Overview

This is the Linux BSP (Board Support Package) for the STMicroelectronics STM32F429 Discovery board.

The BSP provides a software development environment for evaluation and development of Linux on the Cortex-M4 processor core of the STM32F429 microcontroller using the STMicroelectronics STM32F429 Discovery board as a hardware platform.

Supported Features

The following list summarizes the features and capabilities of this release of the STM32F429 Discovery BSP:

• U-Boot firmware:
  • U-Boot v2010.03;
  • Target initialization from power-on / reset;
  • Runs from the internal Flash and internal SRAM (no external memory required for standalone operation);
  • Serial console;
  • Ethernet driver for loading images to the target;
  • Serial driver for loading images to the target;
  • Device driver for internal Flash and self-upgrade capability;
  • Device driver for storing environment and Linux images in internal Flash;
  • Autoboot feature, allowing boot of OS images from Flash or other storage with no operator intervention;
  • Persistent environment in internal Flash for customization of target operation;
  • Sophisticated command interface for maintenance and development of the target.
• Linux:
  • uClinux kernel v2.6.33;
  • Ability to run critical kernel code from integrated Flash of STM32F4;
  • 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;
  • Support for the hardware FPU;
  • Secure shell (dropbear) daemon;
  • Web server;
  • SPI controller master-mode device driver;
  • I2C device driver;
  • GPIO 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 over TCP/IP or UART;
  • 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. Support SD Card in Linux STM32F4.
   ID: RT:107790
2. Improve STM32 I2C driver for errors handling.
   ID: RT:108659
3. Support hardware FPU code in pthreaded applications in uClinux on Cortex-M.
   ID: RT: 110109
4. Configure STM32F4-SOM for 180 MHz. Initial support for FDT.
   ID: RT: 112561
5. Make SPI driver to work in interrupt-driven mode.
   ID: RT: 84870
6. Support GPIO interrupts for STM32F4.
   ID: RT: 106183
7. Support Fast Mode in STM32F4 I2C driver.
   ID: RT: 104209
8. Allow building the STM32F4 kernel if the Ethernet driver puts its buffer descriptors and DMA buffers into on-chip SRAM.
   ID: RT: 103656
9. Support GPIO Bank I on STM32F4.
   ID: RT: 95496

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 .