Flash a Hello World example

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Getting ready to flash the application
• Flashing the application
  • AM243X-LP
  • AM243X-EVM
• Running the flashed application
  • AM243X-LP
  • AM243X-EVM
• see also

Attention

Flashing a application will overwrite the SOC init application that was flashed earlier. So if you want to load and run from CCS again, you will need to do the SOC init steps again. See SOC Initialization for more details.

Note

See also Flashing Tools for more details on the flashing tools.

Introduction

In this step we will flash the application that we have build and run using CCS to the EVM flash. We can then boot this application without being connected to CCS via JTAG.

Getting ready to flash the application

• A quick recap of steps done so far that are needed for the flashing to work
  • Make sure the UART port used for terminal is identified as mentioned in Setup UART Terminal
  • Make sure python3 is installed as mentioned in Python3
  • Make sure you have the EVM power cable and UART cable connected as shown in Cable Connections
• Build the hello world application as mentioned in Build a Hello World example
• As part of the build process in the final step a file with extension .appimage is generated. This is the file we need to flash.

  • When building with makefiles and single-core projects, this file can be found here (shown for hello world example),

    ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/examples/hello_world/{board}/r5fss0-0_freertos/ti-arm-clang/hello_world.release.appimage.hs_fs

  • When building with CCS and single-core projects, this file can be found here (shown for hello world example),

    ${CCS_WORKSPACE_PATH}/hello_world_{board}_r5fss0-0_freertos_ti-arm-clang/Release/hello_world_{board}_r5fss0-0_freertos_ti-arm-clang.appimage.hs_fs
    

  • When building with makefiles and multi-core system projects, this file can be found here (shown for IPC Notify example),

    ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/examples/drivers/ipc/ipc_notify_echo/{board}/system_freertos_nortos/ipc_notify_echo_system.release.appimage.hs_fs
    

  • When building with CCS and multi-core system projects, this file can be found here (shown for IPC Notify example),

    ${CCS_WORKSPACE_PATH}/ipc_notify_echo_{board}_system_freertos_nortos/Release/ipc_notify_echo_system.appimage.hs_fs
    

  • NOTE: The folder name and file name in path can have "release", "Release" or "debug", "Debug" based on the profile that the application is built with.
• Next, we need to list the files to flash in a flash configuration file. A default configuration file can be found at below path. You can edit this file directly or take a copy and edit this file.
• Edit below line in the config file to point to your application .appimage.hs_fs file. Give the absolute path to the .appimage.hs_fs file or path relative to ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/tools/boot. Make sure to use forward slash / in the filename path. –file=../../examples/drivers/ipc/ipc_notify_echo/{board}/system_freertos_nortos/ipc_notify_echo_system.release.appimage.hs_fs –operation=flash –flash-offset=0x80000
• This file will additionally also list the flashing application that is run on the EVM and a OSPI flash bootloader that also needs to be flashed. You can keep this unchanged if you have not modified these applications.
• Save and close the config file.

Flashing the application

AM243X-LP

• POWER-OFF the AM243X-LP
• Set boot mode to UART BOOTMODE as shown in below image

UART BOOT MODE

• POWER-ON the AM243X-LP
• You should see character "C" getting printed on the UART terminal every 2-3 seconds as shown below

UART output in UART BOOT MODE

• Close the UART terminal as shown below. This is important, else the UART script in next step wont be able to connect to the UART port.

Close UART terminal

• Open a command prompt and run the below command to flash the SOC initialization binary to the AM243X-LP.

    cd ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/tools/boot
    python uart_uniflash.py -p COM148 --cfg=sbl_prebuilt/am243x-lp/default_sbl_ospi.cfg
  

  • Here COM148 is the port name of the identified UART port in Windows.
  • On Linux,
    • The name for UART port is typically something like /dev/ttyUSB0
    • On some Linux systems, one needs to use python3 to invoke python3.x, just python command may invoke python 2.x which will not work with the flashing script.
• When the flashing is in progress you will see something like below

Flash in progress

• After all the flashing is done, you will see something like below

    C:/ti/mcu_plus_sdk/tools/boot>python uart_uniflash.py -p COM148 --cfg=sbl_prebuilt/am243x-lp/default_sbl_ospi.cfg
  
    Parsing config file ...
    Parsing config file ... SUCCESS. Found 3 command(s) !!!
  
    Executing command 1 of 3 ...
    Found flash writer ... sending sbl_prebuilt/am243x-lp/sbl_uart_uniflash.release.hs_fs.tiimage
    Sent flashwriter sbl_prebuilt/am243x-lp/sbl_uart_uniflash.release.hs_fs.tiimage of size 289169 bytes in 28.52s.
  
    Executing command 2 of 3 ...
    Command arguments : --file=sbl_prebuilt/am243x-lp/sbl_ospi.release.hs_fs.tiimage --operation=flash --flash-offset=0x0
    Sent sbl_prebuilt/am243x-lp/sbl_ospi.release.hs_fs.tiimage of size 241937 bytes in 25.31s.
    [STATUS] SUCCESS !!!
  
    Executing command 3 of 3 ...
    Command arguments : --file=C:/Users/XYZ/workspace_v10/hello_world_{board}_r5fss0-0_freertos_ti-arm-clang/Release/hello_world_{board}_r5fss0-0_freertos_ti-arm-clang.appimage.hs_fs --operation=flash --flash-offset=0x80000
    Sent C:/Users/XYZ/workspace_v10/hello_world_{board}_r5fss0-0_freertos_ti-arm-clang/Release/hello_world_{board}_r5fss0-0_freertos_ti-arm-clang.appimage.hs_fs of size 58772 bytes in 8.43s.
    [STATUS] SUCCESS !!!
  
    All commands from config file are executed !!!
  

• If flashing has failed, see Flash tool error messages and solutions, and resolve the errors.
• If flashing is successful, do the next steps ...

AM243X-EVM

• POWER-OFF the EVM
• Set boot mode to UART BOOTMODE as shown in below image

UART BOOT MODE

• POWER-ON the EVM
• You should see character "C" getting printed on the UART terminal every 2-3 seconds as shown below

UART output in UART BOOT MODE

• Close the UART terminal as shown below. This is important, else the UART script in next step wont be able to connect to the UART port.

Close UART terminal

• Open a command prompt and run the below command to flash the SOC initialization binary to the EVM.

    cd ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/tools/boot
    python uart_uniflash.py -p COM13 --cfg=sbl_prebuilt/am243x-evm/default_sbl_ospi.cfg
  

  • Here COM13 is the port name of the identified UART port in Windows.
  • On Linux,
    • The name for UART port is typically something like /dev/ttyUSB0
    • On some Linux systems, one needs to use python3 to invoke python3.x, just python command may invoke python 2.x which will not work with the flashing script.
• When the flashing is in progress you will see something like below

Flash in progress

• After all the flashing is done, you will see something like below

    C:/ti/mcu_plus_sdk/tools/boot>python uart_uniflash.py -p COM13 --cfg=sbl_prebuilt/am243x-evm/default_sbl_ospi.cfg
  
    Parsing config file ...
    Parsing config file ... SUCCESS. Found 3 command(s) !!!
  
    Executing command 1 of 3 ...
    Found flash writer ... sending sbl_prebuilt/am243x-evm/sbl_uart_uniflash.release.hs_fs.tiimage
    Sent flashwriter sbl_prebuilt/am243x-evm/sbl_uart_uniflash.release.hs_fs.tiimage of size 289169 bytes in 28.52s.
  
    Executing command 2 of 3 ...
    Command arguments : --file=sbl_prebuilt/am243x-evm/sbl_ospi.release.hs_fs.tiimage --operation=flash --flash-offset=0x0
    Sent sbl_prebuilt/am243x-evm/sbl_ospi.release.hs_fs.tiimage of size 241937 bytes in 25.31s.
    [STATUS] SUCCESS !!!
  
    Executing command 3 of 3 ...
    Command arguments : --file=C:/Users/XYZ/workspace_v10/hello_world_{board}_r5fss0-0_freertos_ti-arm-clang/Release/hello_world_{board}_r5fss0-0_freertos_ti-arm-clang.appimage.hs_fs --operation=flash --flash-offset=0x80000
    Sent C:/Users/XYZ/workspace_v10/hello_world_{board}_r5fss0-0_freertos_ti-arm-clang/Release/hello_world_{board}_r5fss0-0_freertos_ti-arm-clang.appimage.hs_fs of size 58772 bytes in 8.43s.
    [STATUS] SUCCESS !!!
  
    All commands from config file are executed !!!
  

• If flashing has failed, see Flash tool error messages and solutions, and resolve the errors.
• If flashing is successful, do the next steps ...

Running the flashed application

AM243X-LP

• POWER-OFF the AM243X-LP
• Switch the AM243X-LP boot mode to QSPI mode as shown below,

QSPI BOOT MODE

• Re-connect the UART terminal in CCS window as shown in Setup UART Terminal
• POWER-ON the AM243X-LP
• You should see the application output in UART terminal as below

    Starting OSPI Bootloader ...
  
    DMSC Firmware Version 21.1.1--v2021.01a (Terrific Lla
    DMSC Firmware revision 0x15
    DMSC ABI revision 3.1
  
    INFO: Bootloader_runCpu:151: CPU m4f0-0 is initialized to 400000000 Hz !!!
    INFO: Bootloader_runCpu:151: CPU r5f1-0  is initialized to 800000000 Hz !!!
    INFO: Bootloader_runCpu:151: CPU r5f1-1 is initialized to 800000000 Hz !!!
    INFO: Bootloader_loadSelfCpu:214: CPU r5f0-0 is initialized to 800000000 Hz !!!
    INFO: Bootloader_loadSelfCpu:214: CPU r5f0-1 is initialized to 800000000 Hz !!!
    INFO: Bootloader_loadSelfCpu:235: All done, reseting self ...
  
    [DPL] Hwi post ...
    [DPL] Hwi post ... DONE !!!
    [DPL] Sleep for 100 msecs ...
    [DPL] Sleep ... DONE (Measured time = 100002 usecs, CPU cycles = 438501 ) !!!
    [DPL] Running cache operations ...
    [DPL] Running cache operations ... DONE !!!
    [DPL] Heap free size = 1984 bytes
    [DPL] Allocated 1023 bytes @ 0x70086080, heap free size = 896 bytes
    [DPL] Free'ed 1023 bytes @ 0x70086080, heap free size = 1984 bytes
    All tests have passed!!
  

• Congratulations now the AM243X-LP is flashed with your application and you dont need CCS anymore to run the application.

AM243X-EVM

• POWER-OFF the EVM
• Switch the EVM boot mode to OSPI/xSPI mode as shown below,

OSPI/xSPI BOOT MODE

• Re-connect the UART terminal in CCS window as shown in Setup UART Terminal
• POWER-ON the EVM
• You should see the application output in UART terminal as below

    Starting OSPI Bootloader ...
  
    DMSC Firmware Version 21.1.1--v2021.01a (Terrific Lla
    DMSC Firmware revision 0x15
    DMSC ABI revision 3.1
  
    INFO: Bootloader_runCpu:151: CPU m4f0-0 is initialized to 400000000 Hz !!!
    INFO: Bootloader_runCpu:151: CPU r5f1-0  is initialized to 800000000 Hz !!!
    INFO: Bootloader_runCpu:151: CPU r5f1-1 is initialized to 800000000 Hz !!!
    INFO: Bootloader_loadSelfCpu:214: CPU r5f0-0 is initialized to 800000000 Hz !!!
    INFO: Bootloader_loadSelfCpu:214: CPU r5f0-1 is initialized to 800000000 Hz !!!
    INFO: Bootloader_loadSelfCpu:235: All done, reseting self ...
  
    [DPL] Hwi post ...
    [DPL] Hwi post ... DONE !!!
    [DPL] Sleep for 100 msecs ...
    [DPL] Sleep ... DONE (Measured time = 100002 usecs, CPU cycles = 438501 ) !!!
    [DPL] Running cache operations ...
    [DPL] Running cache operations ... DONE !!!
    [DPL] Heap free size = 1984 bytes
    [DPL] Allocated 1023 bytes @ 0x70086080, heap free size = 896 bytes
    [DPL] Free'ed 1023 bytes @ 0x70086080, heap free size = 1984 bytes
    All tests have passed!!
  

• Congratulations now the EVM is flashed with your application and you dont need CCS anymore to run the application.

see also

• Flash a Hello World example using DFU