for storing Linux images in QSPI Flash (using SPIFI);
  • Autoboot feature, allowing boot of OS images from Flash or other storage with no operator intervention;
  • Persistent environment in Flash for customization of target operation;
  • Sophisticated command interface for maintenance and development of the target.
• Linux:
  • uClinux kernel v2.6.33;
  • Boot from compressed and uncompressed images;
  • Serial device driver and Linux console;
  • Ethernet device driver and networking (ping, NFS, Telnet, FTP, NTPD, etc.);
  • busybox v1.17;
  • POSIX pthreads;
  • Hardened exception handling; an exception triggered by a process affects only the offending process;
  • Loadable kernel modules;
  • Secure shell (ssh) daemon;
  • Web server;
  • MTD-based Flash partitioning and persistent JFFS2 Flash file system for QSPI Flash (using SPIFI);
  • GPIO device driver;
  • Device driver (host mode) for USB high-speed interface;
  • LCD framebuffer device driver;
  • I2C device driver;
  • RTC device driver.
• Development tools:
  • ARMv7-optimized GNU toolchain from CodeSourcery (2010q1) is used for development of U-Boot, Linux and user-space applications (toolchain must be downloaded separately from the CodeSourcery web site);
  • Cross GDB for debugging user-space applications;
  • mkimage tool used by the Linux kernel build process to create a Linux image bootable by U-Boot.
• Development environment:
  • Linux-hosted cross-development environment;
  • Development of multiple projects (embedded applications) from a single installation;
  • hello sample project ("Hello, world!" single-process configuration);
  • networking sample project (basic shell and networking demonstration);
  • developer sample project(template project that can be used to jump-start development of custom user-space applications and loadable kernel modules).

New and Changed Features

This section lists new and changed features of this release:

1. Port U-Boot and Linux to Embedded Artists LPC4357 Dev Kit.
   ID: RT #109899.

Known Problems & Limitations

This section lists known problems and limitations of this release:

1. CONFIG_KERNEL_IN_ENVM requires disabling CONFIG_ARM_UNWIND and CONFIG_EARLY_PRINTK.
   ID: RT 74683.
   Workaround: When enabling CONFIG_KERNEL_IN_ENVM in the kernel, disable CONFIG_ARM_UNWIND and CONFIG_EARLY_PRINTK.
2. Debugging of multi-threaded applications using GDB is not supported.
   ID: RT 77243.
   Workaround: None. This issue will be resolved in future releases of the product.